DIY placer mining equipment

Jakel

Jakel

Jr. Member
Mar 31, 2014
87
26
Edmonton
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
So I've panned enough gold to purchase my recreational placer mining license today. My next step is to use this rocker box that I have built (watching several YouTube videos) until I can gain enough gold to purchase the items that I can't build myself...like a pump and marine battery. I was thinking about getting a battery powered bilge pump. My question is...if I go with that style of pump, can I charge the the marine battery with the battery out of my vehicle or do I need to buy a charger as well?

Oh yeah...how does the rocker box look? Any tips operating it would help too lol.

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You cant per say charge a battery with another one. All that will happen is a exchange of electrons which will result in a small equalization between the batteries. You can use your car to charge the battery BUT it will shorten the life of that battery. Deep cycle batteries need to be charged slow and cold. Heat is what kills a battery, so if you charge is slow...2 amp or so then you don't build heat and boil the electrolyte off. Car alternators can out put 55amps or more. A simple car battery charger that can output very low amps work just fine.

I don't know much about rocker box's but it looks good to me.
 

Nice build on the rocker. You can charge your battery with your vehicle's charging system, which puts out 13 or 14 volts. Simply hooking to your vehicle battery, without the engine at high idle, probably won't do a very good charging job.
Jim
 

Yes I saw those videos, and paused them to take several pictures lol. Im undecided on if I'm going to build that or a high banker. I'm having a hard time locating the whale pump used on that rocker in my area.

On the battery question...thanks for the info.
 

What do y'all think about the water flow coming down that rocker box in the video. Too much flow or not enough? The box I made is 1" per foot in length drop when sitting level on the stand. (Not seen in pictures)
 

Good to know. Trickle charger it is then. Thanks for the replies.
 

Off to the river this morning to try the new build. I painted it to cover up all the writing that was on it. I call it "Little Red Rocker".

Not sure how the flow is going to be coming down the riffle/expanded metal section. I've watched videos where it comes out fast and others where the dirt is just suspended there moving really slow. I will capture my tailings to see what's going on.

If anyone has insight on water flow it would be greatly appreciated :)

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So I got to the river to see it's up about 4' with the ice melt lol. Had to do a bit of digging to get down to the river rock. Panned my tailings twice and I'm not loosing anything so far.

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omnicron said:
Jim while I do agree that you can charge a deep cycle battery with a car, it is going to shorten it's life span. The electrolyte will get hot and start to boil. That creates excess sulfides that will block the flow of electrons between the plates.

Car and Deep Cycle Battery Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Section 16
Click to expand...
It's all about the charging rate. As you say, the lower the rate the better. That said, if the battery isn't run down too far, the car system might not charge at more than 5 or 10 amps. No way to tell without an amp gauge....and I don't mean the one on the vehicle. Best thing is to test it at home, using an accurate gauge and the battery to be charged.
Jim
 

Jim in Idaho said:
It's all about the charging rate. As you say, the lower the rate the better. That said, if the battery isn't run down too far, the car system might not charge at more than 5 or 10 amps. No way to tell without an amp gauge....and I don't mean the one on the vehicle. Best thing is to test it at home, using an accurate gauge and the battery to be charged.
Jim
Click to expand...

Gotcha, Your car would have to have been running for 10 minutes or so to see the lower amps as right after starting an alternator will push out around 50ish amps and trickle down.

Jakel, great job on the rocker build! I don't know crap about rockers...I use one to put my son to sleep but I know that's not the same.... Congrats on having no loses!
 

Jake
You say you had no loses...did the rocker capture any color?
I use a highly modified Alan Tree's Gold Grabber Rocker.
 

I'm after flour gold and only had 4 hrs of digging time at the river today. I cleaned the carpets about 5 times within the time that I was there(that's the bottom carpet. I was cleaning the apron more often, maybe 4:1). I will pan the cons at home tonight and let y'all know how I made out lol.
 

Highly modified you say huh? I saw that unit on YouTube and the DIY one as well. I'm going to build something else in the future, but not sure what yet. Do you have pictures of your unit?
 

Yeah like I said, not sure what I'm going to build yet. I don't know much about rockers either lol but I think it captured some gold. We see after I pan out the cons.

 

Last edited:
So I'm going to start the highbanker build today. For now, I have an old road sign that I will break for the sluice bottom. I was thinking 10" across with conveyer belt mating which is used in the gold cube, with MM and 1/2" expanded natal to hold it all down.

Right out of the hopper I will leave it bare for a slick plate then 1 riffle to break the surface tension followed with the 3 layers I mentioned above.

Seeing I don't have a whole lot if riffles to go over, will a 500-600gph bilge pump work in this setup with 1"drop:1' length?

Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated and thanks in advance.
 

You will have to heat the road sign to bend it with a brake because the alloy is too brittle to bend into a 90 degree angle otherwise.

GG~
 

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