Gas Tiller Converted To Battery Power

2024 - Volume #48, Issue #6, Page #03

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Tired of dealing with a hard-to-start gas-powered tiller, mixing oil and gas, and winterizing it, David Arko converted his energy to battery power.
“A friend gave me an old lead-acid, battery-powered lawn mower,” says Arko. “The batteries were bad, but I figured I could use the motor to power the tiller.”
With a new set of lead-acid batteries, the conversion went well. However, the batteries gave him only about 10 min. run time and required about 3 hrs. to recharge.
“I was pretty happy with my Stihl weed whacker, chainsaw and mower,” says Arko. “I thought I might be able to use the Stihl battery instead of the lead-acid batteries.”
The first challenge was powering down the 36-volt lithium-ion battery to match the 24-volt motor. He installed a voltage regulator/reducer; however, it had a current-limiting circuit and a big capacitor. When starting, the motor drew a high voltage surge, which threw a big arc that blew the fuse in the regulator.
“I decided to hook the lithium-ion battery in parallel with the lead-acid batteries,” says Arko. “This way, the lead-acid batteries would power the surge, and I could use the lithium-ion battery as a big capacitor to power the motor after start-up.”
Arko knew that in other applications, lithium-ion batteries and voltage inverters require a resistor to bring the voltage up to charge capacitors. He recognized that he needed a switch with a resistor.
“I installed a 3-position switch, one position with the charge resistor to bring it up to voltage, another to make the connection enabling the charge resistor with a limited amount of current to charge the capacitor and the final one, a solid connection bypassing the resistor to avoid the arcing and blowing the fuse. In addition, I needed a switch at the handlebars that was a starting contact from a starting motor, essentially a 24-volt relay, to start the entire process.”
The tiller worked well with the electronics in place, with one exception. Arko had jury-rigged the Stihl battery connection to the lead-acid batteries, and the contact points would fall out due to tiller vibration.
“I got a 3D printer for Christmas and, using measurements of a Stihl battery holder, made a 3D file and printed a holder for the tiller,” says Arko. “It works great, and if anyone needs a holder like it, I’ll share the file.”
While the process got more involved than anticipated, Arko is satisfied with the conversion. “The conversion eliminated my frustrations with the old gas tiller,” he says. “The combination of lithium-ion and lead-acid batteries gave the tiller the extra weight needed to reduce bouncing.”
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, David Arko, 6255 County Road 88, Fort Collins, Colo. 80524 (dave.arko1@gmail.com)

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Gas Tiller Converted To Battery Power Tired of dealing with a hard-to-start gas-powered tiller mixing oil and gas and winterizing it David Arko converted his energy to battery power “A friend gave me an old lead-acid battery-powered lawn mower ” says Arko “The batteries were bad but I figured I could use the motor to power the tiller ” With a new set of lead-acid batteries the conversion went well However the batteries gave him only about 10 min run time and required about 3 hrs to recharge “I was pretty happy with my Stihl weed whacker chainsaw and mower ” says Arko “I thought I might be able to use the Stihl battery instead of the lead-acid batteries ” The first challenge was powering down the 36-volt lithium-ion battery to match the 24-volt motor He installed a voltage regulator/reducer; however it had a current-limiting circuit and a big capacitor When starting the motor drew a high voltage surge which threw a big arc that blew the fuse in the regulator “I decided to hook the lithium-ion battery in parallel with the lead-acid batteries ” says Arko “This way the lead-acid batteries would power the surge and I could use the lithium-ion battery as a big capacitor to power the motor after start-up ” Arko knew that in other applications lithium-ion batteries and voltage inverters require a resistor to bring the voltage up to charge capacitors He recognized that he needed a switch with a resistor “I installed a 3-position switch one position with the charge resistor to bring it up to voltage another to make the connection enabling the charge resistor with a limited amount of current to charge the capacitor and the final one a solid connection bypassing the resistor to avoid the arcing and blowing the fuse In addition I needed a switch at the handlebars that was a starting contact from a starting motor essentially a 24-volt relay to start the entire process ” The tiller worked well with the electronics in place with one exception Arko had jury-rigged the Stihl battery connection to the lead-acid batteries and the contact points would fall out due to tiller vibration “I got a 3D printer for Christmas and using measurements of a Stihl battery holder made a 3D file and printed a holder for the tiller ” says Arko “It works great and if anyone needs a holder like it I’ll share the file ” While the process got more involved than anticipated Arko is satisfied with the conversion “The conversion eliminated my frustrations with the old gas tiller ” he says “The combination of lithium-ion and lead-acid batteries gave the tiller the extra weight needed to reduce bouncing ” Contact: FARM SHOW Followup David Arko 6255 County Road 88 Fort Collins Colo 80524 dave arko1@gmail com

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