(ET) E15 Skip 2A?

[Larry Chace <RLC1 etnainstruments com>]

One of the nice things about modern controllers like the one that Jim 
Coate offers is that the big "toaster" resistors can be eliminated. 
They will get noticeably hot if you are doing lots of start/stop 
back-and-forth driving such as plowing snow off to the side of a 
driveway, and that heat represents wasted battery capacity.

There might not be sufficient time to install such a controller 
before the snow flies this fall, so I'm wonderng about a way to 
eliminate at least some of that waste.  The idea would be to 
effectively delete the 2A contactor, letting the 1A contactor short 
out both of the big toaster elements in series.  That means the 
tractor would start up in 1st speed with both elements in series with 
the motor and would then go directly to the 3rd speed (no toasters). 
Has anyone tried that, perhaps in the context of a bad 2A contactor?

I think it could be done right at the toaster by simply moving the #7 
wire from the toaster's center terminal to the right terminal, where 
wire #8 attaches.

Of course, there are lots of other advantages to a new controller...

Larry Chace, Ithaca, NY  E15 and I-5