MR.GREEN gets a second life...
 

hi all i will be converting my neighbors tractor to electric hoping sometime next week, when the parts come in. she lives around the corner from me and has a mini farm.. her name is Pam and she mainly has goats,chickens,quail and a couple horses and one pony.. she make her living selling goats milk and eggs..
anyway i've known her for almost 5 years and she has always known me for my electric conversions i do at my house... so a couple weeks ago she asked me if i would take a look at the electric golf cart she bought used.. batteries were not charging and needed some attention... after i took care of them, we got to talking and pam asked me about my tractor which i rode up to her place with.. how it worked and how long it would last on a charge( the basic question everyone always ask me... so i gave her the run down on my tractor.. then she ask if it would haul a poop spreader.. so i had her fill up her spreader hooked it up to my tractor and let her try it out.. she was very surprised how easily my tractor pulled her spreader and even more surprise when i mentioned the motor running my tractor was under 1 hp.. she had me take a look at one of the many gas tractors that were at her place( which were all out of service due to blown motor or bad carbs.. one tractor that pam really likes was one she calls MR. GREEN and asked if i would turn it into electric... i couldn't turn it down.. besides it gives me a chance to do another project and i love doing conversions... we struck a deal and sealed it with a handshake..i would have like the tractor to look a littler nice but for some reason she likes her MR.GREEN..
this will be the 4 th tractor i converted so i will be quite easy to electrify this tractor. i will install a 36volt 1.5hp motor.. many folks seem to under estimate the power of D C motors but don't realize that they will produce 4 times it 's rated power from stall where a gas motor needs to build up its RPM to produce it's HP... anyway i thought i would bring that up just incase anyone was thinking 1.5 hp motor seem to be too small for a tractor.. when i say tractor in reality it is a ride on mower minus the cutting deck... i will post pics and when done post a vids of MR.GREEN in action enjoying it's second chance of a quieter and cleaner life.. :thumbup:

Woohoo, sounds like a fun project. I look forward to updates. :)

I'm looking forward to the conversion too! Please share as much info on the specifics of the conversion as you can stand. A mower conversion is somewhere down the line on my to do list.

i will keep you guys and gals updated of what i am doing with the tractor.. :thumbup:

but while you wait, here is a vid of the 3 tractors? ride on mower i have converted.. the tractor that takes off in this vid is my first tractor conversion and my favorite one..

Nice vids.. Great tractors!
"That is 5th Gear".. Pretty dang fast tractor. Better get that young driver a helmet..

Nice! You get to have fun doing the conversion and get paid for it too. :)

Looking forward to seeing your work..

Cheers,
Rich

in that vid all the tractors were in 3 rd gear when they took off and they know they are not allowed to go any higher then that.. here is a vid of my wife and kids having fun on my tractor. this is when i had it geared for 12mph in 5th gear and the motor i first had in there was only a 1.5 hp@ 48volts... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACctfqiXyt8

Nice flat grassy field for some E-racing.. :)

That 5th gear vid had some nice take-off speed. Impressive.

YouTube - electric tractor 5th gear


Do you have any solar PV panels installed, for charging??

thanks xringer, and no i don't have any solar panels for charging. but i have been working on an onboard generator and getting real close to where i need the output voltage to be...
today i went over to pull the motor out of MR.GREEN which was pretty easy. i think i'm getting better at pulling these motors.. anyway it took about 20 minutes for i had to label all the wire because one of their friends wanted the 19hp gas motor to fix it up and put it into a go cart.. i really didn't mind taking the time out to label it for them.. so now i just need to pull unnecessary parts off like the cutting deck lever and belt engage lever.. what ever now useless to me will be pulled.. the good thing is the tractor will become much lighter.. lighter is good for this conversion.. the lighter it is the less strain on the motor when hauling the spreader..
now for is going into MR.GREEN:
motor: 36volt 1.5 HP
controller 36volt 40amp
batteries 3 Deep cycle brand (TBA)
key switch will turn on and off (original keyswitch on tractor)
amp meter(original one on tractor)
emergency kill switch( just in case and for over night storing, if someone decide to grab the keys and go joy riding it will not turn on)
foot throttle
charger port
may what ever comes up down the line...
the woman Pam and her husband Tiny(Jim) are very excited about their tractor.. i know they won't be disappointed.. here are some pics of MR>GREEN

i finally got MR.GREEN to my house early this week.. and today strated to work on the prep work.. i had to go to plan B because i was originally going to put the motor under the seat, but realized there was too much clutter and not enough space.. so i need to find a new place for it.. after looking and trying to imagine where it would be best i find a great spot.. i notice there was unused space between the seat and the steering column.. after i remover the cover there there was a home for the motor.. all i need the do was cut out a square peice of metal so the motor could be placed in and pulled out with the pulley on it.. and after that i need to make an enclosure so the motor would not be seen and be protected from the elements.. a little welding some drilling and cuttting of scrape steel it all came together.. i used some angle bar some wood and an old computer cover and black spray paint .. here is some pic.. i think it came out alright.. now that the housing for the motor is done and the dry fitting looked good i need the order a belt.... and just waiting for the controller and then i can get the batteries and start to wire all together...