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Sometimes a Cold Chisel and hammer is just faster and easier. You just split the nut, or even take it right off. Not like you can really re-use the Bolt and Nut, anyway. WEAR GOGGLES AND GLOVES for this.

True. Part of why I am encouraging galstaf to consider a cord / cable option for this. Will also save a ton of money on the battery. Can build it with a little battery, and then add if he discovers he needs more. Covered part of this on this thread >>> Cord Management on Grid-Connected...

So how is this going so far? What are you finding and what are you needing? Can help you on the design and details, if you like. Sounds like you may do some stationary work? e.g., Backhoe, etc. If so, I would encourage you to consider a cord connection option, as well. So you move...

Error in assumption for the start -- Actual "on the road" is down around 100 Million. Most cars (and trucks, etc.) are mostly just parked and sitting still most of the time. And in the case of EVs and ICEs -- if there is an EV around, it is the one that gets most of the "Miles Driven." Miles...

I like sealtite unless there is some heat or crush problems. Yunno some sealtite has metal flex inside (tougher), and some is just the PVC outside (cheaper). If you use the metal-lined I would make sure you have some sort of bushing, (or tape wrap) .. . . or even the correct end-fitting (omg)...

Lotta study ahead. Frequency and waveform are even considerations. Personally, I would go with the Bumper Car system. Live ceiling and grounded roadway. And cars that just bounce when they run into each other. ;D

ummm. Yeah. (speaking of paying attention :p ) Vehicle in motion. Coil ONLY turns on when vehicle is OVER the Coil. That way when no vehicle is over it, there is no energy required. We good on that part? The stationary stuff is a bit pedestrian, and now decades established. You mind if...

Coil only needs to come on while the vehicle is in position. Here is some of the present US work in . . . Utah. Yeah, Utah. Old website was better before the marketing people made this mess >>> Advancing Sustainability through Powered Infrastructure for Roadway Electrification

Wealthy and Upper End are the main beneficiary of the Status Quo and "Defense" of US, as things are. The means and methods the Upper End enjoys -- e.g., the favorable Court System, Law Enforcement, exclusive neighborhoods, "better" schools, better water, air, and food, medical system(s) -- ALL...

The Top End Real Estate Leases (upper end Condos, etc.) are already putting in EV chargers as feature for their upper end tenants. Bottom End -- as usual . . . not so much. Until the Bottom End Landlords figure out they can charge the low income tenant a mark-up on the Electricity.

Typical numbers for Volcanos are about 1% or less. The math is pretty clear. We know about how much Coal + Oil + Gas we (humans) have burnt into the Air. The increase in CO2 across the last 200 years is just about that. Does not take Columbo to figure this one out. Nice thing is that...

Low center of gravity, big footprint, and your butt in a lawn chair watching it work . . .

This WAS the "Plan." Privatize the Profit -- and Socialize the Costs. All good Capitalists are Socialists at heart when it comes to dumping on everyone else.

It is a Single Phase to 3 Phase converter. The motor on the old mower deck is a 3-Phase industrial motor. All Rather Olde Skool. ;) It is a Face-Mount motor, held on the deck with Unistrut, and the mower blade just mounts on the motor shaft. Most of the time the converter just sits in...

Never stalled one, that I recall. Have "stuck" some tractors -- generally Mud or Sand. Worst I recall for that was having to drop a plow, pull the tractor out (with another tractor), and then chain pull the plow out backwards to get everything back on solid ground. I suppose getting stuck...

Mind if I pick your brain on this? Not trying to debate things -- but more the downside / no faith part. I am doing some Electric Designs . . . Sort of trying to do a things-that-suck sort of list -- to avoid or do design-around. Thanks!

I recommend Electric . . . with Cord. 8 years, still going, left outside most of the time.

Dunno, overall a little drama goofy for me. But to each their own. -------------------------- But the all-in-this-together part . . . yeah when it comes to the Commons -- that is definitely the case. The "Common" Water, Air, Land -- all pretty much eternal from a human perspective. And...

Yeah, so you follow that the measuring of unit of "plants" has no real meaning? Some sites or plants have only 1 reactor, some as many as 6 or even one has 8, irrc. So we take the number of reactors x the typical reactor size of around 1E9 (some are a little bigger), and we can get the scope...

Does not turn out that way -- as far as the Nukes. Only thing 250-300 nukes would get US is Broke. At this point we have under 100 US reactors and dropping, and many of those are not profitable. We will probably be down to about 50 or maybe less of the existing by 2050, with few-to-none...

If that means "Can do the Math," you would be correct.

Talk what way about the Amish? I grew up in a mixed Amish-Mennonite-"English" farming area. Still have friends and family in that area and doing those things. Nothing pejorative about it. I am saying that a few folks doing something does little harm. Many folks doing something may be...

Things are not moving so fast that you are likely to be effected in your life time. For the rest of US -- it is something a "Tragedy of the Commons" thing. You familiar with the "Commons?" It is a concept of shared resources. Since anyone can take from or dump in the common areas (shared...

All Harley had to do was make an Electric "Sportster." A classic Harley. No new tooling, no new major equipment. Just an Electric Sportster. Instead they did the "Live Wire."

Sort of odd, but some folks get some (not much, but some) Solar PV in Alaska from a Full Moon during the Winter along with reflected snow. Internal resistance of the Silicon Solar PV goes down in Cold Weather, so deep Alaska nights allow this.

:P Yeah, it does sounds rough, but with just 8-bit control -- and usually using the first bit as Forward or Reverse -- that leaves 7 bits (or 128 levels) for speed adjustment. So when you tell any given motor which direction to go, it might be [1xxx xxxx] for Forward, or [0xxx xxxx] for...

Thanks. Also you have the ability for the connections between the front and back section to swivel -- so all 4 wheels stay in contact with the earth on un-even ground. I figured I might try to avoid that feature to start, but maybe I should do that, as well, as it will put less stress on the...

okay. I follow the pivot bearing is straight up and down -- but what about the ideal angle between the center bearing of the wheel, and where the bottom of the pivot is attached? sample pictures >>> Caster - Wikipedia

SUPER. Let me go down your list? So for making this discussion practical, let me tag the tires? Front Left = FL Front Right = FR Rear Left = RL Rear Right = RR ================================ Now the tricks each motor can do. All the motors are controlled by Variable Frequency Drives...

Great question. Since this is not really a road type vehicle -- I was planning on just letting it slip. Any real "pulling" will likely be in a straight line, and then no differential is really needed. For a relatively "light" vehicle do you think this would be a problem? I could use (4)...

if you like Uncle Rob . . . the starter kit . . .

Uncle Rob with a 50 gallon tank . . . .

Next up . . . . So that last one was the Zero Turn. This one is the Articulated (Folding or Hinged) Frame. Still has (2) Drive Motors -- but now is 4 Wheel Drive. That seems like quite a productive improvement. Adds a Steering Linear Actuator -- sort of works like a two-way piston -- but...

if you would like some fairly exact numbers, maybe take a look at the NREL (National Renewable Energy Lab) online calculator program called PVWatts. The have a 30+ year database across the US and points beyond. It uses your location, equipment type, install angles, direction, losses across...

mkay. Usually we look for 3 things: + Open Circuit Voltage -- point at Sun and measure Volts across the leads. + Short Circuit Current -- (we do this, but only a maybe for you) -- make sure the Amp Rating and connections on your meter can handle the current -- many have a fuse and Max of 10...

Here is the First Draft on Zero Turn. Comments, Suggestions, OMGs all welcome. Here are some notes == + Steering Caster may be too much -- maybe more vertical? + Drawn with 20 inch tires. Frame is spaced to handle up to 24 inches. + Drawn with 1:5 Sprocket Ratio == motor nominal RPM is 1200...

Is that Romex (trade name for NM --Non Metallic Sheath Cable)? or is it UF (Underground Feeder)? In general -- UF can be direct buried, Romex/NM cannot. NM / Romex usually has a paper fill, UF is solid plastic fill. UF can be run without conduit, but the extra protection is always nice.

Seems Dodge is trying to be the last one to the party . . . . https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/26/dodge-boss-says-evs-can-save-americas-new-golden-age-of-muscle-cars.html

Are you doing good on your design, now? Need some more review? For "lite" 120 / 240 Volt Loads -- like say a notebook computer, or a wifi for internet -- various little inverters, typical small portable car and truck types, generally work pretty well. That way you can keep down the...

My next look-ahead is the Chain Drive. (this is the musing of an Electrical Guy wandering deep into Mechanical -- so please correct me if you see errors or cautions) I guess I noted that I have some surplus 5 HP 1200 RPM Motor(s) for this. Nuisance on that RPM (1200) is it is a 6-pole, and...

Back towards the start . . . . have rebuilt ancient chain/sprocket and gear drills, and done newer style electric. What are you wanting to do? (# of rows, width overall, range of seeds -- size/type, seeds per inch, etc)?

Industrial Electrical Guy -- we build EVERYTHING from Unistrut (aka Superstrut, B-Line, etc.) This video (sorry for the Muzak) pretty well covers some of the toys that you may like >>> You can shop this stuff at Home Depot, Ebay, Graingers, Local Electric Supply House(s), Craigslist...

Thanks on that. I was thinking you all were talking about the bearings on the shafts for the drive sprocket and idlers on the tracks. (dohhh!) ;)

Interesting. How high of RPM would that be good for? Asking for a rototiller type design. Thanks!

What are some other / better options? (if any?) A two-bolt pillow-block is more fragile? Asking, not saying.

oh yeah. Spare Conduit is always the cheapest, best buy that you can put into any system. I sort of underplayed that Best, Worst, Changed Case stuff, because I come to close to the know-it-all-Engineer routine anyway . . . but when doing Scenario Planning -- which are NOT supposed to be used...

Good future musings. Pondersome question? What do you think of (existing) Oil / Gas Pipelines becoming Fresh Water Pipelines? My guess on the Ethanol -- it may become Aircraft or Shipping Fuel? again, just musing.

As for the "true" engineers stuff . . . most of US Engineers under an ABET (that is the Industry Board for accreditation) College Program will have at least some of this -- it is part of Industrial Engineering, and called "Engineering Economics." Bunches (and bunches) of Spreadsheets. Cash...

Think of the mindset that is driving your experience? The people behind the decision(s) -- say wire size for example -- are sincerely expecting NO GROWTH. Maybe (even more?) Negative Growth. If they have done a correct business case analysis . . . they may be correct. If you climbed down...

You may not know that Natural Gas was the BIG Fail for Texas, followed by Coal and Nukes? Wind was not allocated much, as Wind tends be lower in the Winter and Summer than in the Spring and Fall. But a life time ago, your area was my area -- but economically the area sort of went on an...

Do you mean where for "US Ground Transportation going (at least mostly) Electric?" It is already happening. Even cheap Gasoline or Diesel cannot compete. Retail Electricity is less than 1/4 the price of "Cheap" Gasoline or Diesel. Renewable Electricity (Silicon Solar PV in particular)...

yeah . . . . what is the look ahead for US Corn / Farming Industry in that regard when most US Ground Transportation has gone electric? Corn Crop collapse? Export for Fuel? Aircraft running on Ethanol?

NOTE to MODS: The following images are from a Yanmar Operator's Manual. I think this is considered "Fair Use," as we are discussing the various technical merits of equipment -- and not re-publishing documents. If this a violation of TractorByNet TOS, please delete. This full manual is also...

Thanks. Good point on the Mining Operations. Back when (the way-back machine) I was a site electrical engineer for the BIG power company in Texas, part of the additional work was helping out the mines - Good Olde Daze mining and generation methods were to put power plants as what were called...

This is some concept discussion of best ways to do both motion on the field, and also transportation between sites. One feature of a rototiller, is that it CAN (not saying should, but just can) pull itself along through the soil. This is sometimes managed or controlled with a drag tine, or...

Good points, all well taken. And I do follow from what you are saying that I just sort of jumped into the middle of all this without much backgrounder for the reader. Thanks on that. Sometimes I start doing that in design groups, and the folks I work with call it, “Phil Speak,” because I am...

THANKS! Only thing appealing on the Pipe is it is common, cheap, and already laying around. ;) But not using that much, so buying some higher quality and higher strength is not that big of deal, either. Any ideas on the use of square tube? -- for the Drive Shaft, I mean. Just Pondering...

Updates on the Design . . . . (see sketches) Drive Shaft Section: + Sprocket Mount – this will likely be a 1:4 chain drive. Any ideas what pitch? 1200 RPM, 5 HP motor. + Bearing Mounts – looking at using 2-3/8 inch Pillow Block Bearings. Do these seem tough enough? + Centers Between Tine...

THIS is why we WELD them in place.

I am thinking 2 foot wide "modules." Each with their own Electric Drive Motor. They would probably be 5 HP, each. And then they stack or bolt side-to-side together for however wide you wanted each "pass" to be.

Thanks! So Schedule 80, 2 inch pipe . . . 2 inch nominal -- 2.375 inch O.D. -- 5.54 mm Wall thickness Might be a little thinner wall section -- but if I am not spanning each section as wide, that may be good.

Is the drive shaft where the plates mount "pipe" (hollow) or a solid shaft?

SUPER! Thanks. Looks like I have my tine mounting (bolt pattern) WAY OFF the industry standard. Any idea about what your RPM is? or the HP rated to turn it?

I am seeing a pretty good mix of Tiller Blades, with dimensions, etc. here >>> Tiller Blade Chart Anyone have any idea what standard center measurements between the mounting plates are? Thanks!

Looking for concept reviews on basic "Big Picture" details for Electric driven shop-built rototiller-ing. Typical Range will likely be from 2 foot width minimum (about 5 to 10 HP (?) ) up to around 10 foot width maximum (25 to 50 HP (?)). Or maybe modules that hook together to create various...

hahahahaha ahhh. Sorry on all that. Maybe think some 100 years back and folks were talking about Steam Tractors taking over from Horses. ;) REALLY (really) interesting short read on that. https://www.accessmagazine.org/spring-2007/horse-power-horsepower/ But towards your fill and go 8...

It is often a little too easy to pile weight on. For humans and mobile equipment. ;) In this case, light weight is desirable for mobility between sites. Sort of funny but for things we need to add weight to -- like Solar PV, so it does not blow away -- we will sometimes use what are called...

Thanks. Yes, Zero Turn is appealing on the low dollar aspect. And it suppose it handles well. Since I am looking at doing full automation, and Zero Turn also controls and behaves well for automation. With Full Electric drive the braking becomes sort of eas(ier) -- I can use re-generative...

ahhh. That is what you have in your picture. But that makes sense as that is what is listed in your type. (duh, huh? ;) ) These do not exist as standard product Electric? (yet ;) ) and here is the retro? Electric Drive Motor Retrofit

Thanks. I tend to think of that style as something of a "tugger" -- like the various tractors move jets around an airport. One key feature I am trying to get onto this is a cord -- so the battery can stay small, and pretty much just to be used to move itself, or may tow a "lite" something...

Another thing towards task -- light weight. At least compared to a typical tractor. So this thing can load up easy on a 1/2 ton pickup truck, rather than maxing out a three-axle gooseneck. ;) As far as Horsey Power -- probably well under 100 HP (100kW -- for everything -- drive motor(s)...

Really good point -- let the task(s) direct the methods? Maybe throw cost at some level in there, too. For example, the Zero Turn Mower style is cheapest, and I suppose the 4 wheel drive + 4 wheel independent steering is the most expensive. My intended use is typical crop-veggie farming...

True enough. Any forklift, huh? (makes the Safety Guy in me feel a little crazy that it does not have an overhead guard. ;) )

I figured #2 was the weird one, until I considered that is how every (?) Combine works.

Any bright thought about the best Steering / Tractor combo . . . or maybe even the other direction -- the Do Nots for these . . . For a sort of Robotic / Autonomous / Semi-Autonomous field tractor rig? Figure this will be Electric, All-Wheel Drive. Small battery for general mobility, and...

Good! That is just a start. You will want to look at this, too -- for Building Heat. Just a couple of 4'x8' Solar Thermal Panels (tubing + glass front + circulating water) with a Sunny Day will keep a building Very Warm for a couple of even cloudy and cold winter days weather -- if you use...

Lot to unpack there . . . going down both paths at once will sink this -- so maybe let me start with your local at-home-to-micro system? Then we can jump back to the big grid . . . Do you mind saying which direction or near location it may be? Asking for design considerations, maybe, if...

Since we have sort of hijacked this into the Texas Grid -- what is your look-ahead as more of Distributed Renewable (small Solar) comes on line as Grid-Tied in Texas? Looks like it may take down the Peak Use? As some of these are also battery-and-back-up systems, will also build in more...

Good question. It is olde skool rule-of-thumb math. NEC Code Book has a table with exact numbers. 746 Watts = 1 HP is the non-existent ideal 100% efficiency model. Real World: Typical motors have around .9 or 90% efficiency. Typical induction motors have around .9 power factor. (some...

Agree on towing. I am thinking driving it anywhere leaves you picking up the cord? Any thoughts on the HP size? I had misquoted up above. This is actually doing 100,000 Watt (about 100 HP) for the Traction portion, and 200,000 Watt for the accessories. I am not seeing applications that...

Got that part. One thing we noted was that to get to center of anything, you had to go under an edge, so that generally meant an edge connection point was generally a do-able thing, as well. What is your take on the mystery of going barn-to-field, or field-to(distant)-field? That is where we...

That is one heart burn. If you look at the "app" that they are showing (inside the fake screen frame video :P ) that cord recovery path is part of what they are doing. Part that is goofy to me is the travel from the barn to the field. You see they drive it out of the garage / barn on a cord...

Good question and good caution. I have been lazy at times when doing site "jumper" wires -- like maybe needing 200 feet and a having 500 roll of single wire -- so I just roll out some, leave most on the reel and jump from the ends -- hooking that in a circuit -- and YEAH! it makes a Choke /...

Understood. Entertaining the various ideas for the purposes of brain-storming as it were. Focus for the cord application (at least on our project(s)) are the irregular sites that not work well with other methods. Biggest torment are obstacles and how work around them. The reel methods...

Yeah, have worked some variations over the years. Even some stuff with CAT (Caterpillar), JD, and others. GPS has some applications, but so far just polar coordinates (circle, angle, radius) covers thing pretty well. Limitation on the all Cord, Cable, Hose methods is the Cord Management...

Good ideas -- on the first -- overhead, or at least partial overhead is a good idea. Have even pondered "floating" (lift balloons) for some of it. Agree on the high(er) voltages making the long runs practical. By keeping voltages down to 480V, we can reliably use Ground Fault Detection on...

understood and agreed. What we are seeing on the (much) shorter cable tests 100 to 200 feet -- the cable does not have much issues with snags or wear, but we do have put some planning in the route to not cross the cord. Maybe think of this like a vacuum cleaner in a REALLY big theater or...

I suppose most here are familiar with various designs using batteries. However, these have some limitations of expense, weight, limited service life, and run and charge times. A way to avoid the battery issues is to use Grid-Connected designs. This allows the Grid-Connected equipment...

See? THIS is why I tend to say it is just better to Smile and Wave. :D Really he should have a had a Civil (Civil Engineer) involved if he was really figuring on cutting up the existing site concrete like that. My favorite approach anymore is to ask folks (like you) how you would like to...

You are making ME wonder . . . . ;) Yeah, they still make them + New Product Announcement: PBP7 Pole Bottom Grounding Plate | Harger Lightning and Grounding + https://www.stateelectric.com/products/homac-5575/ + Pole Butt Grounding > MacLean Power Systems

If you follow through some of Tony Seba's stuff what he is REALLY talking about is Technology Shifts. How things seem to stay the same, the same, the same . . . and suddenly switch. Shifts in Agriculture follow this, as well. We did Horses. Forever. Then Steam, Then ICEs. Now no other...

These are just working numbers. There is not some magic "always" numbers. You do not really have to over-think this stuff. Where EVs tend to "drop" mileage, if that is what you are asking? Winter. That is when you use cabin heat. Since the EV portion generates so little heat (unlike an...

That maps close to the old homelands. Do you deal with much services to Central Pivot Irrigators? (taking this back a bit towards Tractors and Farming)

So what did you think of that Tony Seba stuff? You check any of it? Where is your service area? I grew up around the area between Battle Creek and Athens. Used to farm there.

hahaha ahhhh. I feel your pain. Some days, I help cause it. Anymore, I try to do like the Penguins in the kid's movie Madagascar. "Smile and Wave, just Smile and Wave."

In a sane world, yes. But in this case -- to get the work assigned and make sure it happens.

I am talking about it being wrapped down at the base, below grade. It was old practice here, usually called a butt-ground. Some utilities used plates, as well. Driven grounds would be spaced out along the line, or where there may be transformer or other equipment. Depends on the soil...

Worked all three sides on Engineering side -- EPC Contractor, Engineer of Record, and Owner's Rep. -- Technical side -- Texas Master and J-Man. Did some time as a Site Engineer for the Big Generator -- TXU, and later as a Staff Engineer for them for compliance, and then a bunch of Substation...

The ground wire generally goes to the bottom of the pole, and has a few wraps around the pole before the pole goes into the hole. Is your wire still down?

I see a lot of the discussion on here about batteries, batteries, batteries. That may not be the full path ahead. Anyone look this over? Any thoughts?

Here is what we (should) have learnted regarding the Texas Snowpocalypse: 1. Good Regulation = Good Results. 2. Bad Regulation = Bad Results. 3. No Regulation (Texas) = Stupid. ;) but as far as 40 years, you may want to consider that trying to drive forward while looking in the rear-view...

We avoid that with "Grid Tie" where available. The Solar PV is tied the Grid, and the Battery Charger is also tied to the grid. The grid gets the valuable Day Time Peak Use supply from the Solar PV, and then we charge the batteries when it is handy for us. Win-Win for most local grids.

You may want to put an Amprobe on while charging -- typically we see them only running about 30 amps on the rated 50 Amp circuit. But as to your math -- you are sort of correct, but have your "story problem" of it set up wrong. That 8 hour night of charging -- at 30 to 40 amps -- is going to...

Rural Michigan? Grew up there. A smaller or reducing local economy make for difficult budgets. No one wants to invest in a risky or potential shrinking market. In much of the US we use a "Service Life" model. Most components have a 25 to 50 year Service Life. So that means we will replace...

Looks interesting. Still in "is gunna" status? Checking with them for Cord / Grid Connected options.

Lot of mis-information on this thread. Some updates from 2021 EVs only use about 250 watt-hours per mile. Means for Retail Electricity (13 cents, US average kWh) compared to Retail Gasoline (about $2.50 to $3.00 US Average) . . . Electricity cost less than 1/3 to 1/4 of Gasoline. Numbers...

Hello, I am shopping for "dead engine" tractor(s) as possible electric motor drive conversions. I have done a small 20 HP and am looking to try some larger "frankensteining." Any recommendations on Who, What, Where, and How Much for dead engine tractors that are gone to the point where the...