Throttle switch for lawn mower?

[brother chris]

I have an electric lawn mower which I want take the motor and put it on my bicycle, but when the motor is turned on, it is always at the highest speed, right? <br />Well, I do not want to put that on my bicycle and turn it on and end up on my *ss. <br />Is there a throttle control switch I can add to this, or do I have to put my lawn mower back together and cut the grass <br />Thanks in advance.<br /><br />Editted due to my poor grammmmmitical errors #%$&*!

 

[JRJ]

Re: Throttle switch for lawn mower?

OK, how about a nice dimmer switch on the handelbars? I have no idea if that will work. Have fun.

 

[flashback]

Re: Throttle switch for lawn mower?

Is this mower battery powered? otherwise you are gonna need one heck of an extension cord..

 

[brother chris]

Re: Throttle switch for lawn mower?

No, it is not battery powered, but I have an idea. I can turn 110 into DC. I have a converter. <br />The battery will be mounted on the rear carrier(behind the seat). <br />It will work, I just need to find out if I can get a throttle control switch to control the power.

 

[jimr]

Re: Throttle switch for lawn mower?

ya better mow the lawn it sounds safer

 

[Xcusme]

Re: Throttle switch for lawn mower?

Let me get this straight.<br />You have an A/C lawn mower motor that you want to mount to a bicycle..right??<br />You then want to use a DC power converter and battery to produce A/C current to run it ...right??<br /><br />First off, not a bad idea, but very impractical. The size and weight of the battery, along with the amperage needed to turn that motor wouldn't be efficient.<br /><br />You'd be better off mowing the grass with it. I'd look around for a 2-stroke add-on solution made for bicycles. They are light weight and fuel efficient.

 

[kenimpzoom]

Re: Throttle switch for lawn mower?

You need a rheostat, which is basically an adjustable resistor.<br /><br />Maybe cheaper to have a three or four way switch and various resistors. You will need one heck of a resistor to be able to control 110 volts AC. Talk to an electronics shop.<br /><br />You may be able to control the 12 volts imput to the converter easier than the 110 v output. Not sure if a lower input voltage will mess up the converter.<br /><br />I suggest you stick with DC, cause your probably gonna burn up the converter or battery pretty rapidly ramping up 12v to 110v.<br /><br />But I like the way you are thinking!<br /><br />Ken

 

[flashback]

Re: Throttle switch for lawn mower?

Hey Bro, most electric motors do not like to have the voltage varied, it will burn them up.. I don't know the tech side of it, but I tried to run a wash machine motor with less that 80 volts and just burned it up.. you may want to toy with some kind of variable mechanical setup kind of like a snapper riding lawnmower has... That being said, I don't think a 12 volt deep cycle will run a 1 or 2 hp electric motor very long.. you may need 4 or 5 batteries in a big basket on the handlebars... good luck, let us know what ya come up with.......

 

[notinbig]

Re: Throttle switch for lawn mower?

xcuse me is right it won't work. I already tried it for a senior project(college).

 

[one more cast]

Re: Throttle switch for lawn mower?

How are you planing on driving the wheel? With the shaft directly on the tire or by chain or belt? I once rode a mini bike that was powered by a 12 volt car starter. It had one speed and would give you whiplash when you hit the button.

 

[Xcusme]

Re: Throttle switch for lawn mower?

Originally posted by flashback:<br /> Hey Bro, most electric motors do not like to have the voltage varied, it will burn them up.. I don't know the tech side of it, but I tried to run a wash machine motor with less that 80 volts and just burned it up.. you may want to toy with some kind of variable mechanical setup kind of like a snapper riding lawnmower has... That being said, I don't think a 12 volt deep cycle will run a 1 or 2 hp electric motor very long.. you may need 4 or 5 batteries in a big basket on the handlebars... good luck, let us know what ya come up with.......

The dimmer controls work best with 'resistive loads' like filament light bulbs. Motors are 'inductive loads'. The common light dimmer will work just fine dimming a lamp but wreak havoc on motors. The cheaper one's work by chopping the A/C waveform via a triac which in essence, drops the voltage. On a motor as the voltage drops the current thru the motor winding increases, this is what you've heard called a "Brown out". It's not a total power failure, just a drop in voltage. Motors on washing machines, air conditioners etc. will start drawing more current which equals more heat. This extra current thru the motor winding can burn out the motor windings, then it's new washing machine-air conditioner- refrigerator time. The power companies won't admit to it or replace your appliances when the motors so south on ya. There are small monitoring circuits , that you can add ,that monitor the line voltage, if it drops below a certain level (voltage) , it cuts the A/C completely until the line voltage is restored. This can save a high end motor.

 

[one more cast]

Re: Throttle switch for lawn mower?

???? how does a multi speed mixer or a multi speed blower work?

 

[Xcusme]

Re: Throttle switch for lawn mower?

Originally posted by One More Cast:<br /> ???? how does a multi speed mixer or a multi speed blower work?

Different sets of motor winding on the same motor. Speed selector switch picks the appropriate 'speed' winding' Viola, Low, Medium, High....

 

[one more cast]

Re: Throttle switch for lawn mower?

Thanks ,Xcusme, I was wondering how it was done without overloading the motor. My neighbor just had an "electrician" hook up a rheostat(? dimmer) to a blower motor so he could vary the speed. I told him I didn't think that was the right way to do it but what do I know.

 

[notinbig]

Re: Throttle switch for lawn mower?

If you limit the voltage to the motor thats one thing if you limit of adjust voltage to the circitry thats another thing.

 

[Kenneth Brown]

Re: Throttle switch for lawn mower?

A peddle switch from a sewing machine should work.

 

[one more cast]

Re: Throttle switch for lawn mower?

If you limit the voltage to the motor thats one thing if you limit of adjust voltage to the circitry thats another thing.<br />

notinbig, please explain?

 

[dolluper]

Re: Throttle switch for lawn mower?

I like Ken's idea take the whole sewing machine hook the pully to the wheel mount the machine and you can sew as you go

 

[rwise]

Re: Throttle switch for lawn mower?

you could use a verable frequency drive on it. but thats going to cost an &$$ load of money, be heavy and use power. but you would have full torque at low rpm's.

 

[Scaaty]

Re: Throttle switch for lawn mower?

cloudelectric.com ........everything you need! Or get a 12 volt winch motor with a 3/4 keyed round shaft, loosen up the springs on a centrifical clutch. I'm making a electric dirtbike which will be a weird chopper when done.