Re: (ET) Ariens AMP Mower

[Christopher Zach <czach computer org>]

RJ Kanary wrote:
>        Those who look upon history and do not learn from it are doomed 
> to repeat it.The fact that so many GE tractors [and their heirs and 
> assigns.] are still earning their keep is testimony to the fact that the 
> basic concept is sound, and the execution for the most part was 
> correct.But the educating the dealer base and the buying 
> public..........well.................... :(

I have to agree. I own an E20 Elec-trak, had a Craftsman 15.5hp mower 
and to be honest I do 99% of my work with it in two speeds:

1) Full power forward, gear L, mowers engaged
2) Full power forward, gear D, mowers dis-engaged.

On the 15.5 Craftsman it was always:

Full engine power, put in gear 2, mowers engaged, drive and mow
Full engine power, put in gear 4, mowers disengaged, drive around

And that's it. Yes for blowing snow and using the tiller I use LL and 
various speeds. However most garden mowers are not going to either blow 
snow or till fields. One can get that info from Sears sales.

What a lawn mower needs is:

The ability to set and maintain a basic mowing speed regardless of 
uphill, downhill, across ground.

The ability to go somewhat faster for driving it to and from the mowing 
place.

On a gas engine option 1 is handled by the throttle setting a governor 
that keeps the engine speed constant. Option 2 is handled by a simple 
transmission with 4 gears F, 1 reverse.

On an electric tractor option 1 can be handled by a straight shunt motor 
and a reversing contactor to turn it on and off. Option 2 is handled by 
a simple transmission with 4 gears (no need for reverse).

Which is what an E-8 really is (ok, it uses a PM motor which also can 
hold a set speed). There's no need for an AllTrax controller, no need 
for field weakening, no need for 4 throttle speeds, no need to shoe-horn 
a series motor (bad idea, you want constant speed). Because most garden 
tractors are run at full throttle anyway, there's even an indent in the 
throttle selector for "full". Heck an E-8 even gives you regen!

Building in more means more failure points. Make the clutch belt easy to 
replace, put a good set of contactors in, don't try to reverse by 
reversing the field, and you have it done. Most of the problems in the 
Elec-traks can be traced to the complicated reversing circuits in the 
E-15 (just reverse the armatire with big contactors instead of fiddling 
around with the field) and the field weakening circuits for those "8" 
speeds (which to be honest are totally useless. I use speeds 1,4,8 and 
that's because I am too lazy to shift sometimes)

Chris