Electric Garden Tractor - Page 4

d3vi1d06 · 08-17-11, 09:16 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, 06:59 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, 08:49 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, 07:51 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, 07:59 PM

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

dh1 · 07-06-12, 10:21 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, 09:47 AM

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

Electric tractor plowing snow 2013 - YouTube

Daox · 01-05-14, 10:08 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, 11:54 AM

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

Robaroni · 01-21-14, 05:22 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

01-05-14, 10:08 AM	#38
Daox Administrator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Germantown, WI Posts: 5,525 Thanks: 1,162 Thanked 374 Times in 305 Posts	Looks like its working great. That is good to near. Thanks for posting the videos. I missed the garden ones from before somehow. __________________ Current project - 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. & To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

01-05-14, 11:54 AM	#39
Xringer Lex Parsimoniae Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Woburn, MA Posts: 4,918 Thanks: 114 Thanked 250 Times in 230 Posts	That's amazing! It's so cold up there, did you have to warm up the battery bank? __________________ My hobby is installing & trying to repair mini-splits EPA 608 Type 1 Technician Certification ~ 5 lbs or less..

08-17-11, 09:16 AM	#31
d3vi1d06 Lurking Renovator Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: NC Posts: 13 Thanks: 2 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post	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...

08-17-11, 06:59 PM	#32
dh1 Helper EcoRenovator Join Date: May 2011 Location: Ont. Canada Posts: 99 Thanks: 14 Thanked 11 Times in 9 Posts	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.

08-17-11, 08:49 PM	#33
d3vi1d06 Lurking Renovator Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: NC Posts: 13 Thanks: 2 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post	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.

08-29-11, 07:51 PM	#34
nibs Apprentice EcoRenovator Join Date: Jun 2010 Posts: 206 Thanks: 1 Thanked 18 Times in 17 Posts	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.

08-29-11, 07:59 PM	#35
dh1 Helper EcoRenovator Join Date: May 2011 Location: Ont. Canada Posts: 99 Thanks: 14 Thanked 11 Times in 9 Posts	Good stuff keep us posted, maybe you could start your own thread on your conversion.

01-21-14, 05:22 PM	#40
Robaroni Journeyman EcoRenovator Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: Delhi, NY Posts: 332 Thanks: 20 Thanked 53 Times in 40 Posts	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