Clipped from the Lazair 4 thread:
"I am however working this winter on an electric Lazair conversion. 20 minute flights once a week are all I need and bye bye engine hassles. Expensive outlay though but hope to get costs including battery replacement to about $20/hr and that will come down."
Dale Kramer
Hi Dale,
Since I purchased the series IIIEC, I've been contemplating converting my early series 1 back to it's original condition (minus most of the heavy mods I thought were such a great idea way back then) and removing the engines (and associated stuff) so I could fly it at the Hang Glider field where my daughter and her boyfriend fly. They have a couple fat UL tugs there that could easily tow me. They have one of the late model Super Floaters there that flies fairly ofter. A striped down series 1 Lazair has to be superior to the heavy Dacron covered Super Floater, especially if you fitted the Lazair with a small nosecone and reclined the seat a little more.
Anyway, it turns out that I have a friend that has been into electric powered model planes now for 5-6 years. He's the local expert, having built SEVERAL hundred electrics over the years. A couple weeks ago I stopped by the hobby shop that he now works at since he retired. I told him about our 6000 mile trip this fall to pick up the EC, and he asked if I still had the Series 1. I told him about my thoughts on turning it into a glider (with those old Pioneers, it's been a "glider" many times) and he got excited about converting it to electric. He said there were some large electric motors available now that he thought (a pair) would be adequate to get me up. I had to postpone getting back to him since then, but maybe next week I'll stop by again.
I did came across a motor just the other night that's used in an electric bike that looks pretty awesome. The motor is made by Briggs and Stratton of all people. It's the E-Tek, and it's rated at 12 HP peak, 2.7 HP continuous and weighs 21 pounds. Fancy electronic controllers are available for them off the shelf. Batteries to power them would be serious money, I'm afraid, but then we only need a thousand feet or so per charge. I haven't done any number crunching as to what would be required in the way of motors and battery capacity. I'm not sure I could get all that close anyway. I would be very interested to hear what you think would be required.
I hadn't planned on discussing this conversion on this forum, as many members get a little bent (to say the least) when you start talking about modifications to Lazairs. Since you brought up the subject, and in a way you are sanctioning it, I think I'm safe talking about it now!
Chappy
E-Tek motor link: http://www.greenspeed.us/electric_scoot ... _motor.htm