Electric?

[cheesedawg82]

Sorry to start yet another thread, but "95" is too short of a word to search. Anyone want to talk electric tractors?

Here on the half acre homestead, I can't start up a tractor before 7 AM, and out of respect for the neighbors would prefer to wait until at least 8 AM, but it sure would have been nice to be able to plow the driveway at 4:30 AM and had it cleared out before the city trucks came out.

I see there's a plow for the 95 electric, and I do have an aging orange rear engine rider in the fleet, as I can only mow with a 32" deck. Frankly, a plow about 2" narrower than big brother on a tight turning machine would be really handy. Now that I've got the yellow fever, I'd really like to learn about these tractors in case I can ever actually get my hands on one. With all those batteries over the rear, I'm guessing a set of chains will give traction for days when pushing snow. I'm looking for someone to confirm or disprove that theory.

Now, looking around the empire of dirt, I see a sad and lonely 127 in the corner of the garage, and the only thing left under the hood is a K301 with a broken rod. With all the amazing builds I've seen here, someone has to have found the right combination of electric motor, starter, and batteries to push the Hydro. For my needs, an hour or so of run time per charge would be more than sufficient.

Key salvage items to seek in search of components included but certainly not limited to electric golf carts, floor scrubbers, fork lifts, trolling motors, and treadmills.

[ironman]

Why not mount a plow on a golf cart and save yourself a lot of work. Oh, and better get a rubber edge for the blade, don't want to disturb the neighbors with that scraping noise.

[cooperino]

IMO, What your thinking of doing would be a cool project. However, If I were planning such a project it would be after I already owned a combination of tractors, yard tools, and equipment that already did everything I want them to do. In other words, I would not be building such a project out of necessity. It would be very involved and time consuming. So what would I do in the mean time if I'm in your shoes? I would fix the 127 to operate as intended. Next with time on my hands I would find a shell of a tractor for next to nothing "cheaper the better". After that I would take my sweet time building my electric machine.

[sawdustdad]

If you wanted, say, 5hp, that's about 4500 watts (746watts/hp).

4500 watts at 12 volts is 375 amps. Let's say that's peak, and more like 2 hp average. That's 1500 watts, or 125 amps at 12v. Running that for an hour, that would use 125 amp hours. Rule of thumb is don't discharge a lead acid battery more than 50%, so need a 250ah battery bank. A golf cart battery is about 200ah capacity at 6v, so a pair would suffice. A 5000watt inverter, a 3 or 4 hp 3450 rpm motor, with soft start capacitors, and you might be in business.

You might need to double up the batteries to reduce the draw down rate. Most batteries are rated at a 20hr discharge rate. At a higher discharge rate, you'd have less capacity.

I think it's a neat idea. Inverters are getting more reasonable, just need one that will start a motor that large. Once the motor is started, it can just run, and the hydro can control speed and direction. You'll have some losses in the hydro, of course, and the inverter, and the motor. So you'd have to add a bit of a fudge factor, maybe 20% to allow for that.

On the other hand, a plow on a golf cart is not a bad idea, either. Or steal the motor and controls from a wrecked golf cart. Avoids the inverter starting the motor problem.

[IHCubCadet147]

This might give you some ideas. It is a Massey Ferguson that was converted to electric.
https://youtu.be/rKaGGe4NQGc

[darkminion_17]

They do make electric snow blowers. Plug it in and go!

[cheesedawg82]

Originally Posted by cooperino

IMO, What your thinking of doing would be a cool project. However, If I were planning such a project it would be after I already owned a combination of tractors, yard tools, and equipment that already did everything I want them to do. In other words, I would not be building such a project out of necessity. It would be very involved and time consuming. So what would I do in the mean time if I'm in your shoes? I would fix the 127 to operate as intended. Next with time on my hands I would find a shell of a tractor for next to nothing "cheaper the better". After that I would take my sweet time building my electric machine.

I have a 106 and a 149 that run just fine, and the accumulation of yard tools is coming along as planned, slowly but surely.

Meanwhile, that 127 is pretty much exactly what you mentioned, a shell of a tractor that cost me a whole $30. Going electric is probably way better than the other butchery I had in mind for it.

[cooperino]

We rebuild quite a few electric aircraft pushback tractors here. LEKTRO is the primary brand. What we have found is the higher voltage unit the better. The early models were 24 VDC now they are coming out with 96 volts DC. the higher voltage requires less amperage. The batteries have gotten way better over the years also. If you could find a 36 volt motor the result would be more torque and longer run times pound for pound of batteries VS lower voltage motors.

[cheesedawg82]

From what I gather, a cap start motor should be fine with the hydrostat, just flip the switch to on and the factory controls do the rest. Save the complicated stuff for a gear drive, and I can run one of the other tractors for the PTO. This would be even more handy on a ported pump unit with a loader, hydraulic PTO, etc.

GE built an ElecTrac garden tractor that competed with the IH vintage Cubs and it was really capable. There are a few new electric tractor manufacturers popping up and Kubota has launched an electric line. Modern technology is getting really efficient, and repowering some old iron sure seems better than gardening with a plastic tractor.

As for electric snowblowers, they made one for the ElecTrac and it is no slouch. It looks like folks doing conversions put electric motors directly onto the blades of their mower decks.

[cheesedawg82]

Originally Posted by IHCubCadet147

This might give you some ideas. It is a Massey Ferguson that was converted to electric.
https://youtu.be/rKaGGe4NQGc

While that is an awesome machine, I'm almost certain that it's much more complicated than neccessary to run the hydrostat. Theres a lot of that tractor on t
YouTube.