Real world test

 I serviced the deck and got it under the mower. I drove around to check current draw, hydraulic drive eats a lot of power. Drive is about 80 amps, mower engaged amps are 150-170 depending on forward speed.

Things look good so far, but I hooked up charger and it let smoke out, so I’m going to need another.

Wiring

I made a bracket and mounted the combination meter and wired to shunt, tested things, all good.

 I fabricated a tray to hold components and mounted relays, battery contactors and terminal strip.

I wired the 12volt side of things and discovered one contactor in not working. I will address this at a later date,

I decided to add a high voltage fuse in the 48 volt side, just in case. Tested fuse accidentally when cable bridged some batteries, fuse is opened. On a positive note, fuse protected things, bad news is fuse is over 100 bucks.

I had a higher rated fuse I installed until I find another.

I checked connections, I bypassed seat switch due to not installed. I turned on the motor and checked transmission operation and hydraulic lift for deck.

I bolted on covers and parts. Test drive soon and deck install.

Battery install , first layer

 I fabricated some support trays from aluminum and made spacers to raise batteries above hydraulic equipment and get maximum area for batteries in the front.

I ran into a clearance issues, I had to countersink some fasteners and had issues with some batteries were a little bulged and bigger than new battery dimensions.  Used batteries caused a fair amount of frustration.

The bottom set of batteries is a very tight fit! I believe I have adjusted things to work.

Motor part 2

After a bit of a break due to illness I got a bit done today.
 The thrust bearing came in but I discovered the bearing was too thick and wouldn’t work. I went with some thinner bearings that I hope are up to the task.

I added a center bushing to keep things aligned, I thought having the thrust bearing was added insurance.

Finished up the mount and supports, tried batteries for fit and bolted it down. 

Up next, battery tray building.

Motor mounting plate

 I decided to start the mount for the motor even though I still don’t have my thrust bearing. 

I gathered a pile of steel from other projects and recycled to make my mount.

I transferred the dimensions to cardboard, then center punched locations to mounting plate that I had cut roughly to size.

All of this took longer than expected, the aluminum I’m using is some tough stuff, 20 inches of cut ruined 2 blades on the saw.

The blue items next to mount are a few batteries I set in for fitting.

I still need to sort the top support, and cut some battery shelves. I am planning on a second layer over the motor, I have 32 40 amp batteries that in parallel wound add 80 amp hours.

Where it all goes..

 Not a huge amount of progress due to other obligations.

I have been measuring and test fitting batteries for locations. I made a few cardboard templates and dug out materials to make battery plates. I am still waiting for a bearing to use as a thrust bearing for the PTO so not working on motor mounts just yet. 

I had been thinking about the stock gas engine having an internal thrust bearing for PTO load. Not knowing how my dc motor would tolerate the side loads, I decided to add a thrust bearing between PTO and motor mount.

I am using parts on hand for build, including 2 kinds of batteries. I can’t parallel the dissimilar batteries so I am using an A/B system to use both sets, so this my get me close to mowing the whole lawn ( hopefully).

Dirty work

 Unfortunately I can’t just start building things without preparation work. I spent a few hours on cleaning things up.

I don’t know how long since this machine was cleaned but it seems like never. 

Once all the parts arrive, I will start building a mount for the electric motor