Lawn Tractor Conversion New new new..."Final Video"

[Tommy L]

That might even pull a three reel gang mower. 8)

I have 20 minutes of mowing. I'm on a 1 acre lot that is mostly treed. I might cut 3 to 4,000 square feet
The deck may pull some watts, but this is the exciting part of electric builds and I enjoy.......
Experimenting, Observing and Taking notes. Each electric project to date has yielded me some knowledge :wink:

Tommy L sends....

 

[Tommy L]

Find yourself a nice reel like mylittlepony did and you're in business with almost any motor, but for goodness sake use a good hubbie stepped down with a good belt reduction and enjoy some silence. His rattletrap is even more annoying than a gasser, but it demonstrates what a crappy little 1kw brushed motor can do, so imagine how well something like my 2 speed MiniMonster would fare and give you 2 speeds with no tranny.

I've been looking for a decently priced wide reel or gang of 3 to do a tractor from scratch for the kids, but the reels are the sticking point and the golf courses aren't coughing up any of their used stuff. Some of those hover deck electric mowers with no wheels are so cheap that I'm tempted to gang 3 of them together and run a big inverter, so the tractor part is mostly a big battery carrier.

John

Hi John!

I went for the ME-1004 for it's ease of install (apparently a direct replacement for the briggs and no controller). I have much to do here, so
this project has to be quick.
Not much lawn here 3 to 4,000 square feet. I feel guilty using a riding mower! lol I think I will tie in with this project a small solar array to see how well
LiFePO4 charges as compared to Lead Acid. Motor, wire, lugs, crimp tool, Shunt, CAV3, heat shrink, contactor should all be here by Thursday or Friday

I can't wait to see the 3 gang Hover pull behind!

Tommy L sends......

 

[wineboyrider]

When I get the money I am going to get the motenergy 1004 Too as my ICE crapped out the other day ironic isn't it? LOL. I think wet cells are the way to go here though and not lithium ($$$) I have 3 12v 100 ah batteries from Walmart which should give me 3600 watt hours of energy.......for $275 .

 

[Tommy L]

When I get the money I am going to get the motenergy 1004 Too as my ICE crapped out the other day ironic isn't it? LOL. I think wet cells are the way to go here though and not lithium ($$$) I have 3 12v 100 ah batteries from Walmart which should give me 3600 watt hours of energy.......for $275 .

I would agree with you on 3600 watt hours if you were pulling a few amps, but you will most likely pull 100amps. That is 1C on lead acid.
My realistic guess would be more like 1,000 watt hours available.

I did tests of 800watt resistive load on a 50ah AGM. It lasted 12 minutes using 180watt hours (12v @ 76amps).
So at 1.5C there was 15ah usable at 800 watts. Given that you have 100ah batteries, one may assume (not sure unless I experimented)
you may have 30ah @ 36v for 1,080 watt hours. Another guess is that your mower will probably use 3,000 to 5,000 watt hours effectively
giving you a run time of 12 to 20 minutes.

Lead acid would give you the 100ah (1200 watt hours) but not for 1 hour. When they rate AH I believe that it is based on 20 hours of
discharge of 60 watt hours for 20 hours @ 12v. The minute you put lead acid under a heavy load, AH rating is severely reduced.

So really......1,000 watt hours of energy for $275.00. and not too many discharges with such a heavy load on those Lead Acids.
Maybe 100-200 charges with degradation while cycling. LiFePO4 for the win

Tommy L sends.....

 

[wineboyrider]

Thinking of paralleling them with my 10s 30ah lipo packs using diodes and separate voltage meters to monitor packs. Lead and lipo for the victory lap!

 

[Tommy L]

Thinking of paralleling them with my 10s 30ah lipo packs using diodes and separate voltage meters to monitor packs. Lead and lipo for the victory lap!

lmao! You Win! lol 8)

 

[Tommy L]

I receive my items today!

From EVDrives.com:

ME-1004 8.4kw continuous motor
600amp Contactor
2 gauge welding cable in Red and Black
Lugs to crimp to the 2 gauge
Crimp Tool
AN Fuse Holder
400amp AN Fuse
1/2" Heat Shrink
2 pre-charge resistors (for another project)

From Grin Tech:
CA V3
200amp Shunt

I'll swap out the CA V3 over to my Ebike and use the CA V2.25 for the E-Tractor.

I made an unboxing video with my GoPro Hero2, but my son had changed the settings and nearly everything was out of view :lol:

Next............... Out goes the ICE!

Also, I ordered 2 Delta Q 48volts chargers. I will be wiring them up in Parallel on both the input and output sides of the unit.
I should be able to get 36amps at 58v wooooo hooooo 2kw. The input side will be 220-240v

Tommy L sends.....

 

[Tommy L]

I managed to get 2 Delta Q Chargers. 48v@18amps. They can be paralleled for 48V @36 amps
Apparently they are programmed for Li, so I'll double check.

I went and purchased a 10x10 inch T6 Aluminum 1/4 inch thick for the electric motor plate.
I finished the layout and drilled the holes. I'm ready to mount the motor!
The last pic has a little bit of "G" in it! lol

Tommy L sends......

 

[Tommy L]

I'm really getting into this project. I've placed the batteries to get an idea of the battery box configuration.
5052 aluminum 0.125 thick maybe 0.1875 thick. Now waiting for a quote. If the 3/16 is not all that much more
expense, I'll welded up these pieces in 0.1875 (3/16) thick

Tommy L sends....

 

[Tommy L]

I TIG welded up some T5052 0.1875 (3/16") for the battery boxes

Tommy L sends.....

 

[Tommy L]

Today the battery box needed a bit of trimming to avoid partial interference with the hood closing.
Also, the Shunt, Contactor, Main Fuse, Contactor Switch, and Cycle Analyst were mounted.
Finally, I'll be starting on the wiring! My favorite part! Really

Well.....I kept going and completed the wiring and did a test run.
No load is about 400 watts 8)
Contactor works great! and the CA with the shunt is a must to keep an eye on the watt hours
I used 4 of my 12.8v nominal A123 motorcycle start batteries in series for the test. I will probably use 16 or 20 of these units for
a 1.9KW or 2.4KW pack.

Tommy L sends....

 

[Tommy L]

Here is a link to my First Start Up Video.
I usually use YouTube, but for some reason I put it up on FB. Let me know if you cant see it and I'll get it up on YouTube.

Tommy L sends.....

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151752997596983&l=8500073662447622091

 

[wineboyrider]

Can't wait till the current spikes!

Sounds cool too.

I might not be able to build mine until next year. Have to get divorced first.

 

[Tommy L]

Can't wait till the current spikes!

Sounds cool too.

I might not be able to build mine until next year. Have to get divorced first.

Lol. When that contact closes, yeeeeee hawwwwww
Nice to see that it only draws 3-400 watts at 3600 rpm under no load.
Once I get the blades turning, I hear that it will be pulling around
5,000 watts. I'm hoping less. I will report back in a few days. Mom
Is having 77th birthday. I'm with her for the next two days

Tommy L sends......

 

[Tommy L]

Here's a YouTube vid of the Startup

Tommy L sends........

[youtube]t2I3hzjJpF8[/youtube]

 

[stonny9]

Great post so far. Please keep the info coming. Most people fade off and dont finish their build thread. A video of cutting with the battery/power stats would be great. Do you have any low voltage cutoff or just rely on the meter?

 

[Tommy L]

Great post so far. Please keep the info coming. Most people fade off and dont finish their build thread. A video of cutting with the battery/power stats would be great. Do you have any low voltage cutoff or just rely on the meter?

Great point Stonny9! I started this thread with the intention of a start to finish build :wink:

Most of us here on the forum probably have some form of ADHD, and once they get enough info, they are off building, then riding, then
doing something else! lol Dang, I play Bass Guitar, Guitar, Drums, Piano, I built houses (2 so far by myself), I'm a scuba diver, red belt Tae kwon Do,
I'm a Amateur Radio Operator VE7 TAC, and the list goes on, but I can't add to it because I have to go and make a coffee. lol
Speaking of coffee, I researched Burr Grinders and Espresso machines and I'm a self proclaimed Barista. My brain is like a 5 ton wheel spinning real fast.
It's Crazy in here!

No "Low Voltage Cut". I'm the kind of guy that will calculate the Watt Hours available and not exceed 80% of my capacity, this is why
I really like the Cycle Analyst, CA Rocks! Thank you JUSTIN! I will also use "Low Voltage Alarms"
in case there are some low capacity cells. I test my packs first to ensure their capacity and keep a close eye on them.

Tommy L sends......

 

[Tommy L]

Yes! I really do make Espresso, Cappuccino, Lattes ...... I'm a sick puppy! 8)

 

[Tommy L]

Battery installation will happen today
Of sorts........It will look like a wiring mess until I decided just how I'd like it to look.

I want these batteries to be used in my other electric projects, so I need to come up with a modular design and
modular connect/disconnect.

But for now......It will just be a spagetti mess of wires until the design hits me. 8)

More pictures/video on its way after I do the Battery install.

Tommy L sends.....

 

[dnmun]

make a strut to brace the unsupported end of that battery tray as it sticks out over the motor. it needs some support on the other side to keep from vibrating and causing metal fatigue on the one edge where it is bolted down.

also put high pressure in the lawn tractor tires to increase the mileage. sharpen the blades like a knife. i found that was the most important and the grass and weeds seem to wear the edge off fast too.

 

[Tommy L]

make a strut to brace the unsupported end of that battery tray as it sticks out over the motor. it needs some support on the other side to keep from vibrating and causing metal fatigue on the one edge where it is bolted down.

also put high pressure in the lawn tractor tires to increase the mileage. sharpen the blades like a knife. i found that was the most important and the grass and weeds seem to wear the edge off fast too.

Hi Denis! Thank you for checking out my thread and your comments

Both ends of the battery tray are supported and bolted down. I used 5052 Aluminum for the Battery Tray. One end (left) is bolted to the chassis bed and the other
end is bolted to the gable ends on the right where the upper fuel tank was mounted.

Tires are set at 25 PSI :wink:

Yet to come is the sharpening the blades

Tommy L sends.....

 

[Tommy L]

UPDATE!

Maiden voyage was yesterday evening! It was AWESOME!

My son had the GoPro, so the batteries were dead
So I grabbed my Iphone4s and started to shoot video when it said: "Storage full"

So I will have to shoot video again.

Here is my findings thus far:

-VERY Powerful Motor. Way better performance than the ICE.
-I used approx 1kw of energy (that is what I put back into the pack after the recharge)
-CA reported that I used 8ah of my 36ah pack(approx 409wh), this is why I recharge using a Kilowatt meter so see if the CA is reporting the correct info.

Conclusion:
I was happy to see the CA report 12amp draw @ 51.2v nom (approx 600watts) while motoring and no blades spinning.
I was happy to see the CA report 45-50amp draw @ 51.2v nom (approx 2400 watts) while motoring and Blades spinning.
I was UNhappy to recharge and see that I used double the power than the CA reported.

I have the CA set to 0.5mOhms which I believe the shunt value of the shunt to be correct. Now I have to measure and see why
the CA is reporting only half of my consumption. I've had this issue before (I didn't know that you had to input a shunt value into the CA when I was a Noob),
but I double checked, so I'm not sure what is up. :x But not really mad, there is always something! lol

I'm using a CA 2.25 and a Shunt from ebikes.ca (Grin). The shunt says 0.5, I have to see if it's Mohms or ohms.

Tommy L sends....

 

[Tommy L]

While checking out the Ebikes.ca store, I notice that ebikes.ca possibly sent me the 0.25 mOhm shunt instead of the 0.5 mOhm shunt.
I did want the one with the higher amperage rating, but Robby at Grin said that the lower amp rated would be more accurate.

The one I have here has Three brass bars and not two bars. Also, that would make sense that if I input 0.25mOhms into the
CA shunt value, then the CA will report twice the amp hour/watt hours.

Whats strange is that both Shunts on the website have 0.5 stamped on them. Maybe the 0.5 means something else?
or they are just stamped wrong?

Tommy L sends....

 

[stonny9]

-VERY Powerful Motor. Way better performance than the ICE.
-I used approx 1kw of energy (that is what I put back into the pack after the recharge)
-CA reported that I used 8ah of my 36ah pack(approx 409wh), this is why I recharge using a Kilowatt meter so see if the CA is reporting the correct info.

Conclusion:
I was happy to see the CA report 12amp draw @ 51.2v nom (approx 600watts) while motoring and no blades spinning.
I was happy to see the CA report 45-50amp draw @ 51.2v nom (approx 2400 watts) while motoring and Blades spinning.
I was UNhappy to recharge and see that I used double the power than the CA reported.

Was the motor and blade amp draw with the tractor stationary? I have previously read that people with your same motor were getting 60 amps cutting and up to 100 amps with high/thick grass. So you are saying that your used 16ah? How long did you run it for?

 

[Tommy L]

-VERY Powerful Motor. Way better performance than the ICE.
-I used approx 1kw of energy (that is what I put back into the pack after the recharge)
-CA reported that I used 8ah of my 36ah pack(approx 409wh), this is why I recharge using a Kilowatt meter so see if the CA is reporting the correct info.

Conclusion:
I was happy to see the CA report 12amp draw @ 51.2v nom (approx 600watts) while motoring and no blades spinning.
I was happy to see the CA report 45-50amp draw @ 51.2v nom (approx 2400 watts) while motoring and Blades spinning.
I was UNhappy to recharge and see that I used double the power than the CA reported.

Was the motor and blade amp draw with the tractor stationary? I have previously read that people with your same motor were getting 60 amps cutting and up to 100 amps with high/thick grass. So you are saying that your used 16ah? How long did you run it for?

While cutting, only if I hit some deep thick grass, the amps went up only a little
Yes, it would appear that I used 16ah of my pack according to the Kilowatt meter that I plug my charger into. I used 0.99kw from my house hydro to recharge.
I like to use this method to check the CA for accuracy. So around 800 watt hours used from pack and 990 watt hours back in with what would appear to be
20% loss during charge.
The run time is hard to be exact. I was very excited about it's performance. So I rode it for a few blocks over to a friends house to show him. lol
When I saw the CA reporting 600 watts while just motoring, and 2400 watts while cutting, I was jumping up and down inside! Then after charging,
the jumping stopped lol I'm sure that the shunt value entered in the CA is incorrect.

Next time I cut, I will log the minutes of cutting time and report back here for you.

Tommy L sends....