On 31 Dec 2013 at 12:11, Lee Hart wrote: > The old GE ElecTraks are an example of a garden tractor designed to be > electric from the ground up. It used: ... > > - No controller! The motor was switched straight to the batteries, > and speed was controlled by the multi-speed gearbox.
That was true only of the ER8-36 rider and E8 and E8 small tractors, which were pretty close to conversions of similar ICE riders and tractors. They ran the motor at full speed all the time, and had a clutch and multi-speed transmission, much like a simple ICE tractor. However, the larger E12, E15, and E20 did use controllers - regrettably an inefficient series resistance type. Fortunately they had plenty of battery capacity for their intended mission despite wasting energy in the controller. However, if you want to improve effiiciency (and reliability), you can retrofit a modern controller. Alltrax makes a sep-ex controller tailored to ETs. Another good choice would be a 4QD PM-motor controller, with the brake release repurposed for field drive. Several ET owners have even made do with Curtis series-motor controllers. David Roden - Akron, Ohio, USA EVDL Administrator = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = EVDL Information: http://www.evdl.org/help/ = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Note: mail sent to "evpost" and "etpost" addresses will not reach me. To send a private message, please obtain my email address from the webpage http://www.evdl.org/help/ . = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
