GE Elec-Trak Electric Lawn Tractor

Picked up an electric lawn tractor today off of Craigslist. I was looking for an electric snow blower and came across this. It came with a mower deck and snow blower.

Whoohoo

Switch out the SLA with lipo and go drag racing!!
(with the tractor, not you) :wink:

PedalingBiped said:

Switch out the SLA with lipo and go drag racing!!

Click to expand...

I've read it was popular for tractor pulls!

I'm going to try and resurrect the original batteries first before looking at alternatives (although lipos have crossed my mind).

It has 6, 6 volt batteries for a total of 36 volts. 4 under the back seat and two under the hood.

These are the batteries under the seat.

These are the batteries under the seat before cleanup.

These are the batteries under the seat after cleanup and with one out for inspection.

This is the first battery I'm working on bringing back to life. It's a behemoth! I've never seen a battery this big in my life!!!

It's from 1981 vintage. It was low on water when I first checked it. After filling it took almost 1 gallon of distilled water! It did measure 0 volts at first. After putting water in it it went up to 1.981v. I'm not sure if it was from the water or me just pushing harder on the terminals to get through the corrosion but I'm pretty sure it was from the water. At any rate it's a good sign and I haven't even put it on the charger yet! Someone told me if they are that dry to fill them and let them set overnight before charging so that's what I'm going to do.

I don't know if it will help, but I have also been told by a guy I met that saves old car batteries for storing power for his house that if they were dry, then after filling you could vibrate them or slosh them overnight to help get everything properly "mixed"; I'm not sure how valid that is but it sounds good. He said that he uses an old vibrating chair massager to do it.

br549 said:

It's from 1981 vintage. It was low on water when I first checked it. After filling it took almost 1 gallon of distilled water! It did measure 0 volts at first. After putting water in it it went up to 1.981v.

Click to expand...

After only about an hour sitting it's up to 2.417!

I haven't even put it on the charger yet!!! :lol:

amberwolf said:

I don't know if it will help, but I have also been told by a guy I met that saves old car batteries for storing power for his house that if they were dry, then after filling you could vibrate them or slosh them overnight to help get everything properly "mixed"; I'm not sure how valid that is but it sounds good. He said that he uses an old vibrating chair massager to do it.

Click to expand...

Actually that sounds like a good idea. The guy I was talking with worked with a lot of old tractor batteries. He said sometimes he would charge them at 40 amps and really get the water boiling. He'd put a 5 gallon plastic pale over them in case they exploded!

I'm really amazed at how good of shape this first battery looks. The person I bought it from had the tractor stored in his basement so I don't think they ever froze. It looked like it had been down there for awhile. It took about ten minutes to unbury it from everything that was sitting on it and then about another 1/2 hour to extricate it from the basement!

After sitting overnight I put it on the charger. I have an old charger that has a 6v and 12v option. It also can charge at 2 amp or 6 amp. I decided to charge it slow with a 2 amp charge. Not sure which would be better to start with 2 amp or 6 amp.

I'll let it charge for 24 hours and report back what happens.

This time I dug the prongs into the battery posts. No voltage. I put in the rest of the water from the first gallon container and an additional (over 3/4 gallon) from the second container of distilled water! As soon as I did it the battery started to show voltage!

1.827 VOLTS!!!

Here is a handy item I borrowed from my neighbor (the one that works with old tractors). It's a strap with kind of a jagged alligator clip on the end. You slide it over the battery terminals and you can pull the battery straight up! What a great invention!!! I was bemoaning how I was going to get those heavy batteries out of tight quarters! He also said two vice grips will do in a pinch.

Here is the operating table with two batteries extracted.

I dropped one of the batteries and put a huge crack down the side.

Not sure if there is anything that can be done to fix it.

that stinks,a cracked battery,im watching this post.i just got a 90s mobility scooter with dead batteries.but its in great shape.very nice tractor.

Does anyone know if this can be overvolted to 48v? I'm thinking not because it has to somehow convert the DC to AC for running the mower blades and snow blower motor.

br549 said:

Does anyone know if this can be overvolted to 48v? I'm thinking not because it has to somehow convert the DC to AC for running the mower blades and snow blower motor.

Click to expand...

It does? That seems like it would be wierd. I'd expect it to just use a big DC brushed motor, maybe on a belt drive with a variable sheave pulley or something, and run right off the batteries.

According to this site:
http://www.mrsharkey.com/electrak.htm
the E-20 ( a bigger version of yours, probably) has a 20HP shunt-wound brushed DC motor.

However, it does appear to use an inverter to power the hydraulics pump, and the accessory outlets--but both of these are run from a separate 12V battery on his E-20. Might be on yours, too. He doesn't say.

He does say that the E12 he has uses a smaller permanent-magnet motor (presumably brushed DC as well), but doenst' mention further details.

amberwolf said:

br549 said:

Does anyone know if this can be overvolted to 48v? I'm thinking not because it has to somehow convert the DC to AC for running the mower blades and snow blower motor.

Click to expand...

It does? That seems like it would be wierd. I'd expect it to just use a big DC brushed motor, maybe on a belt drive with a variable sheave pulley or something, and run right off the batteries.

According to this site:
http://www.mrsharkey.com/electrak.htm
the E-20 ( a bigger version of yours, probably) has a 20HP shunt-wound brushed DC motor.

However, it does appear to use an inverter to power the hydraulics pump, and the accessory outlets--but both of these are run from a separate 12V battery on his E-20. Might be on yours, too. He doesn't say.

He does say that the E12 he has uses a smaller permanent-magnet motor (presumably brushed DC as well), but doenst' mention further details.

Click to expand...

Found some additional info...

• The Elec-Traks all use contactor controllers, rather than electronic controllers. This is basically a series of relays and resistors to give 3 to 8 speeds.

Found this on the snowblower motor...

• The motor is a very hefty series wound, with a speed limiting winding. General consensus of opinion is the motor is around 2.5 hp @ 3100 rpm running on 36volt dc.

What was confusing me is they had an inverter that powered several items. Now I'm thinking the three prong plug that the mower and snow blower plug into is actually putting out 36v.

br549 said:

He said sometimes he would charge them at 40 amps and really get the water boiling. He'd put a 5 gallon plastic pale over them in case they exploded!

Click to expand...

This is an extreme fail. Absolutely not what you want to do to restore a battery.

amberwolf said:

I don't know if it will help, but I have also been told by a guy I met that saves old car batteries for storing power for his house that if they were dry, then after filling you could vibrate them or slosh them overnight to help get everything properly "mixed"; I'm not sure how valid that is but it sounds good. He said that he uses an old vibrating chair massager to do it.

Click to expand...

This works surprisingly well.

br549 said:

Does anyone know if this can be overvolted to 48v? I'm thinking not because it has to somehow convert the DC to AC for running the mower blades and snow blower motor.

Click to expand...

No it doesn't.

And yes, 48v should be OK. Maybe get some relay coils hot enough to melt, maybe not. Since you're working in 6v batteries, try 42v first.


If you want to have something with good function, I would recomend bringing all those ancient 6v cells to a battery shop that will recycle them, and buy new batteries. These monster lead batteries are surprisingly cheap, and that size is extremely common for forklifts.

liveforphysics said:

br549 said:

Does anyone know if this can be overvolted to 48v? I'm thinking not because it has to somehow convert the DC to AC for running the mower blades and snow blower motor.

Click to expand...

No it doesn't.

And yes, 48v should be OK. Maybe get some relay coils hot enough to melt, maybe not. Since you're working in 6v batteries, try 42v first.


If you want to have something with good function, I would recomend bringing all those ancient 6v cells to a battery shop that will recycle them, and buy new batteries. These monster lead batteries are surprisingly cheap, and that size is extremely common for forklifts.

Click to expand...

Good info.

I should mention I'm working on putting together a 48v titanate pack. I'm going to swap it between several projects. I was thinking I could plop the pack down in the tractor when I needed it to blow snow.

Test #1
I lined the inside of the battery boxes with cardboard. They were coated with grease for protection and I was getting grease all over everything! Before I invest in batteries I want to make sure I can get this to work so I decided to do some basic testing under a very low voltage.

I took two batteries out of my sparrow that I was trying to recover and put them in the tractor. I was able to get each one to hold about 5 volts. I checked the wiring with my multimeter after hooking the batteries in series (one in the front and one in the back of the tractor). I got a whopping 10.91 volts, a safe voltage for my initial testing.

I went through the startup options below:

MOWEROPERATION
To operate the mower, the operator must be seated and the key switch turned to "On, " before the PTO switch is turned to "On." An electrical interlock prevents mower starting if this procedure is not followed. Once the mower is running, the operator leaving the seat or turning the key switch to "Off" causes another interlock which not only interrupts mower power, but also stops blade rotation immediately by a dynamic braking action. For all normal use, the PTO switch should be used to turn mower on and off. To re-start, the PTO switch must be turned "Off", then "On."

Nothing happened. Couldn't even get the lights to turn on. Then I checked both bulbs and they were burnt out. Then I found one good bulb and put it in one of the headlights. Still nothing.
Test #1 complete.
I consider it a success because nothing sparked and started on fire. :lol: I will be putting in a more powerful battery next.

Test #2
17.82v
One good battery and one not so good battery (only running about 5v).
Nothing happened after going through the startup procedure.
Test #2 complete.

I will be putting in two good batteries next.

You really need to go to http://www.elec-trak.com/. A bunch of great people with lots of infor about the elec-trak. I wouldn't recommend going to 48 volts on it. you are dealing with 40 year old parts that are setup for 36 volts. The traction motor can handle it but i don't think the deck motors can. As for making the lights work, they are run off of 2 batteries in the back box at 12 volts (there own light weight wires). you will also find a wires to run the front lift at 18 volts. Again go the http://www.elec-trak.com/. they have service manuals, wire diagrams, and at least 2 different dealer for parts.