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Originally Posted by patrick_g
1*LBROWN59, You don't need a battery charger or a jump pak to pump such small volumes of fuel.
At 10 amps, with 5 gal per min you only need 6 min to transfer 30 gal, consuming only 1 amp hour. Even with reciprosity losses your truck battery will not mind the 30 gal transfer. Your tractor battery will not mind the brief 10 amp load to fill its tank.
2** If you are concerned that one of the batts is a tad old and weak you can get a HF batt maintainer for under $10 that costs less than $1 a month to operate (at 12 cents per kWh) and doesn't have to be run 24-7 so it can be cheaper. One of these batt maintainers will not hurt the batt if left plugged in for years.
3*To make it really convenient, wire a cord to the battery connections (solenoid is a good place to get 12 volts and there are plenty of options for ground.) Put a polarized socket on the end of the cord and use a mating plug on the pump wires to get power for the pump. I recommend a switch in the cord so you can turn the pump on and off without having to plug/unplug. Bring this socket out to the grill where it is not in the way but accessible. If you want to be professional (and safe) wire in an auto reseting thermal breaker in the hot lead. This will prevent burning up wires if you get a short or something goes wrong. The thermal breaker needs to be rated for more than 10 amps. You can use an in-line fuse instead but fuses are a one shot proposition if there is a problem.
Pat
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1* I do if I want to get away from having to use the tractor battery and that is what I'm trying to do.
2* If I were going the battery maintainer route I think I'd just get a small motorcycle or lawn tractor battery and use it to run the pump to avoid having to mess with getting to the tractor battery with the pump cable.
3*This would be fine if I was only filling one tractor with the pump but in my case I would have to do this with all 3 tractors. I'd rather not go that way.
The battery charger still sounds like the best approach.
What I like about the charger over the battery maintainer is nothing is drawn from the wall plug unless I'm using the pump whereas with the battery maintainer it would be left plugged in and drawing from the wall plug 24/7.
Being plugged in 24/7 the maintainer would also be subject to damage from electical storms where the charger would not be exposed to that risk.