Re: (ET) mower motors [Virus checked]

["Dave Reuter" <david reuter iavinc com>]

Just a thought. Might be due to physics. The approaching blade edge does
most of the cutting (which would be at the front of the deck), the clipping
is then throw by centrifugal force on a tangent from when it impacted the
blade. Are all your motors running in the clockwise direction when looking
down from the top? If so then it might be possible that as you work across
your mower deck from left to right each motor is handling part of the
clippings from the unit to the left of it. So the far right motor is
burdened with clippings from both the other two motors.

If you ever noticed there are very few left discharge decks. It seems
almost all hand mowers are right side discharge with clockwise blade
rotation.  The ET is discharged from the back from what it sounds like so
there is baffles in the deck to route the clippings to the discharge. But
this is by far from perfect.

Try switching the left and right motors and see if you still have the same
problem that the motor on the right runs hotter.

Just my two cents worth.

Dave Reuter



                                                                           
                                                 
                      Humphrey Timothy H Contr                             
                                                 
                      AFRL/IFEC                        To:       elec-trak 
cosmos phy tufts edu                             
                      <Timothy Humphrey rl af.m        cc:                 
                                                 
                      il>                              Subject:  (ET) 
mower motors                                          
                      Sent by:                                             
                                                 
                      owner-elec-trak cosmos ph                            
                                                 
                      y.tufts.edu                                          
                                                 
                                                                           
                                                 
                                                                           
                                                 
                      05/21/2003 11:25 AM                                  
                                                 
                                                                           
                                                 
                                                                           
                                                 




Any thoughts on the mower motors overheating.

My rear discharge deck has three motors that were rebuilt by Bill. All have
new blades on them, purchased from Bill.

However when I mow the right most motor(view from the seat) seems to
overheat and cut out a lot more often than the other two. The center motor
cuts out occasionally. The left motor has never quit. Strangely, the right
motor also has a new switch/breaker assembly. Does anybody have any ideas.

I have pondered a few thoughts;

The right motor is not broke in yet...not likely.

The switch is not right...not likely, Bill put it on.

The right motor is furthest from the main cord so has the longest umbilical
lead. Maybe excessive voltage drop? This seems somewhat likely since the
center motor has about half the length and runs for a longer period before
cutting out.

Even after just a few mowings my damn near deaf ears can pick up the
individual hums of the motors singing their sweet tune in three part
harmony. I know when one has passed out. The current meter shows it too.
The
running motor feels no cooler than the stopped motor.

I was thinking though, maybe it would be a neat idea to have a red/green
led
display for each motor that changes color when the motor drops. My wife's
hearing is very good but she seems oblivious to the fact that one motor has
dropped. When two go she knows it. Last night two dropped and she thought
the tractor needed recharging, so drove it over to the outdoor plug and let
it drink. Not necessarily a bad thing, but not needed either.

It seems to me that the grass I'm cutting shouldn't drop any of the motors.
Ambient temp is 70, the grass is moist(internal), not wet(external), and
about 4-5 inches long. I'm cutting it in half. I'll really be in trouble
when summer gets here and the ambient is sitting at 85-90. I'm thinking of
upgrading all of the motor wiring to a heavier gauge. Maybe 8 or 10, I
think
right now it's 12 at best, maybe even 14. While I'm at it, I'll make all of
them equal lengths.

We've got a week of rain forecast, so I'll take this opportunity to switch
over to the new deck also.

Anybody have any other suggestions?

Stay Charged!

Hump
I5/NY