Maverick's Green Green Cutter

The Premise

Gas is smelly and now very expensive. Lawn mowers pollute more than cars, just Google the facts

The Solution

Acquire or Build an alternative that uses only electricity. I am a do-it-yourself type, and was well on my way to building my own electric mower. My current gas-powered mower died and the grass was starting to get quite high! I started to research the parts I needed, but with the rain Texas has been getting, I was quickly running out of time.

I happened into my local home center and found a returned "Homelite 24 Volt 20 inch Cordless Rechargeable Mulching Mower with Bag" without a charger and new lower price! Ok, I'm In!... and besides, I have few other unfinished projects anyway. So I'll take this short-cut...!

The Maverick Solar Way

Now I have to power it with Solar, after all, it came with no charger... you can build you own electric mower or buy ready to solarize.

See a few other builders:
1. Guy:  http://www.arttec.net/Solar_Mower/index.html
2. Jeremy: http://www.appropedia.org/Solar_Charged_Lawnmower
3. Lee: http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Vehicles/LeeMowerCharger.htm -or-
          http://www.arttec.net/Solar_Mower/Gallery/LeeFL/index.htm
4. See others from Guy's Rouge's Gallery... http://www.arttec.net/Solar_Mower/Gallery/index.htm

Step 1

Locate some scrap to mount the disconnect, a charge controller and maybe a volt meter.
1. I used a small section sheet metal from something I took apart.
2. I added one MidNite Solar Baby Box, I custom punched holes for four knock-outs.
3. Two 15A MNEPV DC Breakers
4. Four Strain relief to accommodate the wiring.
5. BP Solar GCR-2000 24Vdc 200A Solar Charge Controller. Set for sealed batteries. (e-Bay: MEMA Treasures)
6. In the future, I might add a digital DVM to know about how low the battery got during mowing.

Step 2

Mount the Controls in the Garden Shed.

Step 3

Modify the Mower to add a power connection. I already had this 4-prong trailer plug and receptacle. The standard plug, under the big yellow cap, is just a RCA connector, similar to Video/Audio connectors??!! I didn't have a long enough RCA cable and the one I had would not carry up to 1.2 Amp.

Step 4

Add some Solar Panels. Depending on how often you want to mow, you could add 10W of PV or more to charge the onboard 24Vdc, 17AH battery bank.

I used two AEE-20G 20W Polycrystalline panels in series, since I needed 24Vdc nominal to charge the onboard battery.

Electrical Specifications:
· Peak Power: 20 Watts
· Peak Power Voltage: 16.4 Vdc
· Peak Power Current: 1.22 Amps
· Nominal Voltage: 12 Vdc
· Not UL listed
· 10 year Warranty to 80% Pmin

Another suggested panel, would be the ubiquitous VW solar panel on e-Bay. Series and parallel them to get the power you need.

The panel mounting was made from scrap pieces of Unirac SOLAR MOUNT and surplus stainless hardware. The pole was a former "don't dig here sign" discarded by the phone company.

I mounted the Panels to gain access to the sun, since the shed sits under the tree canopy. Aimed it south and it gets plenty of sun.

Step 5

Enjoy mowing without filling up the gas tank!

The side benefit, not yet realized, is to add a 24Vdc LED Light and a small switch inside the shed, powered by the mower battery when it is not being used to mow. I don't mow in the dark and not many gas mowers can light the shed at night! Now I will be able search for items lost in the shed after dark!

Doh!!, I just added another project to The List. Where is that bag of white LEDs I got from e-Bay???

Summary Cost

Did I do a Return-On-Investment comparison on this setup? Not yet. Even at $3.00 per gallon, the payback is still quite long. The cost of my time getting gas, clearing that clogged air filter and cranking on that old beast sure won't be missed. Plus, there are the non-financial rewards...
 

Thanks

Maverick

P.S.