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CONVERTING A GAS LAWN MOWER TO
SOLAR CHARGED ELECTRIC POWER

HOME PARTS LIST REMOVING
GAS ENGINE
INSTALLING
ELECTRIC MOTOR
INSTALLING
COMPONENTS
WIRING
THE MOWER
MOUNTING
THE BLADE
SOLAR
CHARGER
TEST
DRIVE
OTHER
CONVERSIONS

Installing components

Volt and Amp gauges on handle bar I mounted the 2 gauges to a piece of angle aluminum and bolted it to the handles.  These are standard automotive gauges, and they will be very useful to monitor battery state of charge while mowing.  I later added a charging jack and power switch.  These gauges are not essential, you can tell when the battery is running too low when it slows down a lot, so they are mostly for the geek factor!
Breaker fornt view I built a bracket to mount the 100 Amp circuit breaker so that it can be actuated from the safety handle of the mower.  Note the 2 strong springs that pull the breaker off if I let go of the safety handle. Breaker ON
breaker ON
Breaker OFF
breaker OFF
NOTE that this circuit breaker MUST be rated for DC.  A household breaker designed for AC will fail as a short circuit, preventing you from turning off the motor.  This could be a serous hazard!

After mounting the motor I noticed that the perfect place to put the switch bracket was on the other motor mount.  Note that this switch is a safety in addition to a switch/breaker on the main panel on the handle bars.  Belt and suspenders type safety.

Circuit breaker mounted to motor Circuit breaker mounted to motor
I built up a battery mount from 2" X 2" X 1/8" aluminum angle.  The mount replaces a cross bar that braced the rear wheels and holds the battery as far back as practical to keep the 24lb weight over the wheels.  The "heft" from the handle bar feels OK - a bit heavier compared to a gas lawn mower.

NEXT STEP

HOME PARTS LIST REMOVING
GAS ENGINE
INSTALLING
ELECTRIC MOTOR
INSTALLING
COMPONENTS
WIRING
THE MOWER
MOUNTING
THE BLADE
SOLAR
CHARGER
TEST
DRIVE
OTHER
CONVERSIONS