[ausev] Hoping for some answers

[Will Holcomb]

I was talking to my brother about converting the mower and he was talking about having a separate motor for the drive and blades. I need to look more at donor mower to see how it is currently set up and see what might work cheapest and quickest.  I hadn't seen an example of one with separate motors yet.  He said I could go with a smaller drive motor and the controller would be cheaper.  The blade motor would not need a controller I guess. 




________________________________
From: red scott <redscott77092 at yahoo.com>
To: AustinEV News Announcements and General Discussion <ausev at austinev.org>
Sent: Tuesday, April 14, 2009 12:34:51 PM
Subject: Re: [ausev] Hoping for so answers


The latest issue of Mother Earth News has a short news item about an elec mower from Hustler Turf in Hesston Kansas.
It's priced at $6500 but the description has some interesting design clues.
 
It has a pair of DC motors driving the blades individually (42" twin-rotor cutting deck) and a pair of AC motors for the drive wheels. This increases reliability by eliminating a bunch of drive components, like pulleys, belts & PTO.
It says it has 4 lead-acid batts, but doesn't say how much volts. It also has a "battery minder will shut the deck off when the juice is low to leave enough energy to drive back to the shed for recharging."
 
One might do the same with only one traction motor if the donor tractor has a differential. I like the idea of separate motors for the blades, as mine has a pulley & belt that's always snatching up twigs & stuff.
 
Randy

 



________________________________
 From: Will Holcomb <bigvortex at yahoo.com>
To: ausev at austinev.org
Sent: Monday, April 13, 2009 10:45:36 AM
Subject: [ausev] Hoping for so answers


I just joined this group in hopes of getting some answers.  I want to convert a riding lawn mower to electric.  It is throwing a rod and is too old to replace the engine cost effectively.  I really don't want to sink the money into a new mower.  So I thought converting this would be a good project.  I did some web searches and was surprised there was not more information on doing this.  I figured an EV group could point me in the right direction.  If this isn't a good place to get this help can someone point me to a place that is?

Thanks,
Will


      
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