(ET) Electronic control modification update - It worked!

[Kirkvg aol com]

To all, I spent about 4 hours going over every wire from the positive end 
of 
the pack to the negative end. I put tape on each end of each wire as I 
went 
and checked the crude wiring diagram that I had been creating. That was 
definetly tedious. The scary thing was that I didn't find any wires hooked 
up 
wrong or extra. That made me a little nervous since I have been working on 
this for the last 3 years (more off than on). Anyway, I decided that I 
should 
light it up on 24 volts instead of 36. So I used two old car batteries 
that 
were laying around. 
As I connected the power disconnect I got a good sized spark. This would 
have 
freaked me out if I didn't know that the large capacitors inside the 
controller needed to charge up. As I connected it the second time it 
didn't 
spark (I admit I did check the fuses just in case).
I decided to start out easy so I checked the lights first. They worked 
great. 
One down two to go. Next, I tried the front lift (12 volts only). It 
didn't 
work. :(   But then I remembered that I took out the fuse so that I only 
had 
to worry about one circuit at a time. I pluged the fuse in and tried it 
again.  It worked both up and down.  :)

Two down and one to go. Never mind that it was the complicated drive 
circuit. 
I turned the key on and waited to see if there would be any smoke. So far 
so 
good. I made sure the forward/reverse switch was in forward, hesitating to 
push on the throttle unsure of what would happen. Not able to 
procrastinate 
any longer I pushed the throttle. Nothing happened.  :(     I took a quick 
look and saw that I had the seat up and that meant that the safety switch 
was 
not engaged. Maybe I will be OK yet. I held the seat switch down and the 
RTN1 
relay clicked on. I waited a few seconds to check for smoke.  None :)     
I 
pushed the throttle down a little bit and the motor started spinning.   
YES!!!    I pushed it down further and it sped up!   COOL!!   I pushed it 
all 
the way down and it sped up more.   I put it in gear and did that a couple 
more times and the tires turned forward. REALLY COOL!!    Next I turned 
the 
forward/reverse switch to reverse and tried it again. It worked just like 
it 
was supposed to. I am exstatic.
I then tried all of the safety's. The drive motor turned off when either 
the 
seat switch or the brake switch was pushed. The drive motor did not 
restart 
when either safety switch was reset, even though I was holding the 
throttle 
down, just like it was supposed to. I lifted the throttle and reapplied it 
and the motor started turning again right on cue.

I can hardly believe that it all worked right the first time. I was 
expecting 
to have to adjust the micro switch or the potentiometer for the controller 
or 
wires that were crossed. After a couple of minutes of running I did get a 
smell. I checked to see if anything was hot but didn't fell anything. I am 
hoping that it was only because the motor hadn't run in about four years.  
I 
ran it several more times and it seemed to work fine still.
I plan on going out and buying a set of batteries tomorrow and continuing 
my 
testing. I still haven't put it under a driving load or used the PTO under 
load. Or both turning on and off at the same time. So I can't say that it 
is 
going to work under everyday operation yet. But I am greatly encouraged at 
this time.    Hopefully I can get the new batteries installed and wired 
tomorrow and hook up my mower and give it a proper workout. I will update 
as 
soon as I can.    Kirk