Mowed electrically!

[David Dymaxion]

It was after midnight, but who could resist taking a newly converted garden tractor out for a test mow? Despite somewhat overgrown grass, I was very happy to be drawing about 60 Amps whilst mowing down my hill and about 80 Amps mowing up the hill. This compares well to other lawn tractors I have seen on the web. I had planned to do just one quick strip -- after all, the blades are still a bit noisy even if the motor is very quiet. It was so much fun I couldn't stop at one strip, I wound up doing about ten passes and then my son did a couple. Motor heat was tested by laying a hand on the motor. We could always lay a hand comfortably on the motor, so it looks like it is running cool enough. Later on, I suddenly realized I hadn't put on ear muffs, and my son and I could talk without yelling while mowing. It is much quieter than my old gas one. It is about as fast as the old one in 2nd gear, and much faster in 3rd and 4th gears. The regen is great, the speed up and down hills doesn't vary much.

There are still things to do. For instance, we just threw the batteries onto a wagon and are towing the batteries. Battery boxes on the tractor proper still need to be made. I need to add an overheat safety switch and and a charger. I have a good start on a web page all about it, I'll post up once that's ready.

[Adam]

Ha David that is awesome!!!

On Jun 16, 2013 2:58 AM, "David Dymaxion" <david_d...@yahoo.com> wrote:

It was after midnight, but who could resist taking a newly converted garden tractor out for a test mow? Despite somewhat overgrown grass, I was very happy to be drawing about 60 Amps whilst mowing down my hill and about 80 Amps mowing up the hill. This compares well to other lawn tractors I have seen on the web. I had planned to do just one quick strip -- after all, the blades are still a bit noisy even if the motor is very quiet. It was so much fun I couldn't stop at one strip, I wound up doing about ten passes and then my son did a couple. Motor heat was tested by laying a hand on the motor. We could always lay a hand comfortably on the motor, so it looks like it is running cool enough. Later on, I suddenly realized I hadn't put on ear muffs, and my son and I could talk without yelling while mowing. It is much quieter than my old gas one. It is about as fast as the old one in 2nd gear, and much faster in 3rd and 4th gears. The regen is great, the speed up and down hills doesn't vary much.

There are still things to do. For instance, we just threw the batteries onto a wagon and are towing the batteries. Battery boxes on the tractor proper still need to be made. I need to add an overheat safety switch and and a charger. I have a good start on a web page all about it, I'll post up once that's ready.

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[David Dymaxion]

Thanks. More good news, this thing doesn't bog down at all! The old mower would stall if you ran it into tall grass. You had to slow way down or cut 1/2 width strips. The  electric doesn't slow down that I can perceive. The motor stabilized at 135 F. I'm very happy, I gave myself a great father's day gift! We did some more mowing today it was so much fun. It's looking like it'll take 2 or 3 charges to mow the whole lawn, though.

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From: Adam <cha...@gmail.com>
To: utahEVi...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Sunday, June 16, 2013 7:37 PM
Subject: Re: [UtahEVinterest] Mowed electrically!