(ET) You should get a Plow

[ThompsonG DFO-MPO GC CA]

        Hi
         I am jumping in here.
         Plowing snow with an Electrak is just way too much fun to be
considered work. I use my E12s with tire chains (got to have chains) and my
E10 is pretty good too,  I think every body with a driveway and snow should
have a plow to play with. 
        My Drive is on a hill so  I've taken to using the Road Department
technique. They lay a layer of salt down before a snow fall to create a
layer of soft wet slush between the road surface and the snow pack. I used
urea fertilizer (I buy it at the feed store) instead of salt on my drive
it's easier on the pavement, concrete and the grass, and a little bit goes 
a
long way.  The result is a clean scrap with the plow and when the sun come
out the ice melts away. 
        I only wish I had a longer drive.

Also The 21Century Electrak  or B145-2000 project is under way, I am
modifying the dash throttle lever to take the controller pot.  Construction
of the bi-directional PM motor controller is under way. I hooked up with a
guy in Toronto who does some amazing things with motor controllers, battery
charges, solar, panels.  This guy has actually manages to make a living
making stuff for the EV world and build his stuff in passive solar heated
shop in downtown Toronto. He not rich but he not starving either, and he a
very very happy fellow.  he already has a bi directional PM motor
controller, which he sell to the electric boat market, we just beefed up 
all
the power parts to get the Amps up. 
Once I get the controller he is building and I comfortable with his
abilities I'll send his website to the list. 

But, just as a teaser here what the controller and the throttle are shaping
up like. The PM Motor controller has12 Mosfetts, The controller uses a
standard 5Kokm pot as the throttle input.  Normally this would take a full
360 degree rotation of the pot and to translate this from linear motion 
form
the throttle lever to rotation a Large and small diameter set of gear would
be used. However, to reduce the complexity and cost, We going with a 25KOM
pot and using the first 0 to 5000 ohm portion of the pot resistance a
rotation of about 80 degrees. This way we just fasten a lever to the pot
shaft and run it up through the dash. Even tricker still, the controller is
program to reverse the current to the motor at 2500 Ohms. (actually there a
10 degree dead spot here) as a result the range 2500 to 0 Ohm is forwards
2500 to 5000 Ohm is reverse.
All for now.
        
        Geof Thompson B.Sc., C.L.S.
        905-336-4698 | facsimile / télécopieur 905-336-8916
        Thompsong dfo-mpo gc ca <mailto:Thompsong dfp-mpo gc ca >  
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