DAY BROWN wrote in a message to ALL:
 DB> Got mine for 300$ spent another 200 on eight car batteries. The 
 DB> range would be double with deep cycles, but so would the 
 DB> prices.
Let's see,  eight batteries for $200 is 50 each -- I was selling golf cart 
batteries when I had that battery store for $66.95 each,  and I'd discount if 
you bought a set of four or six at a time.  Hardly double...
Car batteries ain't going to last in that application,  they're not made to 
deep cycle.  You'll find out after a surprisingly short time that they won't 
work for you any more, unless you hardly discharge them at all before 
bringing them back up again,  which will really limit your range with that 
cart.
 DB> I havnt run it out yet, but I got at least 4 miles on steep and 
 DB> very rocky roads.  The ground clearance is only a few inches, 
 DB> so you gotta watch rocks.  I plan to replace the standard 
 DB> 11-8.5-8 tires & rims with 18-9-8 ATV knobby tires and rims 
 DB> next week. 
 DB> Terrific for thinning woods; load logs on it, and snake around 
 DB> any you wanna keep without trashing the root zone-they were, 
 DB> afterall, designed for *golf tees*. It can pull a 25 % grade 
 DB> with 200 pounds of dead wood just as well as dead lardbutt. I 
 DB> only have 50 yards *that* steep, part of a 300 yard run that 
 DB> runs between 10 & 15%- which don't overheat in Ozark summer. 
 DB> The motor is designed for 36 volt with 53 amp max, , 1.44hp 
 DB> been running it on 48 or 24 volts, and gotta get a switch. the 
 DB> 24 is nicer on steep and rocky, and the 48 does around 20 on 
 DB> smooth flat dirt.  Like a motorcycle, instant air conditioning 
 DB> in your shorts & T shirt, but quiet, like your fridge.
 DB> The original design uses a 4PST switch with resistance wire 
 DB> between the poles to get slow speeds, which wastes power with 
 DB> heat.  I'd like to find a solid state current regulator 
 DB> instead. got one?  izzit cheap and still good for 53 amps? Need 
 DB> two. Why only two? One of the 4 poles is off.  And, come to 
 DB> think of it, the surge current must be higher than 53 amps... 
 DB> maybe a 100, judging by the sound of the short if I was tryinta 
 DB> weld with small rod. 
I'd go with a variable duty-cycle oscillator and some power FETs,  as many as 
you need to handle the current and give some safety margin,  to control that 
setup.  See the CMOS Cookbook on this one again,  he's got a schematic in 
there for what he calls a "caver's lamp" that when you turn it to 50%,  it's 
only using 50% of the power,  no wasted.  The example uses a bipolar 
transistor but I'd go right to the gates of power FET parts.
Don't forget protection diodes and such,  too.  It oughta be fairly trivial 
to use a little bit of logic to give you assorted fixed speeds if you want 
'em, direction change, etc.
 DB>  - Origin: Exec-PC BBS > World's Largest BBS (414-789-4360)
 DB> < (1:154/280) 
So howcum you haven't called here lately?    :-)
email: roy.j.tellason%tanstaaf@frackit.com 
--- 
---------------