So this afternoon I had to switch the E20 over from mowing to snowblower. Note that it is *much* easier to do when you put the snowblower on two moving dollies. They’re a good height, and it’s a snap to roll the thing around the shed.
At the same time I figured I would try to boost the voltage draw for my lift motor. Normally it’s tapped to 18 or so volts on the BB600 pack, right about the middle. The next closest battery terminal would be 30 volts, so I gave that a shot.
*wow*. Motor zips up and down fast, lifts deck as if it was not there. So I removed the deck and put on the snowblower. Greased the lift pulley and gave it a shot.
*wow*. Motor zips up and down fast, lifts snowblower as if it was not there. This is good, as normally the motor struggles to lift the blower and sometimes stalls. Now it runs it right up in a few seconds. In fact I worry that I will rip something out if it hits the highest lift point. So I reduced the lift fuse from 30a to 20a.
Now, this is a “new” lift motor from Bill Gunn, top of the line. Not sure how long it’s going to last with this, but I did note that it’s duty cycle is now a lot less since it’s not farting around struggling to lift. Zip it’s up in 3-4 seconds. Then off.
So now I am thinking: One of the big problems with the lift is that the motor will stall out sometimes and then trip it’s breaker. Stalling a DC motor puts a lot of strain on the commutator bars and the brushes. Is it better to have the motor still spinning (and pretty quickly I might add) at 2.5 times it’s rating? Seems like it would be drawing less current, which is good. So what’s the downside?
I wonder what the switch in the lift is rated at. If I’m opening and closing way above its rating, that might blow up.
Chris