Re: (ET) Elec-trak general questions.

[Charlie <medievalist gmail com>]

Thanks and gratitude to everyone for all the excellent advice, both
on- and off-list.

I'm going to take Chris's recommendation and get entirely used to the
OEM system before I think about any modification of the speed
controls.  I am very fond of "Apollo Era" technology, anyway, and
thanks to Larry Chace's brilliant explanation I think I understand how
it all works now.

I'm also going to use a combination of all the ideas that have been
sent me concerning lights, and build myself a 36VDC "light bar" that
will drop into the roll cage sockets on the I5 front fenders.  I'll do
a proof of concept first with whatever pipe I have handy and some old
Karmann Ghia reverse lamps, and if that works I'll see if I can top
R.J. for total light output ;)  because I like to chop firewood after
dark.

Thanks again to everyone.  Your cheerful willingness to help out other
ET owners makes me proud to be a member of the club!

--Charlie


On Thu, Dec 1, 2011 at 7:10 AM, RJ Kanary <rjkanary consolidated net> 
wrote:
>                      My approach to the tapped pack, lights go dim, horn
> won't work under heavy loading is a suitable for the Apollo Era 
> solution.Low
> profile recessed terminal SLI batteries used in European vehicles in the
> Group 90 through 93 range will just fit under the hood when mounted to a
> board that sits on the front two batteries.
>
>                  This has allowed me to operate the lift, OEM lighting, 
> OEM
> horn plus over 250W of auxiliary lighting. All without things dimming 
> under
> load.{ Those 4509 Av lamps do a swell job of turning Night into Day. :) }
>
> RJ
>
>
> Charlie wrote:
>>
>> As the new owner of a not-new (but very nice) I-5, I'm full of 
>> questions.
>>
>> 1) The voltage to the motor looks to be controlled by a set of
>> microswitches, relays (contactors?) and a large nichrome heating
>> element with two taps.  Is there any reason not to use a large, high
>> wattage rheostat instead, for smoother acceleration?  Seems like it
>> would save power, too, since it would make less heat.
>>
>> 2) The front side panels are pop-riveted on.  If I drill these out (to
>> get at some rust on the frame under the panels) is there any reason to
>> continue to use pop-rivets?  Seems like nylocks would be just as tight
>> and quiet, but easier to work with in the future.
>>
>> 3) I don't like tapping the battery pack at 12v for the lift and
>> lights, especially since I will be using the lights a lot.  I can get
>> 36vdc bulbs to fit the existing sockets; if I rewound the lift motor
>> for 36vdc could I just move the tap wire over and get the full pack
>> voltage, or would I fry something?  DC-DC converters seem to be
>> ridiculously expensive.
>>
>> 4) Anybody have any tips on reducing the amount of "rattle" during
>> operation?  With the old Craftsman the engine was so deafeningly loud
>> I didn't care how noisy the mower deck was, but I'd like to get the
>> I-5 down to just blade noise.  I'm thinking some springs in the spacer
>> stack on the front deck casters, and graphite on the roller axles,
>> just for starters.
>>
>> Answers, opinions, rants all accepted!  I haven't studied the wiring
>> diagrams yet (waiting on a part for my printer) so I apologize if any
>> of these questions are exceptionally stupid.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> --Charlie Brooks