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dh1 05-17-11 09:51 PM

Electric Garden Tractor
 
5 Attachment(s)
This is my 2nd EV conversion it started with a 1966 Massey Ferguson MF10 Garden Tractor. It might look like a good one in the pic but it is a combination of several MF10,+12 tractors that doesn't run.
The goal was to try to made an electric garden tractor that would be able to use the original attachments.
First step was to strip it down to a rolling chassis less the 10hp gas engine.
Then a good cleanup, inspection to see what was good and what needed repair.
Then to try to figure out what I was going to do, where to put the electric motor, batteries???

dh1 05-17-11 10:13 PM

Motor
 
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The motor, I have a ADC FBI 4001A but was unable to use it as I couldn't figure out haw to connect the motor to the trany or where to put 10 batteries.
So I ended up using a ADC 140-07-4001, 2hp continuous, 10hp peak, 36 volt motor. 45amp cont, 275amp max, 5.58 dia, 29lbs.
The tag is unreadable but I'm pretty sure this is what it is, paid $40. at a flea market for it.
A bracket was made out of 1/4" steel plate and the motor mounted in a spot where it could be hooked to the trany with a v belt using the original tensioner.
Also the factory lift was retained so that it could be used for attachments.
Mounting the motor like this, the Vari-Drive feature is eliminated, but the control handle for it still works the parking brake. Located on the right hand side of tractor.

dh1 05-17-11 10:25 PM

Batteries
 
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Since it has a 36volt motor 3, 12volt deep cycle group 27 Wallmart batteries were bought. The gas tank and original battery holder were cut off and new racks for the 3 batteries were made. One thing I was able to do was to mount all the batteries without cutting the hood or grill to retain the factory look.
There is enough space under the hood for 2 more batteries, and you could even mount 2 out back behind the seat. Mounting batteries behind the seat I really did not want to do as the is a rear lift there that I want to be able to use for attachments.

dh1 05-17-11 10:39 PM

First Test Drive
 
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Time to see if it works, no controller has been bought yet, I have a control panel from a 36 volt floor sweeper that I bought at the same time as the motor and it has 36volt solenoids on it. I mounted 1 and put a cable with a battery booster clamp on it so I could select 12, 24, or 36volts for testing. I used a small jumper wire to turn the solenoid on and off.
It worked, 12volts had enough to move it self but that's about it.
24volts much more power.
36volts even more power.
1 problem that showed up was some clucking and mushiness from the rear end, thought it was the belt slipping at the time.

dh1 05-18-11 09:31 PM

Teardown
 
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After the first test drive it was time to teardown the tractor again, this time completely apart. Everything was cleaned and prepped for paint as well as some more repairs. Found out why the rear end felt clunky and mushy, discovered some big cracks in the frame where the trany mounts. I welded them up and hopefully no more problems there. Finished the battery racks with some better hold downs and started on the wiring.

dh1 05-18-11 09:55 PM

Controller
 
5 Attachment(s)
The motor I'm using is not reversible so to make the tractor go backwards the trany is put in reverse. Trany has 4 forward and 1 reverse gear.
Right from the start I wanted to use a controller on this one, my 1st EV has non only a contactor and the tractor is jumpy as it has no clutch.
The motor specs say 45amps continuous, 275 peak.
I picked a Kelly controller 36volt, 80amp continuous, 200amp max. This controller will deliver almost 2x the continuous rating of the motor and this is what I based my decision on and that fact that it was recommended to me by a fellow EV buff. Also I bought the foot throttle for it.
I also got a fork lift battery charger, 36volt.
Painting has begun and tractor started to be put back together.

dh1 05-18-11 10:18 PM

Re Assembly
 
4 Attachment(s)
Everything was painted and the tractor put back together. New rear tires were loaded with RV antifreeze in tubes, winter was coming and I have the MF630 dozer blade for this tractor.
The MF10 garden tractor is red gray and silver, there is also an AMF1010 tractor which is the same thing with a different hood, grill and paint. The 1010 is red and off white. Since this is a custom tractor I painted it along the lines of the 1010 but you can still tell it's a Massey.

1- What I started with
2- My Restored 66MF10
3- AMF1010
4- The finished product ET2

dh1 05-18-11 10:24 PM

Testing
 
This is a video of the first chassis test run.
YouTube - ‪Electric Massey Ferguson Garden Tractor test run.‬‏

And a video of the first test drive after reassembly.
YouTube - ‪Electric Massey Ferguson Garden Tractor test drive‬‏

dh1 05-18-11 10:33 PM

Snow plow
 
Shorty after the test drive video it snowed, so I got the snow plow painted and mounted on ET2 the electric Massey garden tractor. I plowed the driveway a few times with it and it worked good, did the job.
A snow plow test video.
YouTube - ‪ET2 snow plow test.‬‏

A power test video was done later and you can hear the belt slip in 4th gear.
YouTube - ‪Electric Massey ET2 Power test.‬‏

dh1 05-18-11 10:44 PM

Ongoing Testing
 
Testing continues as time goes on, the longest I have run it was about 2 1/2hrs. This was plowing the biggest snow fall we had this yr, right after I finished the driveway I drove it down to my neighbors and back, about 3km total. When I got back I put my hand on the motor and it was hot, couldn't hold your hand on it too long. I also checked the controller and it was cool, not cold but not warm either, that unit doesn't heat up at all. I let the tractor sit for an hr and then measured battery voltage, 2 batteries down 50%, 1 battery down to 45% charge, that battery runs the 12volt lights and I was using them.
Here's the latest video, a summary to date.
YouTube - ‪ET2 Electric Tractor Movie april 2011‬‏

Daox 05-19-11 07:40 AM

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

dh1 05-19-11 09:58 PM

5 Attachment(s)
Quote:

Originally Posted by Daox (Post 13589)
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 05-20-11 08:43 AM

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 05-20-11 10:10 AM

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

dh1 05-20-11 08:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xringer (Post 13612)
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 05-21-11 08:44 AM

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 05-21-11 09:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daox (Post 13631)
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 06-23-11 07:42 PM

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

Gary

dh1 06-23-11 10:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by greif (Post 14222)
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 06-24-11 06:57 PM

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

dh1 06-24-11 07:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by greif (Post 14239)
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

That would be a nice project, always wanted to get an electric golf cart, utility style.
If you go 48volt there are alot of golf carts 48volt, might be easier and cheaper to get parts, motors, chargers and so.

greif 06-24-11 07:54 PM

evdrives.com/kits_conversion.html]EV Drives Conversion



thinking about either kit 5c or 6c

I want to make sure I have enough power for plowing snow as we get feet at a time and most golf carts are underpowered.

dh1 06-24-11 08:32 PM

There is a lot of stuff out there, as to whats best for you???
You got to look at everything, power, run time, cost.
This is where I got my controller and foot throttle
>Cloud Electric, LLC

Travis 06-25-11 11:08 AM

Was it worth it?
 
How does the electric conversion compare to the original tractor, in terms of reliability and cost to operate?

dh1 06-25-11 04:51 PM

2 Attachment(s)
Quote:

Originally Posted by Travis (Post 14245)
How does the electric conversion compare to the original tractor, in terms of reliability and cost to operate?

ET2 is not 1yr old yet, the main reason I did this conversion was to try to make a more useful tractor than my 1st one. Last winter it did all the snow plowing except for the first snow fall and it did just as good a job as the 67 MF12Hydra that I have. After I fixed the foot throttle wiring plug it has not failed or let me down, that being said I am still testing it with different attachments to see what it can and can't do. One problem that is still there is belt slippage, this can be seen in the power test Video I have of it, I think a stronger spring will go a long way to solve that problem. The slippage shows up under max power, heavy load in 4th gear only.
As far as cost to put it together, it's probably more than buying a good working used tractor just like it. Cost to operate, that depends on how long the batteries last, the ones I have are $100. or so each. I think if you take care of the batteries, keep them fully charged and not let them sit on a low charge you will get max life out of them.

greif 06-26-11 09:12 AM

batteries
 
Hi dh1:thumbup:

what did you use for batteries? I assume just deep cycles lead acid, and not gel or AGM but since I will be searching I need to try to guess on size to get long running time but yet balance price. So if you don't mind sharing what brand, model and AH rating.

dh1 06-26-11 09:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by greif (Post 14253)
Hi dh1:thumbup:

what did you use for batteries? I assume just deep cycles lead acid, and not gel or AGM but since I will be searching I need to try to guess on size to get long running time but yet balance price. So if you don't mind sharing what brand, model and AH rating.

My batteries were from Wall-mart, Energizer # 27DC-850, 120AH rating
there group # 27, paid about $100. each for them.

dh1 07-03-11 11:19 PM

Update
 
5 Attachment(s)
Today I tried the Brinly 10" plow on the tractor, mounted to a sleeve hitch and also installed 1 set of 26lb. wheel weights.
Tractor seems to have enough power to pull the plow, lost traction a few times, might need some more weight or a set of AG tires, right now it has a set of loaded turf tires.
Still need to do some adjusting on the setup to get the plow to work properly but the main thing is that the tractor can pull the plow.

1st gear, no problem but awful slow.
2nd gear, seems to work the best, faster than 1st.
3rd gear, the motor is really working hard, faster than 2nd but I think the limit is reached here.
4th gear, forget it, not enough power to pull.

Daox 07-05-11 08:07 AM

Wow, I'm surprised you had enough traction to put that through the earth. Very nice.

ella1985 07-11-11 02:12 AM

Great information shred here! I really enjoyed being here.

d3vi1d06 08-17-11 08:16 AM

you motivated me to start my riding mower project. im sick of mowing my half acre with a push mower. it takes me 2 days to do. its arduous labor in the heat of summer, and im using a cordless 48v 20" ryobi push mower. 1 charge lasts half the yard, or 1 hour... charging takes 12 hours...

dh1 08-17-11 05:59 PM

d3vi1d06 glad to here your going to make your own riding mower, I hope you start a thread on it so we can all see how and what your doing, good stuff.
Remember we like pictures.

d3vi1d06 08-17-11 07:49 PM

its gonna take a while, most likely next season. i have to get my wife on the DIY train. she thinks paying more for a finished product is ideal.

nibs 08-29-11 06:51 PM

Tested the motor in my electric riding mower conversion today, the motor which I bought used in Las Vegas in January spun up just fine. Just have to get and mount the batteries and put in a foot pedal for the slider speed control. Hope to be ready for next spring.

dh1 08-29-11 06:59 PM

Good stuff keep us posted, maybe you could start your own thread on your conversion.

dh1 07-06-12 09:21 PM

Update

It's been a while so I figured I better post an update, this is what I did on
Apr 29/12

Today I drove ET2 down to my neighbors pulling a trailer with a 10" Plow and a set of Discs in it.
He has a garden about 30ft x 100ft, he has plowed it with his farm tractor once about 3 to 4 weeks ago.
First thing I did was to pull the discs over it to smooth it out a bit, it was full of ruts.
Next I hooked up the 10" Brinly and tried plowing, the soil was dry and soft, my rear tires are turfs, loaded plus 25lb weights each side, I had good traction, some slippage but not much. This is the 2nd time I tried plowing and the 1st time I got it to work, plowed all of it.
I tried different settings trying to figure out what does what and to learn as much as I could.
Next I put the Discs on and ran it over the whole garden, smoothed it out.
After I was all done I loaded up the trailer and pulled it back to my place.

Tractor ran about 2 hrs total, 1-1/2hrs+ pulling the plow and the discs. Pulling the plow takes everything it's got, most of it was done in 3rd gear, 2nd gear it goes a little slower but the motor spins faster.
Pulling the disc is much easier, can use 4th gear no problem.
I let the Batteries sit for a while, then checked voltage to see how much charge I used.
Batteries are down to 30% charge, 70% charge was used today, they were full charge at the start.

All in all I'm a happy, ET2 works for plowing plus I learned something about the tractor and plowing today.

ET2 Elect Massey Plowing the Garden - YouTube

ET2 Electric Massey, discs in the garden - YouTube

dh1 01-05-14 08:47 AM

Still have ET2 and it's still working, Dec 2013.

Electric tractor plowing snow 2013 - YouTube

Daox 01-05-14 09:08 AM

Looks like its working great. That is good to near. Thanks for posting the videos. I missed the garden ones from before somehow.

Xringer 01-05-14 10:54 AM

That's amazing! It's so cold up there, did you have to warm up the battery bank?

Robaroni 01-21-14 04:22 PM

Doug,
Great job!
This summer I'm restoring a GE Elec-Trak ( I have several).
Here's a tip: Since you don't have to reverse the motor the electronics for the controller become much simpler. For instance, you don't need an 'H' bridge controller which saves 3/4 of the power MOSFETs.
I'm designing my own controller to update the electrics for my Elec-Trak using a similar method.

Again, nice work!

Rob


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