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!

Daox · 05-03-10, 06:15 AM

I had the mower out for the first time this year. Mowed half the yard (on two charges). The batteries lasted a LOT longer on the 2nd charge, so they definitely need to be woken up (they don't last as long after sitting for long periods and need to be 'exercised'). Mowed great, still need the pulley's resized though for more run time and reasonable speeds. I also noticed my drive belt is slipping so I'll need to adjust that as well. In addition to that, I need to get some permanent wiring in there. I'm still using alligator clips to power the contactor and on/off switch as well as the voltmeter.

I gotta say, I love the mower. After basically wheeling the mower out of the garage, and giving the batteries a quick top off charge I was mowing without any problems. After mowing I got out my gas powered weed wacker... just pull after pull and even after it was running it wasn't running good. What a pain. I'll be replacing that soon with a Ryobi 18V lithium ion trimmer that HomeDepot is selling. I'll write up a review once I've used it a bit.

MetroMPG · 05-03-10, 09:49 AM

The ecorider lives!!!

How many minutes run time would you say you got per charge?

And how did you decide when to quit and recharge?

Daox · 05-03-10, 09:55 AM

Dang, I knew I forgot something haha. I didn't time how long I could run.

To decide when to stop, I just have a voltmeter monitoring total pack voltage. When I hit 33V, I stop. This is a bit low, but thats what I'm currently using.

MetroMPG · 05-03-10, 09:59 AM

Run time would be good nerdly info to know.

So you still have half the lawn left to do? Going to mow some more tonight?

Christ · 05-03-10, 04:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daox

Dang, I knew I forgot something haha. I didn't time how long I could run.

To decide when to stop, I just have a voltmeter monitoring total pack voltage. When I hit 33V, I stop. This is a bit low, but thats what I'm currently using.

Re: Trimmer

Ryobi usually makes some pretty good tools. They're a sister (brother?) company to Black and Decker, as well as Ryan, and a couple smaller companies.

I had some tools from the Ryobi +ONE kit, they were a dream to work with on sites where power was a commodity (no waiting for a hookup, etc.), but the batteries didn't seem to stand up to the length of use I needed from them. As such, I employed 2 chargers and 2 spare batteries.

The lithium kits have longer run time, and more power-per-minute discharge capacity when necessary. They're supposed to be a better battery for the tools than the +ONE kit's batteries, because they can stand up to longer discharge cycles (continuous duty) and use.

I look forward to your review!

Daox · 05-03-10, 06:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Run time would be good nerdly info to know.

So you still have half the lawn left to do? Going to mow some more tonight?

Yeah, I still have my field left to mow. I'll do it sometime this week. I'll get the runtime then.

Daox · 05-05-10, 05:56 AM

I mowed my field last night. Got it all done in one charge. It seems I have roughly 25 minutes of use until my pack voltage gets down to 33V. Not too shabby. I'm hoping that the pulley changes will increase that to about 30 minutes.

Daox · 05-05-10, 08:02 AM

One other thing I noticed while cutting this weekend was that my motor is running hot. Not real happy about that, but its not crazy hot, so I should be able to deal with it with some sort of fan. I'm currently thinking about putting a radial fan on the tail shaft and make some ducting that goes over the motor.

11-23-09, 06:52 PM	#141
Daox Administrator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Germantown, WI Posts: 5,525 Thanks: 1,162 Thanked 374 Times in 305 Posts	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. __________________ 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.

12-01-09, 12:40 PM	#142
Daox Administrator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Germantown, WI Posts: 5,525 Thanks: 1,162 Thanked 374 Times in 305 Posts	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! __________________ 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.

05-03-10, 06:15 AM	#143
Daox Administrator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Germantown, WI Posts: 5,525 Thanks: 1,162 Thanked 374 Times in 305 Posts	I had the mower out for the first time this year. Mowed half the yard (on two charges). The batteries lasted a LOT longer on the 2nd charge, so they definitely need to be woken up (they don't last as long after sitting for long periods and need to be 'exercised'). Mowed great, still need the pulley's resized though for more run time and reasonable speeds. I also noticed my drive belt is slipping so I'll need to adjust that as well. In addition to that, I need to get some permanent wiring in there. I'm still using alligator clips to power the contactor and on/off switch as well as the voltmeter. I gotta say, I love the mower. After basically wheeling the mower out of the garage, and giving the batteries a quick top off charge I was mowing without any problems. After mowing I got out my gas powered weed wacker... just pull after pull and even after it was running it wasn't running good. What a pain. I'll be replacing that soon with a Ryobi 18V lithium ion trimmer that HomeDepot is selling. I'll write up a review once I've used it a bit. __________________ 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.

05-03-10, 09:49 AM	#144
MetroMPG Infrequent noob Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: 1000 Islands region, Ontario, Canada Posts: 402 Thanks: 37 Thanked 20 Times in 19 Posts	The ecorider lives!!! How many minutes run time would you say you got per charge? And how did you decide when to quit and recharge? __________________ . 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. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

05-03-10, 09:55 AM	#145
Daox Administrator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Germantown, WI Posts: 5,525 Thanks: 1,162 Thanked 374 Times in 305 Posts	Dang, I knew I forgot something haha. I didn't time how long I could run. To decide when to stop, I just have a voltmeter monitoring total pack voltage. When I hit 33V, I stop. This is a bit low, but thats what I'm currently using. __________________ 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.

05-03-10, 09:59 AM	#146
MetroMPG Infrequent noob Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: 1000 Islands region, Ontario, Canada Posts: 402 Thanks: 37 Thanked 20 Times in 19 Posts	Run time would be good nerdly info to know. So you still have half the lawn left to do? Going to mow some more tonight? __________________ . 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. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

05-05-10, 05:56 AM	#149
Daox Administrator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Germantown, WI Posts: 5,525 Thanks: 1,162 Thanked 374 Times in 305 Posts	I mowed my field last night. Got it all done in one charge. It seems I have roughly 25 minutes of use until my pack voltage gets down to 33V. Not too shabby. I'm hoping that the pulley changes will increase that to about 30 minutes. __________________ 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.

05-05-10, 08:02 AM	#150
Daox Administrator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Germantown, WI Posts: 5,525 Thanks: 1,162 Thanked 374 Times in 305 Posts	One other thing I noticed while cutting this weekend was that my motor is running hot. Not real happy about that, but its not crazy hot, so I should be able to deal with it with some sort of fan. I'm currently thinking about putting a radial fan on the tail shaft and make some ducting that goes over the motor. __________________ 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.