<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></head><body> <div>Wood is not a great insulator. Absorbs moisture. When it chars, becomes semiconductive.</div><div><br></div><div>Electrical fibreglass comes in various sheet thickness, bars, etc.</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div id="composer_signature"><div style="font-size:88%;color:#364f67" dir="auto">Sent from my Verizon 4G LTE smartphone</div></div><br><br>-------- Original message --------<br>From: Chris Zach <cz@alembic.crystel.com> <br>Date: 12/29/19 11:19 AM (GMT-05:00) <br>To: Charlie <medievalist@gmail.com> <br>Cc: Elec-trak list <elec-trak@cosmos.phy.tufts.edu> <br>Subject: Re: (ET) Small fire and motor overload <br><br>The problem is plastic and rubber can melt. Maybe I could try hardwood..... <br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On December 29, 2019 10:25:28 AM EST, Charlie <medievalist@gmail.com> wrote:<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;"> <div dir="auto"><div>Jim might still have some of the square spacers. I once successfully made one from the square head of a giant zip tie, but the one Jim sold Pete was better.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">--Charlie<br><br><div class="gmail_quote" dir="auto"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Sat, Dec 28, 2019, 5:40 PM Chris Zach <<a href="mailto:cz@alembic.crystel.com">cz@alembic.crystel.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">Man I am glad I fixed the brakes. Today I went up on the hill behind my <br> house to pick up some fallen trees. Drove up the 20-30 degree path, <br> picked up 3 5 foot length logs, drove back down and to the house no problem.<br> <br> Decided to try 6 logs. Much heavier, but since they were at the top of <br> the hill it wasn't too big a deal, it's a downhill trip with the load <br> and I can just put it in L and go down the hill.<br> <br> Well, got towards the bottom of the hill and smelled smoke. And saw <br> smoke coming from under the tractor. About this time the motor cut out <br> and I got to use the brakes to stop the tractor and load. Good news: The <br> new brake kit allowed me to finish the trip down (in LL, no motor) and <br> figure out what had happened.<br> <br> When I checked underneath there was a small fire by the brush studs. It <br> was then I remembered that the top spacer was broken so I used a short <br> length of auto coolant hose to act as the spacer. Apparently the motor <br> side had gotten hot, the lower washer loosened, the coolant hose caught <br> fire, and the motor shorted itself out.<br> <br> Dragged it back in with the gas tractor (sans load) and pulled the <br> motor. Sure enough the rear stud was burned, so for now I took the stud <br> and insulating spacers out of the E15 motor and fixed the E20 motor.<br> <br> Will test tomorrow, but it did point out one interesting issue: When <br> going downhill you are in regen mode and the motor is working just as <br> hard to charge the batteries. Add a half ton of logs behind you and it's <br> a pretty significant load.<br> <br> Speaking of which, is there a source for those insulated washers and the <br> square spacer? I'm assuming they are high temp plastic or resin to hold <br> up in the motor.<br> <br> C<br> <br> _______________________________________________<br> Elec-trak mailing list<br> <a href="mailto:Elec-trak@cosmos.phy.tufts.edu" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">Elec-trak@cosmos.phy.tufts.edu</a><br> <a href="https://cosmos.phy.tufts.edu/mailman/listinfo/elec-trak" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">https://cosmos.phy.tufts.edu/mailman/listinfo/elec-trak</a><br> </blockquote></div></div></div> </blockquote></div><br>-- <br>Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.</body></html>