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June 3, 2008

Convert your gas or electric lawn mower to solar power

Last Saturday I was sitting on the porch sipping a cool one, listening to the birds, watching my seedlings grow -- the perfect lazy almost-summer afternoon.

Then Mad Max arrived, throbbing and noisier than standing next to the stack at a concert, roaring in to annihilate some grass blades. The world's loudest lawn mower blasted the eardrums and scattered the wildlife, including the foraging mama skunk who lives beneath the shed and the housecat who lazily watched her from the porch steps, partners in a peace treaty of long standing.

Sunday morning, it happened again, from another direction. Even louder.

Solar lawn mowers would make a lot of sense, I told Joe. And they could be silent.

Turns out, plans to convert your gas and electric lawn mowers to solar power are on the Web waiting for you -- or for someone more mechanical than me, at least -- to find and run with them:

Easiest: Electric mower to solar mower. The author wants you to know, "I only placed the solar panel on top of the mower to snap the picture .but (cord permitting) you could put the solar panel as far from the mower as you like."

At HacknMod.com, Solar Power-ize your Gas Lawn Mower

Who wants to spend four bucks a gallon to mow their lawn? Summer is here, so harness the power of the sun and convert your gas guzzling beast into an eco friendly solar powered mower. We've got three comprehensive DIY tutorials to guide you.

The first tutorial takes you through removing the engine, installing the electric motor, wiring the solar charger, and more. Read.The second one simply takes you through the process of converting an electric mower to be recharged with a solar panel attached to the top of the machine. Read. Finally, the last tutorial uses a solar panel separate from the mower which charges a 12v battery which in turn powers the Dayton electric motor which powers the mower. Read.

It would be lovely if the Geek Scouts took on projects like this for the neighborhood, converting mowers, hedge trimmers and weed whackers.

Posted by Sheila Lennon at 11:26 AM | Permalink

Comments

Other than the color, I don't think there's much about a lawn that's green. And, so long as we're talking colors, the thing that makes me see a lot more red than the lawnmower's carbon footprint is the noise. If there is any other thing you did in your suburban house that made the same number of decibels as a lawnmower, you would be arrested for it.

Even better, suburbanites think nothing of starting them up at seven in the morning. Is there something about suburbia that disables the forebrain?

Posted by: Silas Scarborough on June 3, 2008 4:05 PM