(ET) Fine control

[wilbett earthlink net]

    I've learned a lot from the solid state controls discussion initiated 
July
18. It looks like some variety of the 4QD may do the job, but now I've 
changed my
mind a little bit as to what I myself actually want.
    The present manual speed lever method, with its concentric cam ridges 
and
micro switches actually does a great job of speed changing at high 
efficiency
(though I wish they had put rollers on the micro switch arms, so they 
could start
up the cam ramps easier).  But near the neutral area, the 1A switch is 
either
open or closed, nothing in between. What  I think we would like, on my E12 
or
your E20, is incremental speed control right around zero, both forward and
reverse. I realized this last evening while mowing grass. When moving 
forward to
mow up close to a down spout, for example, without lungeing and smashing 
things,
we need finer control than is now possible in the higher gears. If I'm 
mowing the
yard in D2, I don't what to take the time to shift gears to LL to get this 
fine
control. I may want to go slowly forward and back several times, and then 
would
not want to have to shift back to D2 to continue zooming across the yard.
    It looks like the fixed resistor R1 (in the E12) could be replaced with
something smoothly variable (solid state?) and non linear so that very fine
tractor movement around zero can be obtained (isn't this what a hydrostatic
coupler does on the big tractors?). With the transmission in D1 or  D2,  it
would, however, have to be able to handle the high current demand. How can 
this
be accomplished?
    I still want the LCD analog battery voltage bars. Where can you get 
those?
Lets roll.

Thanks, Bill Alburty