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
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