Re: (ET) pollution

["Max Hall" <maxmatic comcast net>]

My students and I converted a Craftsman riding mower to electric with a
36VDC golf car motor and a Curtis 36-48V 275A PWM. Worked fine! The one
thing I would do differently is gear up the linkage between the motor 
output
shaft and the rest of the beast. I think the ICE on the original turned a
little faster than the ~2000 rpm that the golfie gave at 36V. One pic can 
be
seen at the bottom of http://www.maxmatic.com/electrak.htm.

PS: the thing was a gift to me by a neighbor... when the pushrod came
through the side of the engine block. We got the benefit, as students of
EVs, to disassemble a dead ICE. When they compare that to an e-motor, they
can hardly believe the difference in complexity and mess.

If you, or anyone else wants details, feel free to email me directly. (This
is just about off-topic enough to close the thread.)

-Max


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Anton and Federica" <krustyacres earthlink net>
To: <elec-trak cosmos phy tufts edu>
Sent: Sunday, December 07, 2003 2:24 PM
Subject: Re: (ET) pollution


>
> Yes, of course gas mowers are cheap, and newer ones are definitely
> easier get parts for, but I do believe that an ET in the right situation
> is perfect, and has many inherent and synergistic advantages.
> I run diesels on vegetable oil, and therefore never go to a gas station,
> and I really hate to make a special trip just to fill up a can of gas
> that tends to sit for long periods of time, to be used occasionally in
> great quantities by the ride on mower. I also have a small enough piece
> of property that I can get to most any spot with an extension cord, so I
> don't even run gas chain saws much.
> At the moment, I am not able to get an ET easily, since I am on the west
> coast, but I will keep shopping. I also may simply convert my existing
> ride on to electric, as I have a golf car motor, and could install a PWM
> controller. In all my spare time.
> Does anyone on the list have any experience converting a tractor of any
> sort to electric?
> I may just buy a diesel one and run it on veg oil, but would prefer
> electric.
> anton
>
> Gordon Trump wrote:
>
> >No disagreement about these concepts from a practical standpoint- I was
> >speaking conceptually. And I certainly realize that my Honda push lawn
mower
> >pollutes more than the SULEV Civics running around out there- it is all
> >about money. And as long as lawn equipment is cheap and disposable, it
will
> >take legislation (which I don't really favor) to clean up these small
> >engines. Even then, they are noisy and vibrate, etc.
> >
> >That's why we are on this list;-)
> >
> >
> >*snip*
> >
>
>
>
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