Greg Curran asked about wishes for a beefier ET. What an interesting
idea!
Greg, can you tell us where in the Northeast you will be? I'm near
Ithaca, NY, "centrally isolated" with plenty of winter weather, but
probably not as severe as Maine or northern Vermont or New Hampshire.
I have an E15 for plowing and mowing and an I-5 for hauling and
snowthrowing. The 700 foot long driveway is somewhat sloped, enough
that the tractors clearly prefer to go downhill rather than uphill,
especially with the snowthrower (aka "battery eater").
Both tractors seem to have about the same power, with the E15 running
somewhat more slowly than the I-5. They are usually run with the speed
control set to maximum, using gears to select the appropriate ground
speed: LL for in-garage movements, L for hauling and meadow mowing, D1
for lawn mowing and snow plowing, and D2 mostly for moving from place
to place. Snowplowing and lawn mowing need more frequent fwd/rev
switching, and so the E15's hand control is more convenient. For
hauling, the I-5' foot controller and cruise control is convenient.
However, I added a switch to each tractor to avoid getting into
electric speeds 5, 6, and 7. On the I-5 that also gives an increased
amount of dynamic braking.
For driveway clearing (700' by 12'), the E15 and plow do a great job
unless the snow is too deep (a foot or more, depending on moisture
content). The snowthrower works well but it really drains the
batteries; one trip downhill is all that they will tolerate. I had to
replace its drive chain once -- a truly unpleasent task (in the
winter, of course).
I use a 3-bank 10-amp Minn-kota charger, plugging it into whichever
tractor needs it most. Both tractors also have their original GE
chargers and the tractor garage has two 20-amp circuits, so both can
be charged simultaneously.
Both tractors got new Crown batteries about 10 years ago. There is no
indication that I can see that they may be approaching their
end-of-life. The most annoying problem is the infamous reverse relay
lock-up on the E15. Even being VERY careful to aovid changing the
FWD/REW switch while in motion, sometimes it just happens and that
means pushing the tractor into the garage for relay replacement (the
problem seems to be worse in the winter). Luckily, the house and
garage are at the downhill end of the driveway.
The I-5's brake is just barely adequate and the E-15 brake does
nothing. Luckily, the snow plow and mower deck provide a certain
amount of braking. Both tractors have chains all the time. (The best
part of the lawn in mowed with a Ryobi cordless push mower rather than
with the E15.)
What would be good to have? Eliminate the fwd/rev relay problem, have
a less power-hungry snowthrower, have a good way to clean the bottom
of the mower deck,
speed up the E15's transions from electric speed 1 to electric speed 3.
My father worked for GE and I enjoy seeing the GE monogram in the
center of the steering wheel whenever I drive the tractors.
In Greg's situation, it might be good to have *two* tractors. A few
times I've had to use one of them to pull the other. (When I had just
the I-5, my wife said "you should have a spare".)
Larry Chace, Ithaca, NY E15 and I-5
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