(ET) E-15 progress report

[Steve Gaarder <gaarder ecovillage ithaca ny us>]

Well, I got the thing going on the charger today (there are no batteries
yet - I'm still trying to track down some used ones in my area).  I had to
replace a diode in the charger.   Then the beast started blowing the
control fuse.  When the investigation got to the reversing relay I saw the
trouble - the contacts were bent so that both the NO and NC contacts were
active, resulting in a short circuit.  How did that happen?  Then I
remembered that the top cover had gotten knocked down when I had the upper
control panel open.  I took a look and sure enough, the horizontal bar
across the inside of the cover is in the perfect place to hit that relay,
and the FW relay as well.  So I blocked the NO contacts with some
electrical tape, and, lo and behold, she runs!  Can't do a lot with a cord
trailing, but it was a thrill to see it go.  Now I need to replace the
relays - I ordered a couple of 24V DPDT relays from All Electronics that
should do the job (with the help of a dropping resistor on the
coil).  The card with the field weakening resistors was also damaged, so
I'm going to have to fabricate a replacement.  Next step is to plug in the
mower deck and see what it does...

Steve Gaarder