(ET) More-reply

[Kirkvg aol com]

Dean,
Regarding the questions that you asked about.

>I posted the following questions quite a while ago but never really got 
>any
>answers.  My machine is "stock" and I change batteries about every 7 
>years,
>so my battery costs are about $50 per year.  What will new controllers, 
>high
>tech batteries and chargers do for me?  Will I gain 50% range?  Will the
>batteries last 10 years?  If I have a $1000 to spend, what should I spend 
>it
>on to get the biggest bang for the buck?  Will I ever recover the
>investment?  

Having converted my E-20 to a PWM controller last spring I don't believe 
that 
you will get a substantial increase in range from adding a controller. It 
appears to me that the E-20's original configuration is fairly efficient 
in 
it's midrange speed. So, if that is how you primarily use it then I would 
not 
expect much efficiency increase. I do believe that at slower speeds the 
PWM 
controller is much more efficient due to not wasting energy in the 
resistor 
coils and you might gain 30-50% efficiency. But that kind of driving only 
happens for me when I am rototilling which is not a great deal of time. I 
do 
like the reliability factor and to me that made the conversion worth it. I 
will conclude by saying that I have not put fresh batteries in mine since 
the 
conversion so I can't say for sure what the efficiency increase is. Maybe 
next spring.  Happy ET'ing, Kirk