Monday, February 16, 2009
All Electric Snow Blowing Video
Shot this while clearing my driveway. There is a part in the middle where my belt slips (later fixed) RoboTrak is unstoppable!
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Introducing Robotrak: The Remote Control Tractor
Robotrak has a new home! And what, or whom, you ask, is Robotrak? Well let me tell you. It's a short story and it begins thusly....
First, the earth cooled... OK, OK, I'll skip that part.
So, on to the story at hand... It starts with the snow:
Where I live, on a small island off the wet coast of BC, precariously close to the 2010 winter scams, we usually get 6 inches of wet snow tops. When It snows our precariously (yes i like that word) steep driveway becomes a luge track. A luge track without banked turns.
Normally, with our old 6" snows we could get by driving the driveway with chains and shovelling the worst parts. This would last for a few days, a week tops. Our driveway is about 1000 feet long, winding down from the main road, across the creek at the bottom, past our house and up the other side of the valley about another 500 feet up to my parent's house
Recent years has brought more and more snow and not the wet variety. This year we got 12" then another 12", then when we thought it was all over we got another 12" followed by another 6". Then it started to rain and rain and rain and rain then it froze. You get the picture. Shovelling roofs, digging out the Previa from behind 4 foot snow walls, etc. You know, a nice light Ontario winter, in BC. Now we are in siege mode. We have to hike in, uphill both ways carrying our provisions on our backs.
We have no plow, or any other large scale method of moving snow. Remember, this is Vancouver, where a snow blower is someone who does a lot of coke.
In a moment of desperation we fitted my parent's 4WD Tercell with chains on all four wheels and started down the hill from my parent's into 22" of wet snow. One giant snow wedge later, the Tercell was stuck with it's wheels hanging limp at it's sides. FAIL! On to plan B. Wait, there is no plan B? We need a plan B.
I started looking for a snow blower, hoping to find a solution to our little problem but everyone was sold out and craigslist was full of people trying to cash in selling junk for way too much money. "Wait, here's one in Chelan... where the hell is Chelan?"
On one of my searches I came upon a vintage Elec-Trak with a snow blower attachment and I knew I had found my plan B. Problem was it was in Vermont. Much searching came up empty until I tried the Vancouver Electric Vehicle Association. I had seen an Elec-Trak at the last VEVA show and had been impressed with the solidity, size and weight of these buggers. Made in the late sixties to the early eighties by General Electric, they have six deep cycle batteries stowed away giving about 4 acres of mowing power! The gentleman showing his Elec-Track was very helpful and complimentary about my Auranthetics. This was in the summer of 08.
I sent out my request on the VEVA email list and I got a reply from a Dave Kohen, who turned out to be the same guy who was at the show. He had an Elec-Trak that was looking for a new home...but there was one problem: It was remote control. Wha? Wait, this is a problem...how? The ET was converted to remote control by another member, an electrical engineer, naturally, who liked to mow his lawn from his porch. He even had a video camera hooked up so he could mow from indoors in inclement weather. The member had moved to a condo so he had no more lawn to mow. Alas, the video attachment is no longer with the vehicle but it's still all there. AND IT'S ORANGE! It was obviously meant to be.
I went to look at it at Dave's place. Dave has several Elec-Traks and some super cool projects like a micro hydro power plant and a suspension bridge. We negotiated a deal and I anxiously awaited delivery of the Robotrak. About a week later it arrived
So I fabricated a plow, and bought a vintage snow blower attachment... from Nebraska... That's another story though. I've made a new battery box, an auxiliary power pack and installed a set of heated, yes heated Volvo seats I had sitting in storage.
Normally, with our old 6" snows we could get by driving the driveway with chains and shovelling the worst parts. This would last for a few days, a week tops. Our driveway is about 1000 feet long, winding down from the main road, across the creek at the bottom, past our house and up the other side of the valley about another 500 feet up to my parent's house
Recent years has brought more and more snow and not the wet variety. This year we got 12" then another 12", then when we thought it was all over we got another 12" followed by another 6". Then it started to rain and rain and rain and rain then it froze. You get the picture. Shovelling roofs, digging out the Previa from behind 4 foot snow walls, etc. You know, a nice light Ontario winter, in BC. Now we are in siege mode. We have to hike in, uphill both ways carrying our provisions on our backs.
We have no plow, or any other large scale method of moving snow. Remember, this is Vancouver, where a snow blower is someone who does a lot of coke.
In a moment of desperation we fitted my parent's 4WD Tercell with chains on all four wheels and started down the hill from my parent's into 22" of wet snow. One giant snow wedge later, the Tercell was stuck with it's wheels hanging limp at it's sides. FAIL! On to plan B. Wait, there is no plan B? We need a plan B.
I started looking for a snow blower, hoping to find a solution to our little problem but everyone was sold out and craigslist was full of people trying to cash in selling junk for way too much money. "Wait, here's one in Chelan... where the hell is Chelan?"
On one of my searches I came upon a vintage Elec-Trak with a snow blower attachment and I knew I had found my plan B. Problem was it was in Vermont. Much searching came up empty until I tried the Vancouver Electric Vehicle Association. I had seen an Elec-Trak at the last VEVA show and had been impressed with the solidity, size and weight of these buggers. Made in the late sixties to the early eighties by General Electric, they have six deep cycle batteries stowed away giving about 4 acres of mowing power! The gentleman showing his Elec-Track was very helpful and complimentary about my Auranthetics. This was in the summer of 08.
I sent out my request on the VEVA email list and I got a reply from a Dave Kohen, who turned out to be the same guy who was at the show. He had an Elec-Trak that was looking for a new home...but there was one problem: It was remote control. Wha? Wait, this is a problem...how? The ET was converted to remote control by another member, an electrical engineer, naturally, who liked to mow his lawn from his porch. He even had a video camera hooked up so he could mow from indoors in inclement weather. The member had moved to a condo so he had no more lawn to mow. Alas, the video attachment is no longer with the vehicle but it's still all there. AND IT'S ORANGE! It was obviously meant to be.
I went to look at it at Dave's place. Dave has several Elec-Traks and some super cool projects like a micro hydro power plant and a suspension bridge. We negotiated a deal and I anxiously awaited delivery of the Robotrak. About a week later it arrived
So I fabricated a plow, and bought a vintage snow blower attachment... from Nebraska... That's another story though. I've made a new battery box, an auxiliary power pack and installed a set of heated, yes heated Volvo seats I had sitting in storage.
Robotrak is fitting in nicely in her new home as a multi task mower, plower, driveway maintainer, log skidder, trailer tower and general electric doitall.
This is Robotrak in happier times and warmer climes with it's previous owner.
This is Robotrak in happier times and warmer climes with it's previous owner.
This is the shot of the new battery box. (note the joystick control and lack of steering wheel)
And here it is carrying it's first commercial delivery of glass. The plow has a crazy carpet attached to act as a low friction surface for better plowing.
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