<DIV style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif; font-size:10pt;"><DIV>Will,</DIV>
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<DIV>The biggest problem with mower reliability and starting is the battery. They simply can't take the heat and the charging conditions are not ideal. I was told by a cert. J.D. mechanic to count on purchasing a new battery every season. That's followed by little or no maintainance by owners - be sure to clean the air filter after every couple of mowings and check oil before EVERY use he stressed.</DIV>
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<DIV>- That first bit about the batteries may bode ill for an electric mower.</DIV>
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<DIV>But I digress. I think you can have a blast building an eletric mower. I'd like to try it myself some time. I don't know if this solves your original problems or not, but have you considered a 44" tow behind brush mower or finishing mower? (look in northernTool.com). Especially if this is just for fun, the tow behind will save the hassle of figuring out belt and pulley system for the blades and let you focus on propulsion. It's a pull start, not electric start, although that is an option.</DIV>
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<DIV>Tom</DIV>
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<DIV><BR>--- bigvortex@yahoo.com wrote:<BR><BR>From: Will Holcomb <bigvortex@yahoo.com><BR>To: AustinEV News Announcements and General Discussion <ausev@austinev.org><BR>Subject: Re: [ausev] Hoping for some answers<BR>Date: Tue, 14 Apr 2009 10:51:35 -0700 (PDT)<BR><BR></DIV>
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<DIV>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. <BR></DIV>
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<B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">From:</SPAN></B> red scott <redscott77092@yahoo.com><BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">To:</SPAN></B> AustinEV News Announcements and General Discussion <ausev@austinev.org><BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Sent:</SPAN></B> Tuesday, April 14, 2009 12:34:51 PM<BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Subject:</SPAN></B> Re: [ausev] Hoping for so answers<BR></FONT><BR>
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<DIV>The latest issue of Mother Earth News has a short news item about an elec mower from Hustler Turf in Hesston Kansas.</DIV>
<DIV>It's priced at $6500 but the description has some interesting design clues.</DIV>
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<DIV>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.</DIV>
<DIV>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."</DIV>
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<DIV>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.</DIV>
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<DIV>Randy</DIV>
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<B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">From:</SPAN></B> Will Holcomb <bigvortex@yahoo.com><BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">To:</SPAN></B> ausev@austinev.org<BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Sent:</SPAN></B> Monday, April 13, 2009 10:45:36 AM<BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Subject:</SPAN></B> [ausev] Hoping for so answers<BR></FONT><BR>
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<DIV>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?<BR><BR>Thanks,<BR>Will<BR></DIV></DIV><BR></DIV></DIV></DIV><BR></DIV></DIV></DIV><BR>_______________________________________________ AusEV mailing list <A href="/eonapps/ft/wm/page/compose?send_to=AusEV%40austinev.org">AusEV@austinev.org</A> <A href="http://www.austinev.org/mailman/listinfo/ausev">http://www.austinev.org/mailman/listinfo/ausev</A> </DIV>