What Brand Controller Will Work For Ge Elec Trak Tractor

The Elec-Trak E15 Electric Tractor and PV System

This is our projection to recondition an E15 Elec-Trak electrical tractor. The aim is to become the Elec-Trak into good enough shape for backyard mowing and snowfall throwing tasks as well every bit (hopefully) to integrate the tractor with our existing filigree-tied PV system then that we tin can use the Elec-Trak for ability during emergencies and keep information technology charged with our PV array.

The Elec-Trak dressed for the snow

This has been a fascinating project and I can highly recommend it.

1 thing I desire to brand articulate is that I'm no skilful on Elec-Traks or on restoring them. If whatever of you old manus Elec-Trak folks come across whatsoever oversights or impaired mistakes, please let me know.

There is a section for comments and questions hither...

I'd especially like to thank Mark Frerking who not only wrote the article beneath for Build-It-Solar on the Elec-Runway, but also found the Elec-Rail that I ended up ownership, and has also been a great source of information on rebuild -- Give thanks you Marking!!

I bought the E15 used from Joe in Colorado Springs and hauled it all the way upwardly to Bozeman in a small trailer behind our Honda Airplane pilot. I'd like to thank Joe and son for being patient and very helpful through working out the pick upward logistics, the loading, and passing on a lot of useful information most this E15.

What's an Elec-Track?

In a nutshell, the Elec-Trak tractor was a GE product in the 70's. The Elec-Traks were a series of electric tractors and riding mowers that utilize an onboard depository financial institution of atomic number 82 acrid batteries to power the tractor and also to power a big array of accessories that GE offered. In that location were something of the order of thirty,000 of these tractors made by GE and the companies that GE sold the functioning to. The machines are very functional and very durable. The Elec-Trak has developed a devoted set of followers and there are probably thousands of them running and existence restored -- this is pretty impressive given that the concluding new one left the factory in early 80's. In that location is also an agile Elec-Runway online owners society and a couple of skillful places to become parts from.

If you are interested in learning more most the Elec-Track, here are a few good sources of info:

- An Elec-Trak description and history from Mark...

- The Elec-Trak Owners Guild Online Forum...

- George's most excellent My Elec-Traks site...

- The Solar Electrical Tractor and Mower section of Build-It-Solar...

I particularly like George's site -- he has an incredible collection of beautifully restored Elec-Traks. There is also a lot of very good Elec Trak reference cloth on the site, including many of the original manuals. Note also the solar electric array on the Elec-Trak barn roof!

Goals for our Elec-Trak Project

The three chief goals I have for the project are:

one - Mow the Backyard and Blow the Snowfall

The firsthand aim is to get the tractor back into condition to mow our much also big lawn (about an acre), and also to practise some of the snow plowing chores in the wintertime. The tractor came with a mower deck, a front mount blade, and a 42 inch snow blower as attachments. Until recently, the tractor was being used, and then I'thousand starting from a pretty skillful base.

When I got the Elec Trak, the battery pack had nearly had it, and there is quite a chip of rust to make clean upwards, and a few things to fix. Simply, I had the reward of starting with an Elec Trak that had until recently been used.

Here are the details on putting a flake more than life in my E15:

- Cleaning upwardly the rust, painting, ...

- A new set of batteries and cables...

- Fixing a few things...

- The new charger/inverter...

- The snowfall blower and mower deck...

One reason we would similar to move to a solar electric mowing and snowfall blowing solution is that gasoline powered mowers are surprisingly heavy polluters. They practise non have catalytic converters and their emissions of unburned hydrocarbons, oxides of nitrogen, particulate matter, and carbon monoxide are quite high. So, switching to solar electricity for mowing and plowing has more of an affect on air pollution than you might think. The pollution estimates vary, and will be coming downward some equally new EPA regulations go into effect, merely any way you slice it, mowers are a big source of pollution.

2 - The New Charger/Inverter (and Solar Charging the Elec-Trak)

My initial goal was to have a dedicated solar array and charge controller to charge the Elec-Trak batteries. This seemed like a nice clean solution, simply the more I thought almost it, the more it appeared to brand more than sense to just charge the Elec-Trak from grid ability and to expand my existing grid tied PV array to cover the extra Elec-Trak energy usage. This fashion the PV panels can be active all the time, instead of dedicating PV panels to the Elec-Trak that would only exist used a pocket-sized function of the time. Nosotros have been planning to expand the PV array anyway, so this just makes the expansion a flake larger.

Details on the new charger/inverter...

And so, to charge the Elec-Trak battery pack, what I did (instead of a solar charging setup) was to buy a combination charger and inverter from Tripplite. The charger part of this heavy duty unit will charge the 36 volt Elec-Rails battery pack from a 120VAC outlet. Or, out in the field, the inverter role will provide 120 VAC for tools etc from the battery pack. It will also provide some power for the house in ability outages (see below).

Normally, the charger/inverter lives in the garage next to the Elec-Trak parking spot, and charges the Elec-Trak after utilise using a disconnectable cable. When ability is needed out in the field, the charger/inverter mounts to the dorsum of the Elec-Track (as in the correct movie) and comes forth to provide 120VAC from the bombardment pack.

This worked out particularly well in that the charger that comes with the Elec-Trak was missing on mine.

Details on the charger/inverter...

3 - Integrate With Current Grid-Tied PV System for Emergency Ability

We currently take a filigree-tied PV organization that works well and that helps us start some of our electricity consumption. But, as with all grid-tied systems that do not have bombardment backup, when the grid ability goes downwards, our grid-tied PV system too goes downwards -- and then, no ability from PV in power outages.

My aim for an extended power outage is to utilize the Elec-Trak battery pack with the new Tripplite charger/inverter to supply ability to the business firm,

To recharge the Elec-Trak battery pack, I am using am reconnecting some of the PV modules in our grid tied system to feed a regular PV system accuse controller to charge the Elec-Trak bombardment pack during the mean solar day. Subsequently the power outage, the PV modules are restored to the normal grid-tied configuraiton.

The battery pack volition supply nigh 5 KWH of usable stored free energy, and this is enough to supply a few key loads via extension cords for an extended power outage. The loads include fridge, a few efficient lights, the furnace, and a few other odds and ends like a laptop and small-scale Boob tube. To charge the Elec Rails battery pack, six of the PV panels in our existing grid tied PV array are reconnected to feed an Xantrex MPPT charge controller. This provides enough power to fully recharge the Elec Trak pack on a sunny twenty-four hours, and to provide a proficient charge even on a not so sunny day.

Back when nosotros put in the original PV arrangement, I idea about putting in a grid-tied with battery backup, but the added price of the fancier inverter and a battery pack plus the long term cost of maintaining and replacing a bombardment pack simply seemed not to be worth it. This is especially truthful given that our power is reliable, and the battery pack would simply be sitting there doing nothing 99.9% of the time. Putting the Elec-Trak bombardment pack into service for fill-in power is actually appealing to me in that its a battery pack that is already earning its continue with lawn chores, and this is a risk to permit it take on another job without adding more battery pack expense and maintenance.

Details the emergency ability scheme and the get-go exam results here...