[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

(ET) converting a gas mower to electric




Hello,
        New to the list.
I *hate* mowing our lawn with a gas mower (my wife and I run both of our cars (VW TDIs) on biodiesel that I make from waste vegetable oil from local restaurants). I had a plug-in push electric mower for a while, but with the size of our lawn and the hassling with cords, it was taking me around 6-8 hours to mow the lawn. I have an old gas mower that I bought from a neighbor when he was moving, and I'd like to convert it to electric. I'm thinking I should be able to just take the parts out of an old electric golf cart (once I find a cheap one) and transfer to the mower, probably putting in a smaller motor for powering the actual motor blades separately (with a switch to turn that motor on/off). I don't need the full range that a golf cart normally has, and don't need to go as fast, so I'm thinking about using the same motor and controller as a golf cart, just with fewer batteries (to reduce the weight, and get by with lower voltage and battery capacity).
        Has anyone else done this?

Thanks,
Mike

--

--------------------------------------------------------------
Michael S. Briggs
UNH Physics Department
(603) 862-2828
---------------------------------------------------------------