Electric Garden Tractor

[Daox]

Very nice summary thread! Are you planning on getting anymore attachments for it?

[dh1]

Originally Posted by Daox

Very nice summary thread! Are you planning on getting anymore attachments for it?

Thanks so far it seems to work.
I have the rear lift for it and a sleeve hitch for it. As for rear attachments I have a Brinly cultivator and 10" plow that has a broken point, in the proses of getting another point (share) for it. Also I have a home made reversible box scrapper with teeth that I want to adapt for the sleeve hitch.
I have the MF630 Dozer blade (snow plow), 42" blade that works good. With 2 link tire chains.
I have a pull behind reel mower set.
Any powered attachments will have to be self powered as the way the motor is mounted they won't work. Even if the motor was in the same place as the gas engine was it wouldn't have enough power to drive them.

[Xringer]

An amazing conversion! I'm extremely impressed by the performance of that motor.
And the battery life.. That controller was a good investment!

Congrats Doug, on a job very well done!

[Daox]

Wow, you have a whole bunch of attachments for it. Very nice.

[dh1]

Originally Posted by Xringer

An amazing conversion! I'm extremely impressed by the performance of that motor.
And the battery life.. That controller was a good investment!

Congrats Doug, on a job very well done!

I think the controller with the foot throttle is what really makes it work good.
the motor has enough to move it around, when I plow the snow I use 3rd or 4th gear, 4th is nice as it's faster. It seems to have a lot of low rpm power and as the rpms go up the power or torque drops off. It will go really fast down hill and slow right up going up the same hill.
I picked the 200amp controller over the 3ooamp mainly to limit the power to the motor. To try to protect it for burning up to quick. I don't know how much more power you would get with the 300amp unit, be nice to try just to see.
One thing I might do is install a another solenoid with a momentary switch, to connect the batteries direct to the motor as a power boost, that would show a power gain if there is any.

Anybody have a line on meters, looking for 2 1/8" round amp and volt meters.
0 to 300 amps, and 0 to 40 or so volts.
Be nice to see what this thing draws when used under different conditions.

[Daox]

Ebay is usually good for inexpensive gauges.

Be careful if you make a controller bypass circuit. Controllers aren't the most robust items and an inductive surge could harm it once the bypass has been shut off. On Ecomodder.com (our sister site), BenNelson did this with his electric Geo Metro (search for electrometro). He had to wait a few seconds before reconnecting the controller after using the bypass or something to ensure it was safe for the controller.

Found his thread for you. Its huge though, might be easier to just PM him on the forum.

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...hread-848.html

[dh1]

Originally Posted by Daox

Ebay is usually good for inexpensive gauges.

Be careful if you make a controller bypass circuit. Controllers aren't the most robust items and an inductive surge could harm it once the bypass has been shut off. On Ecomodder.com (our sister site), BenNelson did this with his electric Geo Metro (search for electrometro). He had to wait a few seconds before reconnecting the controller after using the bypass or something to ensure it was safe for the controller.

Found his thread for you. Its huge though, might be easier to just PM him on the forum.

Ben Nelson's Electro-Metro Build thread - Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum - EcoModder.com

I have heard of other guys using bypass circuits that's why I ask.
The controller didn't really cost a lot of $ but if it breaks or fails it will take me a long time to get it repaired or replaced, I think it was about 3 to 4 weeks to get the one I have so I think I should leave well enough alone.

[greif]

looks great
how did the batteries preform in the cold? Did you preheat them before using?

Gary

[dh1]

Originally Posted by greif

looks great
how did the batteries preform in the cold? Did you preheat them before using?

Gary

thanks, the batteries work good, there is no preheater, tractor is stored in a unheated garage, I haven't used them long enough to drain them down to the point where you notice power loss, I charge them after each use to keep them fully charged. I think that if I had any kind of powered attachment on the tractor the batteries would drain down alot faster.
If you compared the run time of my 3-12volt vs an Elec-Trak with 6-6volt it would be night and day difference. I believe battery power on an electric tractor rules, the more amp-hrs the better.

[greif]

I want to convert my John Deere gator to elec since motor is going anyway and I use it to plow snow in the winter and want to make sure I have enough battery life. It normally takes me about 45mins to plow but want to make sure I have enough for 90 minutes for when we have the big storms.
I plan on doing either 48 or 72v