(ET) Solar tractor update

["Christopher Zach" <czach computer org>]

Well, I've been running the ET on pure solar power for a few weeks now, and
it seems to be working great. The tractor is always fully charged, and even
with a single MSX-120 and a MSX-60 panel I can maintain a fully charged
tractor from week to week.

I just picked up and mounted the third MSX120 panel on the roof of my shed
today; will hook up the wiring on Sunday if I'm lucky. Once that is done, 
my
charging rates will basically double (from 4 amps/hour to over 8amps/hour).
At four hours of sun a day, I am looking at 32 amp/hours a day of power. Or
about 100amps of power in three days of sun. More than enough to cover the
operation of the tractor.

But anyway, I think that if you want to try running your tractor on solar,
you can probably get away with running it on 180 watts of panels (three 60
watt panels, or one 120 and one 60 watt) and a space with 6 hours of sun a
day. At a cost of about $800 it's not really bad.

Chris