EcoRider - riding lawn mower electric conversion - Page 15

Daox · 11-23-09, 06:52 PM

Just got back from my first test drive. I had nothing hooked up except the contactor. Not that having the ammeter would help as it is pitch black out atm. I would have been able to see the voltmeter though.

Daox · 12-01-09, 12:40 PM

This past weekend I took the time to piece the mower together enough to actually do some work. I was able to get the lawn mowed with two charges, but I still have some hangups with it.

The pulleys are still sized wrong. 1st gear is way too slow to mow, and 2nd is very fast. I spent most of my time mowing in 1st gear. However, the majority of the power to mow goes into keeping the blades spinning, so I'm loosing tons of power by not being able to mow faster. Resizing the pulleys will allow me to slow the mower down in 2nd gear to a reasonable speed and also slow down the blades so they aren't sucking soooo much power.

The drive belt is slipping. I did try mowing in 2nd gear for a while. It worked okay despite flying around the yard. However, when I hit a bit of an incline, the mower would really slow down. So, I need a smaller belt or I need to adjust the clutch. Moving around this time, the mower was pulling 50A vs the 25A it had been using previously in my testing.

The temperature was pretty low. On Friday, I think it was roughly 40 degrees when I was mowing. This really kills the power output of batteries. I believe most electric cars loose about half their range in the winter.

The batteries have not been used yet. On Saturday, my second time using the mower, I was able to go quite a bit farther on one charge. I think this was a combination of exercising the batteries the day before and also warmer weather (55 degrees).

So, totaling this all up, the mower was consistently pulling 110A the entire time I was mowing. Unfortunately, I didn't think of timing it to see how long the battery actually lasted. In summer and with the pulleys sized correctly, I think it will be pulling ~70A.

But, that is the last time I'll be mowing for this year. Time to put the snow blower on!

11-23-09, 06:52 PM	#141 (permalink)
Daox Administrator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Germantown, WI Posts: 1,217	Just got back from my first test drive. I had nothing hooked up except the contactor. Not that having the ammeter would help as it is pitch black out atm. I would have been able to see the voltmeter though. (Support EcoRenovator.org & get rid of these annoying ads!) __________________ To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

12-01-09, 12:40 PM	#142 (permalink)
Daox Administrator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Germantown, WI Posts: 1,217	This past weekend I took the time to piece the mower together enough to actually do some work. I was able to get the lawn mowed with two charges, but I still have some hangups with it. The pulleys are still sized wrong. 1st gear is way too slow to mow, and 2nd is very fast. I spent most of my time mowing in 1st gear. However, the majority of the power to mow goes into keeping the blades spinning, so I'm loosing tons of power by not being able to mow faster. Resizing the pulleys will allow me to slow the mower down in 2nd gear to a reasonable speed and also slow down the blades so they aren't sucking soooo much power. The drive belt is slipping. I did try mowing in 2nd gear for a while. It worked okay despite flying around the yard. However, when I hit a bit of an incline, the mower would really slow down. So, I need a smaller belt or I need to adjust the clutch. Moving around this time, the mower was pulling 50A vs the 25A it had been using previously in my testing. The temperature was pretty low. On Friday, I think it was roughly 40 degrees when I was mowing. This really kills the power output of batteries. I believe most electric cars loose about half their range in the winter. The batteries have not been used yet. On Saturday, my second time using the mower, I was able to go quite a bit farther on one charge. I think this was a combination of exercising the batteries the day before and also warmer weather (55 degrees). So, totaling this all up, the mower was consistently pulling 110A the entire time I was mowing. Unfortunately, I didn't think of timing it to see how long the battery actually lasted. In summer and with the pulleys sized correctly, I think it will be pulling ~70A. But, that is the last time I'll be mowing for this year. Time to put the snow blower on! __________________ To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

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