RE: (ET) Intro: Just bought an Elec-Trac

[Steve Caplan <scaplan mdtelephone com>]

Chris. 
        I have an E15. I used 3 12v Batteries for a season. They worked, 
but
only ran for about 1/2 the time. I only mow about 1/2 an acre of my 
property
& they barely did that.
        
Steve,
        
Baltimore County, Md

-----Original Message-----
From: Christopher Zach [mailto:czach computer org]
Sent: Sunday, January 06, 2002 8:22 PM
To: elec-trak cosmos phy tufts edu
Subject: (ET) Intro: Just bought an Elec-Trac


Evening all!

My name is Christopher Zach, and I just bought a new Elec-Trac tractor.
Well, actually I just won the bid on Ebay, now I have to get up to NJ to
pick the thing up :-)

This is my first electric tractor, but not my first LV DC project. I am
actually very intereted in solar power, and last year I took the plunge and
wired up my work shed (16 foot*12 foot) for 100% solar power. Basic system
has about 250 watts of panels, 24 volts DC, a 1400 watt inverter (old UPS)
and about 80ah worth of gel-cell batteries. Loads include the lights, 
tools,
whatever I need.

The system has been working perfectly. Never run the batteries down, and
always have enough solar to keep things peaked. However I have a Craftsman
lawn tractor, and I thought "You know, I could charge enough batteries to
run an electric tractor...

And the rest is history. This new one is an E20 with mower on the front. 
I'm
planning on putting new batteries in, and replacing the main charger with a
12 volt input to the batteries (in parallel with diode blockers). Then I 
can
hook it to the 12 volt PTO on the shed and charge the batteries with a 
solar
charger.

Well, in theory. Couple of quick questions to start:

1) Can one run 3 12 volt batteries, or does the Elec-Trak need 6 6volts?
2) Can one use standard golf cart batteries, or do I get the T105's?
3) Anyone live in NJ and want to help me get this thing onto a truck? :-)
4) Is it possible to put the mower on the center of the tractor instead of
out front?
5) Is it possible to put a clipping bagger on the tractor, or is that not
going to work?

Thanks; this is going to be interesting...

Chris Zach