Electric Horse

[Snoopy11 5,714]

1 minute ago, Evguy said:

I braved the heat and did more work on the electric horse.

So did I... and paid the price...

 

ME BE DEHYDRATED...

 

Don

[Evguy 556]

I was probably borderline heatstroke.

 I don’t take the heat like I did 40 years ago,😆 

[Bill D 1,916]

Looking great.  Very nice work.

[Evguy 556]

I still have some odds and ends to attend to but it’s back together. I strapped the batteries until I make a hold down and possibly add another layer of smaller batteries.

It looks like a new deck or some repairs to existing will be needed, saw a few holes when reinstalling. 

[Snoopy11 5,714]

18 hours ago, Evguy said:

I was probably borderline heatstroke.

 I don’t take the heat like I did 40 years ago

I don't know what 40 years ago was like... but...

 

Yeah, I am one of those people who sweat until every drop of water in my body is gone...

 

Don

 

 

[Evguy 556]

52 minutes ago, Snoopy11 said:

I don't know what 40 years ago was like... but...

 

Yeah, I am one of those people who sweat until every drop of water in my body is gone...

 

Don

 

 

Oops, kinda eluded to my age there, yep I’m old. 😕

[Evguy 556]

I went out to mow after getting charger delivered. I mowed about an acre which took about 40 minutes. I ran this test on 1/2 battery capacity. The motor got fairly warm, I improved intake area, but may add a fan. 
My old batteries apparently are down to 80% capacity, not a surprise to me.

Overall I will call it a success.

[Maxwell-8 4,275]

That must be a heavy tractor with all those battery's. 

[Evguy 556]

4 hours ago, Maxwell-8 said:

That must be a heavy tractor with all those battery's. 

Maybe 40 pounds heavier, LiFPo batteries aren’t as heavy as lead acid.

[Pullstart 62,829]

On 5/27/2022 at 10:19 AM, OoPEZoO said:

Are you going to isolate the ground, or bolt it to the chassis?

 

On 5/27/2022 at 10:49 AM, Evguy said:

Ground is common to 12 volt through dc/dc converter but nothing will be grounded to frame 

Over Memorial weekend, I grounded the chassis of a friend’s RV!  The 15a plug had the ground broken off and it was plugged in upside down.  After testing with the meter, I found that 63vac ran through my body when my knees were on the ground and my arm touched the chassis!

[Handy Don 12,201]

3 hours ago, Pullstart said:

 

Over Memorial weekend, I grounded the chassis of a friend’s RV!  The 15a plug had the ground broken off and it was plugged in upside down.  After testing with the meter, I found that 63vac ran through my body when my knees were on the ground and my arm touched the chassis!

So it was plugged into "shore power" and the breakers were not shut off? Hmmmm.

Maybe RV electricity isn't as lethal as house electricity. 

[Pullstart 62,829]

9 minutes ago, Handy Don said:

So it was plugged into "shore power" and the breakers were not shut off? Hmmmm.

Maybe RV electricity isn't as lethal as house electricity. 

They thought they had a battery issue and I had my meter in hand to start checking stuff.  Ended up the chassis ground was powered.  Sue told Dan last year to toss that old extension cord, but he was too cheap to listen.  It ended up in the garbage after that little fiasco 

[Handy Don 12,201]

3 hours ago, Pullstart said:

They thought they had a battery issue and I had my meter in hand to start checking stuff.  Ended up the chassis ground was powered.  Sue told Dan last year to toss that old extension cord, but he was too cheap to listen.  It ended up in the garbage after that little fiasco 

Cord got run over (or janked out by the cord) one too many times, eh?

[Evguy 556]

I have a couple of mowings on the Electric Horse now. Pretty good performance, although not as quiet as you would think.

 I used a but more power in the tall grass, sort of a balance of speed and deck heights.

 I need the rest of the batteries in a weight box setup for running time desired. 
The motor gets to about 160 degrees, I’m going to add a fan to see if it helps things.

I installed the led headlights while charging, took a break and finished mowing.

[Maxwell-8 4,275]

7 hours ago, Evguy said:

although not as quiet as you would think.

Wheel Horses have a noisy drivetrain.  Transmission whine, belt, idler pulley.

I hear that stuff even over the engine at times.

@SylvanLakeWH posted a video of his E-141 running. You can really hear the drivetrain components make a certain noise. 

But it is quieter then a Gas engine.

 

[Evguy 556]

7 hours ago, Maxwell-8 said:

Wheel Horses have a noisy drivetrain.  Transmission whine, belt, idler pulley.

I hear that stuff even over the engine at times.

@SylvanLakeWH posted a video of his E-141 running. You can really hear the drivetrain components make a certain noise. 

But it is quieter then a Gas engine.

 

Quieter than my JD ZTR, even the blade noise is less.

 I can mow without noise canceling headphones so that’s something.

[Evguy 556]

https://charginghorse.blogspot.com/?m=1

 

I spent some time tinkering with adding a fan to cool the motor, I wasn’t liking the heat on nearby batteries.

 

I found a speaker grill that fit fan well, I modified it by removing fabric and cutting slots. I decided on guard after fan sucked in my shirt and took a section out.

 

In testing it lowered temperatures by 35 -40 degrees. I did pick up a lot of grass in the fan guard however.

 

[adsm08 2,046]

On 6/6/2022 at 2:22 PM, Pullstart said:

 

Over Memorial weekend, I grounded the chassis of a friend’s RV!  The 15a plug had the ground broken off and it was plugged in upside down.  After testing with the meter, I found that 63vac ran through my body when my knees were on the ground and my arm touched the chassis!

 

Just don't ever charge an EV AC system with regular PAG oil. Always use ePAG.

[Evguy 556]

After using the emower for a while, I have decided to try something different with motor control. I bought a speed controller to install in the spring. 
I hope to make it a bit more efficient and take the stresses off motor and mounts by starting slower. 
It may be a waste of money and time, but will be easier on brushes and drivetrain.

Perhaps I can slow the motor and get more running time as well.