Re: (ET) Solar tractor update

["Christopher Zach" <czach computer org>]

We shall see, however I almost never mow more than once a week.

Also with the 360 watts of power I have now I can charge the tractor in
about 3 days. If I buy one more panel (another $500) I can boost the 36 
volt
section to over 540 watts which is almost enough to charge the tractor in
one day of good sun.

For now, that's overkill :-)

Chris

----- Original Message -----
From: "Elie, Larry (L.D.)" <lelie ford com>
To: "'Christopher Zach'" <czach computer org>; "Elec-trak"
<elec-trak cosmos phy tufts edu>
Sent: Friday, March 22, 2002 9:21 AM
Subject: RE: (ET) Solar tractor update


> Let's see how it does in the summer when you mow 3 times a week.  Of
course, I don't know how big your lawn is.  Mine is 2 acres.  My garden is
an acre, and I till it once a week (which takes 2 days).  It charges 16
hours a day 5 days a week during summer, at some pretty high currents.
>
> Larry Elie
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Christopher Zach [mailto:czach computer org]
> Sent: Thursday, March 21, 2002 5:20 PM
> To: Elec-trak
> Subject: (ET) Solar tractor update
>
>
> 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
>