I have an E20 on Alltrax also. It is true that
the E20 is easy to keep running in it's original condition, but the
reason I switched was the condition of the wiring itself. the wires
were hard from age and heat. The insulation cracking and falling off.
Some wires were chewed in half by mice in hard to get to places. The
molex plugs were corroded and could not be cleaned. It needed a
complete rewiring anyway. Check everything over before you decide.
john briese wrote:
I now have 2 I-5s on Alltrax....(I-5 is equivalent to an
E20, at least on the electric side). I would never go back.
I have cruise control, great brakes and super dependability in all
weather (-25 to +90)
Regen braking does not make up for all the losses from the old control
system.
Thanks Alltrax
John Briese
From: Christopher Zach
<czach computer org>
To: noaddress drmm net
CC: elec-trak cosmos phy tufts edu
Subject: Re: (ET) one speed, no power E20
Date: Thu, 02 Jun 2005 07:38:14 -0400
David Roden wrote:
I strongly recommend that you give up.
On the GE controller, I mean, not on the tractor!
I strongly disagree.
There are several components on the control
cards which suffer from age - notably the electrolytic capacitors.
Yes, they can be replaced; but after repairing the main card in my E15
a few times and struggling with the truly awful connections to it, I
decided that rather than rebuild the card it was time to let the
tractor join the late 20th century.
The E20 has one transistor, one FET, and a bunch of diodes. True that
it does have a few resistors, but you can get a new one from Harold for
$50 if card 4 really blows up.
Remember the E20 is not like the E15: It's built using discrete
components. There really isn't much to fail on them.
The GE control system is simple and
comprehensible to anyone with a little electrical background. That's
the good news. The bad news is that it's not only obsolete, it's also
old.
In 30 years the AllTrax will be both old, unsupported, and impossible
to diagnose. What then?
Though I'll admit it has some downsides -
for example, the tractor speeds up more going downhill than it used to
- overall I'm pleased with it.
That would drive me insane. The rock solid speed control of an E20 with
CC is one of the reasons I like contactor control plus shunt motors.
The best part of an electronic controller
is the fine level of control. For example, today I put the tractor
away in the garage, feathering the throttle pot to advance the tractor
by millimeters - literally - until the blade (still on it) just touched
the back bumper of the car. Try THAT with your factory controller!
Eh. I can cruise around at a rock solid speed, regenning coming down
hills. Can't do that with an Alltrax :-)
That said, an E20 has eight speeds and four gears. So you have a
possible 32 speeds to choose from. More than enough for most people.
And glory be, there is no more reverse relay to burn or flake out.
The E20 does not use the reverse relay. It has a quad of big
interlocked contactors to handle reverse. They don't wear out much.
There are other modern controllers that can
also be used if you'd rather, though you're more on your own with these
(the Alltrax comes with fairly detailed instructions for performing the
conversion). Regardless, I recommend that you discard the old system
(Mark Hanson calls it "Apollo Era controls" and modernize. You won't
regret it.
So far the Apollo stuff is the only thing that got us to the moon.
Sorry David, I think the E20's control system is great. The only
weakness is that the open frame relays are probably out of alignment. A
quick call to Harold for a few new closed relays will fix that and the
time the tractor will be down to swap them can be measured in minutes.
Chris
Chris
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