Planet Jr electric walk-behind tractor - controller upgrade and first tests

After a year or so running the PJ BP1e tractor with a 50/100A controller I made some time this spring to replace the controller with a 100/200A controller from the same supplier (powersolutions_hu on eBay). Here is a walkaround describing the new configuration and demonstration of the impressive power and torque of this new configuration.

[@kusland6786]

Hi Bro, great work.
If you use 1/4 of the voltage rated input you will save a LOT’s if power.
To say 24V input for 100V motor.
Ok the motor will be bigger and heavier but you will save 30% at least.
Study RV-OU pdf

[@fouroakfarm]

Fantastic! There is a real market opportunity for electrics like this I think

[@reidallaway]

There sure is. I did some demonstrations recently with a Tilmor Power Ox and it's a great machine but a gas engine is such a pain once you're used to electric's smooth power delivery and infinite speed control. Check out www.agrarianelectric.com for a promising new offering that should be making it to market in the coming years.

[@qorje]

@@reidallaway Thanks for the link. Finally someone is going commercial! Yay!

[@wingnutbert9685]

@@reidallaway I'll check the link out. What I'd love to see is someone come out with instructions on how to build these. Something in plain English for those dyslexics, like me, that just don't grasp the concepts, but have a need for something like this and have the skill and tools to build. I'd love not to use gas. I need a unit, like yours, with high torque to pull a cart up and down hills via trails for trail building and maintenance. Also double duty as a snow plow. Something that can tow a cart with a couple hundred or so pounds of stuff. But I'm stuck with zero knowledge and little time or ability to learn all that goes into electric motors/drive trains/gearing/etc. Something like a basic kit that can then be added to when ordering, depending how much one can find stuff on hand to upcycle or build themselves. Dare to dream! :)

[@wingnutbert9685]

@@reidallaway Just checked the linked page. I'll check back for updates. It looks very nice. What I'd like to see on offer is to buy a kit of some of the parts. People that can, can fabricate the frame, handles, etc. or repurpose/adapt an old piece of equipment. That would save money and shipping cost and enable upcycling of parts people already have or are available locally. Beautiful machine regardless. Love the old fashion aesthetic.

[@unhippy1]

A cultivator doing a burnout.......didn't expect that lol

[@firenbubble]

C'est vraiment une belle machine ^^

[@JZscribbles]

This is awesome. Do you have a guide for building something like this? Or guidance on how to get started?

[@reidallaway]

Hi @JZ. I haven't tried to create a guide per se, partly due to lack of time but also because all my projects are kind of "one off" projects that I design around components I can salvage or find and rarely are they good recipes for exact duplication.
I try to document my projects in video here when I have time and there may be other videos on my channel that will help you to get a better grasp of what's involved in such a conversion project.
There's also a pretty vibrant community on Facebook Groups for DIY EV projects. You can join the DIY Electric Farmer Group that I help to coordinate if you can handle using Facebook for discussion on these topics.