Not rocket science but that is my farming conversion.
It was a typical brand new Chinese 18HP diesel tractor.
Now running 5kw 48V DC brushless motor,
48V lithium battery pack 20Ah 2x from an electric bike.
There is room at the top to install now solar panel 350W to replace tarpaulin,
but so far I could carry dirt the whole day on a single charge.

in the place of a diesel motor, I did install self tipping tray, powered by 12V actuator/ electric ram
I still could use all 6 gears but, in fact, I use only 2nd gear and foot pedal - plus reverse electric switch all the time.

The next to undergo conversion is this small digger.
I intend to use a similar 5kw DC motor. The main reason for conversion is convenience.Any of those devices run only for a few minutes then need to wait idly. Electric is ideal in such a situation. say nothing about the noise. If somebody here has some experience with hydraulic pumps, power pack I will be happy to learn how to install an electric motor to power digger.

before conversion...
I agree looks nicer,
but now is more practical for what I need. Short-run towing, moving

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Macroscien said..
Not rocket science but that is my farming conversion.

I doubt I really want to know, but ... WTF are you farming there ?

Whatever it is I am pretty sure you are doing it wrong. If it is potatoes or hashish you are definitely doing it wrong.


Oh - and I don't know what is worse for your neighbor. Living next to that 'farming' operation or living in a house that looks like a 1960's mental institut......

oh wait,...... um yeah...... maybe I am not connecting the dots here.....





(kudos to the conversion though. pretty neat idea for a one man mini-dumper operation. I want one, but need it to be a bit bigger)

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Carantoc said..

Macroscien said..
Not rocket science but that is my farming conversion.

I doubt I really want to know, but ... WTF are you farming there ?

Whatever it is I am pretty sure you are doing it wrong. If it is potatoes or hashish you are definitely doing it wrong.


Oh - and I don't know what is worse for your neighbor. Living next to that 'farming' operation or living in a house that looks like a 1960's mental institut......

oh wait,...... um yeah...... maybe I am not connecting the dots here.....





(kudos to the conversion though. pretty neat idea for a one man mini-dumper operation. I want one, but need it to be a bit bigger)

Photo actually show dirt moving to fill behind retaining walls at my GC home.Had a bobcat s70 hired for few days, but I found this duo even more efficient then mini bobcat which was unable to dig into that fill.Don't worry. picture is few weeks old and now all dirt gone, surface smoothed and grass seeded. Just watering and waiting for grass to grow. What is nice about those duo- quite easy to get onto my ute and trailer to get to the farm 300 km away to do more work there.Anything bigger and you need to hire transportationAnyway I could load about 500 kg dirt on that tray, which is more thal small bobcat . Then driving is definitely much more comfortable with this tractor, then bobcat on uneven terrain. As to your remark about neighbor you are absolutely right. Not only looks like but m.i. but .....you don't wish to have such neighbors anyway.Luckily on the farm the nearest neighbour is km away, so that lifestyle farm is nice escape from city.

That is so cool Macroscien. I have a couple of diesel powered machines on my farm, a 4wd Iseki mower and a 4wd Clubcar Carryall. Though they are both fairly old, the Iseki is 17 years old and the Clubcar is 13 years old, both are quite reliable. The engines are Japanese made in both with the Iseki having a little 3 cylinder Iseki diesel and the Clubcar having a similar 3 cylinder diesel made by Kubota.

We need to buy a tractor of some sort, primarily for the loader. I'm looking at the various brands and models. All of them are diesel powered.

With hydrostatic transmission my understanding is the engine is powering a pump that pushes the fluid around to power the wheels and hydraulic attachments. So would it not be fairly simple to take out a diesel engine and replace it with an electric motor? Simple in theory but of course complex in reality.

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Mobydisc said..
That is so cool Macroscien. I have a couple of diesel powered machines on my farm, a 4wd Iseki mower and a 4wd Clubcar Carryall. Though they are both fairly old, the Iseki is 17 years old and the Clubcar is 13 years old, both are quite reliable. The engines are Japanese made in both with the Iseki having a little 3 cylinder Iseki diesel and the Clubcar having a similar 3 cylinder diesel made by Kubota.

We need to buy a tractor of some sort, primarily for the loader. I'm looking at the various brands and models. All of them are diesel powered.

With hydrostatic transmission my understanding is the engine is powering a pump that pushes the fluid around to power the wheels and hydraulic attachments. So would it not be fairly simple to take out a diesel engine and replace it with an electric motor? Simple in theory but of course complex in reality.

It is too early for a big electric battery powered machinery. The main problem is avaibility of lithium batteries. The price you pay now retail is $500 to 1000 per kWh. which is robbery. Musk produce battery for Tesla at$100 and price is going to drop even further. $70 will be ideal to start converting almost everything. Loader is excellent example. I have electric forklift and love it. Short burst work, quiet, no rumbling and fumes.. So my tractor have also small battery from, for electric bike. For prototype to work just fine, but in year or two will be replaced with proper 100~200Ah. Tesla just developed new battery standard 4680 that at last are going to replace battery used now designed to power laptops, not cars. I have also two electric Atv on the farm, beside traditional Honda Trx. Chinese made 1000W guad and USA made 20,000 W. Chinese **** up everything from suspension to thin cables that burn. USA ducked BMS for battery, so waiting for new battery. I wish Honda do one day proper electric quad to replace trx420 4x4.
btw next project is attachment for my tiny electric tractor to pickup stones and rocks on grassy land. Pick from ground anything from 0.2 kg to 10kk and put to tray. Apparently there is nothing on the market at reasonable price to do the job of cleaning field from stones and rocks and you know what it means for mower when run on one or few .

If your only using in short bursts , why are you worrying ? Its probably more eco damaging doing the conversion .

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Imax1 said..
If your only using in short bursts , why are you worrying ? Its probably more eco damaging doing the conversion .

The point is that if you use tractor to do field work like plowing whole day, the diesel is the best. But I am not this sort of farmer.
But if you need to tow something several meters , then stop, run and stop every few meters that diesel is useless.
Electric drive is ideal for intermitted work when you don't need to turn your engine on and off constantly or kept running idle. Even work like picking stones or mowing with self powered mower can be done whole day long on solar power alone. To drive on even grassy terrain my tractor use only 500 to 1000w which means that 2 -3 light weight semi flex solar panels do supply enough juice to run constantly on the sun alone.Beside , I have identical small tractor still with diesel too. That i never almost use, because having those two option to work with , you definitely prefer electric over diesel. Something like changing gears , or reversing. Simple flip of electric switch make work even better then hydrostatic transmition.
I am not doing this conversion to save the planet. I am doing so to make things better. Just common sense approach. If works better for me why not to do so? The same with world switching to renewable energy from coal and nuclear. The truth is that simply it is cheaper now and provide even more jobs to population then mining. Don't need even any government subsidies or extra taxes. Just simple common sense of economics is sufficient.IN few years from now electric vehicles will reach price parity with combustion engine, then convenience wins hands down, with low main tance, low service.