electric mini ride on mower over haul...
 

before i begin this post here is what i am writing about Armando's Mini Ride on Mower
back in October i made my version of a mini ride on mower. i made it from all the junk laying around the garrage and back yard.. it will not win any beauty contest but was did it's job without any problems till last week.the batteries were 10 years old and she finally showed her age.. i went from 55 minutes of cutting time to 12 minutes.so the mini is going to get a little over haul. anyway i went out to walmart and bought 2- 12volt 115 amp hour batteries... when i got home a put my game plan together for what i would do with the mini. first i will replace the 350 watt drive motor with a 500 watt one. i have modifies the motor just a little.. took it apart and drilled breather hole on both end caps so the heat will vented out and fresh air will come in... i have done this with the cutting deck motor, and it runs cool now rather then before where you could not even touch it.. i'm only using the 500 watt motor because the 350 watt one seen to be working a little harder then i wanted it to. next i am going to use a fuse between the 2 batteries. i have a bunch of these 80 amp fuses.. again i need to modify it to fit my setup.. so i drilled a hole on each side of the tabs.. easy mod. i am trying to do all the prep work now and then put it all together.. i will also be relocating the batteries from the middle of the mini to the rear above the axle so the axle will be supporting the weight of the batteries rather then the frame.. the tank will be coming off and be replave with something else(which i have not decided what to replace it with yet). the controller will be replaced with a strong one and hidden where the old batteries were at.. the cutting deck is now 22" rather then a 19".. the deck may be replace down the line with a 38" deck but not right now i want to see what kind of cutting time i get with these new batteries.. i think it will be 2 -3 hours but as alway we will have to wait and see.. i'm hoping by next week the mini will be up and running again..

here are the rest of the pics. the last pic is of the mini when it still had only a 19" deck on it.. it cut the whole back section and the grass was over a foot tall. she is a trooper..:thumbup:

That's pretty awesome! I really need to try something like that. How much were the new batteries? How are you getting propulsion power to the drive wheel(s)?

the batteries for 2 came out to 150.00.. i am using the 500 watt motor i modified.. the motor and trans axle are chain driven not belt drive .

sorry i haven't been on for a while but my boy went on a site and pretty much it hi jacked the computer.. just got the problem solve and now we are back online.. since then i was working on the mini and i am about 85% finished.. i have taken pics of what i was doing.. although the mini isn't completely done it is in working order and ihave been cutting grass with it.. some of the things i have done are as followed: i have placed the batteries over the rear axle to support the weight.. i switched the 350 watt drive motor and swapped it out to a 500 watt motor.. i put in a bigger controller in.. opened the grass discharge an extra 4 inches.. which has worked out really great. i have notice that the volume of air has increased the vacuum and discharge.. and it doesn't get clumped up anymore with grass.. i replaced the gas tank with a piece of aluminum the kids bent up for me back in Oct. when i was teaching them how to bend metal old school (or should i say the poor mans way). added the volt meters a key switch and master switch for the drive system, and a switch for the cutting deck.. made a padded seat for my butt which i like very much.. all i have left is add a horn ( just for fun and put a clear Plexiglas over the batteries and i am done.. my little girl decorated the mini with Betty boop stickers. she says it will make the mini work even better.. what can i say she's too cute.. here is a vid of the first run on the new batteries YouTube - electric-mini.AVI

That's awesome! It sounds pretty strong. Have you gotten a good idea yet on it's run time with the new batteries?

i have ran it for 2.5 hours and was still running strong.. just got tired of riding it in the heat.. it read 22.9volts when i parked it for the day.. so i am guessing 3-3.5 hours before it hits the cutoff voltage which is set @20 volts..

Wow, thats a really long run time. How many amps does it pull when mowing?

it's pulls 30amps. but you got to remember the cutting deck motor is only 1.5 hp and the drive motor for the transaxle is only 500 watt.. normally it stay @ around 20 aMPS til i hit thick or high grass then that is where it starts to pull 30 sometime 40 amps... the reason for such a long run time is due to the 115 amp hour batteries i armed it with...:thumbup: