Electric Drive Motor Retrofit

MikeOConnor · Oct 9, 2019

You guys just made my day. And JD... my gracious you are the man! Way to go taking this all the way to locating a vendor and getting a price quote. Many MANY thanks to all who contributed to this thread. JD, I'm assuming you didn't pull the trigger, right?

Here's my design goal: I want one of my PT-1850's electrified in such a way that I can do all the normal stuff I do for 4 hours. Recharge overnight.

Here's where I think I'll pick this up again. It seems to me that what's needed is a prototype. I'm going to call Terry and the folks at Shockwave and see if they'd be game. Here's what I'm thinking. Terry gets us access to a PT (new, used, any size) that doesn't have a motor in it at the moment. Shockwave gets to bolt a motor and a battery on to the hydraulic pumps. We run the durn thing through a bunch of test scenarios and measure the heck out of the motor/battery performance and power-consumption. I'll write checks for a while and share the results here.

JD, any thoughts about this idea given what you know?

MossRoad · Oct 9, 2019

Wow! Where's the popcorn? I'm gonna watch this movie. :thumbsup:

MikeOConnor · Oct 9, 2019

I just called Terry and struck out on doing the prototype at their place (he's thinking the owner will choke on the liability issues -- can't say as I blame him).

And the Shockwave folks public phone number isn't being answered. Hey JD, how recently did you talk to them? Maybe they've folded up shop, or changed their number?

Terry came up with a good alternative though -- I could haul one of my PTs to a conversion shop around here and have them do the prototyping. I'll start trolling my pals up in the Twin Cities (Minnesota) and see what I shake loose.

m5040 · Oct 9, 2019

If you go through with this you may want closed center hydraulics like the kind John Deere used. It builds up pressure to all the valves then the pumps go to no flow and the pressurized circuits are highly responsive due to the pressure not having to build up with demand. You could just use a pressure switch to turn the pump motor off/on. I would use 3 motors, 1 for each circuit, then you could size the motors to the demand. No sense using too large a motor if you didn't need it. The steering could even be a closed circuit polarity reversible pump/motor that would not need an expensive steering valve as then it could be done with electric switches. It may even work better on the drive circuit with a rheostat to control direction and speed instead of the tram. Put a solar panel on the cab shield so it can recharge when dormant.

JD-Beach · Nov 1, 2019

Hi Mike,
Thanks for the response and the interest. By the way, I enjoyed touring around your PrairieHaven.com site. Your solar installation is most interesting.

I spoke to John McMillian at shockwave motors <John@shockwavemotors.com> … I have his number as … 423-754-6067. I think that he's still in the business. He is real nice guy and was very helpful. Feel free to mention my previous correspondence and phone calls with him to refresh his memory.

Shockwave motors is in Russellville, Tenn and is approx. 130 miles from Tazewell. My idea was to have Terry send a completed powertrac over to Shockwave motors and let Shockwave do the retrofit. Then ship the unit back to my place in Virginia Beach. I thought that I'd travel out to shockwave and spend a week or so with the team to observe (and perhaps help with) the conversion.

I thought of doing the conversion as a "do-it-yourself" project, but having done dozens of projects over the years it seems that it is always well worth the time and money to have someone with experience on the team. They have undoubtedly learned some of the lessons that would save time and money.

JD

JD-Beach · Mar 21, 2020

How to Mulch | Mulch like a pro - YouTube

Here is a link to a YouTube video showing a front end loader attached to an electric zero-turn mower.

Hope everyone is well.

JD

JD-Beach · Mar 21, 2020

Front End Loader....ON A ZERO TURN!!!!! At the Gie Expo 219 - YouTube

Battery powered equipment handling some standard tractor chores … interesting !

JD

MossRoad · Mar 21, 2020

Interesting

PowerTracManiac · Mar 21, 2020

Above seems like a nice platform for small very jobs.
In relation to the original poster, what about making your electric Power trac 2 wheel drive only, with articulating steering to reduce the cost and complexity?