(ET) Garden Pulling with the E20

Hi all,

I put the following report on the forum, thinking you may want to hear it as well:

Hi fellow elec-treckies,

I read a mail in the archives once about another elec-trak owner who
had much success with competing in a garden tractor pulling competition.

I had to try that with my E20 and this weekend one of the German
gardenpulling championship runs was realtively close by, so... I got my
E20 ready and showed up there. I could not register as a competitor as the
rules only allow gas and diesel tractors, BUT they let me start with the
other stock tractors (only rel. small modifications) in my weight category.

The tractor with me on it weighed almost 1200 pounds !, which was just a
bit more than what the large stock garden tractor category allows (1100lbs),

there is also a smaller garden tractor category, which is limited at 770lbs.

Anyhow, I was to compete with tractors like a JohnDeere 400 and similar,
wich run in the 25HP category. The inital weight added to the brake sled
was 500 lbs (the weight moves from the wheels to the sled part while
you travel). A full pull would be 50 meters (bout 50 yards).

First run:
I pulled of in L, speed 4 (full armature, full field) and held it there.
The power meter was in yellow. The tractor was going nicely, I had

lowered the pressure in my tires so they would flex and provide good

traction. Everybody was surprised it pulled the sled so easily. The

moderator also was great, a great comment she made was that she

really enjoyes being able to talk while a tractor was running

Well about 10 yards down the path the power meter was in the red

and .... at 25 yards the needle was pegged right and the tractor

slowed down a bit, (the weight had travelled about halfways to the

front where the sled part is) I first thought that was gonna be it ...

but it kept pulling .... and pulling ... slow and steady ... I rememberd that the

more a series wound DC motor is slowed down, the more torque

it produces (and amps it pulls, I started to smell the current shunt) ...

I started to have hopes again that I would make a full pull, but then ,

about 9 yards from the full pull line, the klixon breaker on the motor cut out.

Three of the four other tractors with around 25hp made a full pull, one

got about as far as I did. Even though I had my hook up point pretty

far back from the axle the fron wheels only came up about 5 inches of the ground.

I touched the motor, it was still cold on the outside, the heat built

up was either not bad or it had not made it to the outside of the case.

After 2 minutes the power came back and I drove the tractor back.

I then decided that because it was only another 9 yards, that I would

try without the klixon (everybody has 2 tries). The second run seemed

to draw more current earlier in the game, it went ok, and I passed the

41 meter mark, but I was going very slow by then. I was worried that

I might damage my commutator if I stalled the motor and at 42 meters

I decided was getting too risky and stopped.

So, in summary - I surprised a good share of people today with what

the elec-trak can do. Nobody had ever heard of anything like an electric

garden tractor. If I find the time I will attend another pulling one time, then

with my gel batteries to provide a bit higher current and maybe with

direct wiring (without the shunt) or with my alltrax, or both. Maybe I'll

let my son drive the E20 in the 770 pound category by putting light

batteries in it when he is old enough (770 pound category goes from 8 - 16 years).

I think it will comete quite well with the smaller tractors with their 15ish HP motors.

I posted my pictures at http://markus.lorch.net/et/gardenpulling/

Markus

P.S. you can see pictures of the other tractors at www.gardenpulling.de