Portable Power Source

[Island_Hunter]

I need some advice on what would be the best power source to run a bilge pump in the field. I have had people suggest back up car starters, motorcycle batteries, solar panels, car batteries and to get a deep cycle battery. Some of the categories that I need to take into account are:

-Overall dimensions
-Weight
-Length of use between charging
-Ability to hold charge
-Life of the battery
-Cost

Thanks in advance for your suggestions,
IH

 

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[russau]

well if your running a 12vdc aperatus with a battery youll need to charge it up every night probly! why not use a small gas engine with a pully and belt to a small alternator. it will be only slightly heaveir than a battery and itll save you the trouble of chargeing that battery at night.and it wont use much gas.

 

[Island_Hunter]

Hello russau and thank you for your reply! I will be home most evenings and able to charge the battery. The longest I would be out would be 2 days so something that would last that long would be awesome.

I have seen on some gold tv programs that they will turn off the water supply to check the mats and then start the pumps back up again. Doesn't this flush gold out of the sluice? If it doesn't, I could turn the pump off while I am digging out more material to run, saving power.

 

[B H Prospector]

Hi Hunter,
I sometimes take my recirc. highbanker into the field and I use a 1200 gph bilge pump run off of a car battery. Weight isn't a problem for me since I can drive up to my claims but I know some use motorcycle batteries to lighten the load with good results. You may want to have two one for each day out. I never let my pump run while I am digging. I haven't noticed any gold flushing out on restart.

Good Luck!

BH Prospector

 

[Alex Burke]

I use a 1200gph pump too, I got the best deep cycle 12v marine battery sears had $120 I think. I almost got the portable charger to recharge the battery in field, they sell for $100-130 depending on which model with usb charging stations and plugs. You can charge the charger off your car or truck battery while truck is running. My friend says he has a solar panel charger that will charge the charger he'll lend me to see if it'll work. I'll let you guys know if it works hopefully sometime soon. Also I've been told not to store batteries on concrete because they die quicker. I don't know if this is true but I moved mine off the concrete in backyard anyway. I know it lasts at least two full days without charging.

 

[Alex Burke]

I forgot to add I'm not that portable anymore but my original plan was to be, the battery is heavy and its hard to stack everything in a cart or on a dolly. I kind of need a mule lol. sorry my edit froze mods merge if you want need to.

 

[mustangpalmer1911]

I have several of the Hona EU series generator they are very quiet. I would go with a generator of some sort sort with the requirements you said.

 

[russau]

Hello russau and thank you for your reply! I will be home most evenings and able to charge the battery. The longest I would be out would be 2 days so something that would last that long would be awesome.

I have seen on some gold tv programs that they will turn off the water supply to check the mats and then start the pumps back up again. Doesn't this flush gold out of the sluice? If it doesn't, I could turn the pump off while I am digging out more material to run, saving power.

on my dredge, ive seen where if you shut the water flow off quickly the fine gold will move down the sluice. also if you start back up and dont move the throttel up slowly youll also flush fine gold down the sluice.but this is what ive seen on dredges.highbankers maybe the same?id assume they would!

 

[B H Prospector]

The battery on concrete is myth. The old time batteries it was true, todays not so much.

 

[Island_Hunter]

Thanks so much for all the input. My boss gave me a 500GPH bilge pump, a ride on mower battery and a charger. Its a smaller setup than i was looking for, but it is just to wash rocks going through the header box. The benefits are that it is so much smaller and lighter than a car battery....and free! I tested it out and I think it will put out enough water for what I need. On Friday I will run it nonstop on the battery with a full charge to see just how long it will last. If it lasts long enough, it will save me some pretty good money.

The cheapest 1500GPH pump i can find up here is $89.00 and a deep cycle battery is $99.99.

 

[Alex Burke]

Thank you good to know guess I can take it off the milk crate now