Mep002 12v conversion

[Triple Jim]

Those little lawn tractor batteries are great. I've been using one to replace a long, narrow 12v battery in my fork lift for years now. I thought I might have to use two in parallel to get enough current to start the engine, but a single one works just fine, and lasts at least as long as the "right" battery, which costs well over $100.

Note that I'm not talking about a 12v battery in a 24v system.

 

[Chainbreaker]

Thanks to all for sharing the good results using lawn tractor batteries. With my three -002a's I've got about $700 invested in just the Interstate batteries alone. Once those need replacing I may look at substituting the lower cost lawn tractor batteries to reduce the investment required. Might have to do some adapting though for solidly mounting them.

 

[kwfiggatt]

All that you need to convert the 24VDC charging circuit to 12V is a different regulator - no stator changes are required. E-pay has them for like $5. Search for universal 5 wire scooter regulator. I used one on my 002a, but put a voltage divider circuit in front of the sense wire on the regulator. It cuts the battery voltage in half so that the regulator see's 12V, but the batteries get charged at 24V.

Kevin