RE: (ET) Picking up the E20 on Thursday!

[ThompsonG DFO-MPO GC CA]

Hi
Good to see another Electrak  "rescued".  However, here a small warning
about those "little" motors and I am sure folks on the list are going to
chuckle at this. They are really heavy (surprisingly heavy) and difficult 
to
hang on to little beasts.  It takes much more than one set of hands to
remove and install them in the tractor and they really hurt if they bounce
off your toes on the way down.:-):-)

Cheers,   

Geof Thompson B. Sc. CLS
Success = being un-noticed
Data Management Engineer
Canadian Hydrographic Service
Central and Arctic Region
867 Lakeshore Road 
Burlington, Ontario
Canada. L7R 4A6 


Phone (905) 336-4698
Fax (905) 336-8916
E-mail Thompsong dfo-mpo gc ca <mailto:Thompsong dfo-mpo gc ca>         

        


        -----Original Message-----
        From:   Christopher Zach [SMTP:czach computer org]
        Sent:   Monday, January 14, 2002 9:59 PM
        To:     Elec-trak
        Subject:        (ET) Picking up the E20 on Thursday!

        Well, it looks like I am going up Thursday morning to pick up my
ET20. On
        Sunday I went over to a fellow ET person who actually had four
tractors (3
        Wheel Horse and one ET15). Being able to take a physical look (my
first) at
        an ET makes me feel a *lot* more comfortable about what I am 
getting
into.

        First: These things are built *solid*. Compared to my 96 Craftsman
16hp,
        they are tanks. Much heavier metal, more solid looking overall.

        Second: They're not *really* that big physically. A bit fatter
maybe, but
        about the same size. The short wheelbase should make it a lot more
        manuverable than the Craftsman.

        Third: The motor *really* is small. I was expecting something on 
the
order
        of a OHV ICE motor, not a little thing tucked under the seat. It's
possible
        that I might be able to convert my tractor to a electric motor of
that size
        if I can figure out a way to mount it and fit three 12 volt
batteries in
        there...

        Fourth: The charger appears to be quite simple. And it doesn't look
like it
        will be too difficult to add an additional quick-lock port for the
solar
        input. I'd say a 10 amp fuse should be more than enough (with a
100amp crash
        fuse on the shed side in the event something serious gets shorted).

        Question: Is there any sort of a catastrophic fuse in the battery
circuit of
        the E20? I'm thinking something along the line of a 48 volt 200amp
DC rated
        UL fuse to about 25,000amps? 36 volts is probably enough to produce
a plasma
        ball if there was ever a dead short, this would be bad. If there is
a cat
        fuse, then I can protect the panels with a simple 10amp DC fuse or
breaker.

        Thanks!
        Chris