My Diesel Storage and Transfer Set-up

[patrick_g]

LBROWN59, What can I say... Battery charger was my first suggestion. I was just exploring the possibilities. Can't always tell if someone wants simple, cheap, elegant or what. Having a battery charger around for other reasons than pumping is not a bad idea. Of course a jump pak could be handy too, especially one with automatic charger not requiring human intervention.

I am in South Central Oklahoma, essentially at the geographic center of tornado alley. We are not strangers to electrical outages due to lightning. FWIW I have NEVER had a failed battery maintainer.

Patrick

[gemini5362]

ok pat I was thinking it said 450 amp hours on the one that I have but I will freely admit I could be wrong. here is the link for the one I was looking at on the samsclub website Sam's Club - Power On Board Jump-Start-System

here are the specifications for it.

12 volt DC portable power supply
260 PSI air compressor inflator
450 amp instant starting power
Built-in emergency area light
Charging and battery status indicators
12 volt DC output socket with automatic short circuit protection
26 inch heavy-duty welders type cables
Rugged, weather-proof, unbreakable housing
Automatic charger prevents over-charging during AC recharge
15 inch air compressor hose
Includes: 12 volt ac/dc power cord, 120 volt ac/dc adapter/power cord & air inflator nozzle adapter set
Dimensions in inches: 12.5H x 11W x 7.5D


I dont know if the prices at all samsclub are the same or not at my club this one is 39.48 I did notice that it has automatic charging. I know I just plug mine in and leave it alone when I need it I unplug it. I have used mine to run my winch and if I remember right my winch is a 2.5 horse series wound motor. I believe that it will use a whole lot more current than a pump would. Now I will be the first to admit that it does not run my winch longer than a few minutes but if I remember correctly again I had my winch motor off trying to use it to power my hydraulic pump for my dump trailer. at the time the pump was off the trailer and I was just running liquids through it so not much load on that 2.5 HP motor but it ran it an easy 20 minutes or so. I thought that it would probably run his pump for more than enough time to do what he needed. Pat I am glad that I inspired you to look into one of those. my b6100 kubota battery died and I was not sure whether it was the battery or not so I grabbed my jumper pack and just hooked it up to the dead battery on the kubota. I ran the glow plugs for 30 seconds and then tried the starter it started it just fine. Granted that is a small engine but it is a diesel and it had a battery on it. The battery pack was still able to start it. On the other hand I do have a good battery charger with start mode when I need it. I am a firm believe that you cannot have too many toys or tools if you differentiate between the two words.

[MikePA]

Originally Posted by patrick_g

LBROWN59, What can I say... Battery charger was my first suggestion.

"Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat.
"I don't much care where -" said Alice.
"Then it doesn't matter which way you go," said the Cat.
" so long as I get somewhere," Alice added as an explanation.
"Oh, you're sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only walk long enough."

[patrick_g]

Yes, Mike, 'twas brillig and the slithey tothes did gyre and gimbal.

Thomas, What set my alarm off was the 450 AH comment. Again, I'm not super familiar with jump paks but when reading about them I did not see other battery technology mentioned beside lead acid. The ones I read about are lead acid technology with gelled electrolyte (gel cells). They have the energy density of automotive type starting batteries. A 450 AH unit would have to weigh over 4 times as much as the 100 AH batts in my truck and would not be the most convenient thing to carry around and would likely have to have wheels if not a little motor to help propell them (but at the prices quoted would have been a terrific bargain most likely to be preferred over "standard" automotive batteries.)

You may have indeed seen a 450 AH label or a misprint in the instructions. It wouldn't be the first time a product was mislabeled or misleadingly labeled. It just didn't pass my first stage sanity test, the too good to be true clause. If you could get 450 AH in that small of a package at that light of a weight for that cost, electric cars and or hybrids would get a serious boost in capability with a simultaneous reduction in cost.

My understanding of lead acid technology leads me to say:

1. brief high amp outputs for starting a diesel or gas engine is a reasonable use of the jump pak

2. Longer term but really light loads such as a trouble light, miniature air compressor or similar are OK if not continued till the batt is too flat.

3. High current loads like your winch, continued till the batt is exhausted or nearly so is NOT conducive to long batt life and not recommended use.

I didn't see any reference to other batt technology but it is possible that some jump paks may have other technology and be more forgiving regarding running them way down and recharging without damage.

When I use my 12,000 lb Warn winch for any non-trivial pull I leave the engine running to assist my parallel pair of 105 AH batts.

Pat

[LBrown59]

Originally Posted by bialecki

Yes, but, I figured while I was plumbing the tank why not add another ball valve and use the original hose that came with the caddy as a transfer line this way I don't have to lift and hold the 35#s of diesel. Your right I could just pour it into the fill spout of the caddy. That is what I was doing over the summer, but it is really a pain while your holding it and having the diesel chug along. The original hand crank pump that came with the unit was a pain as well because you have to have the nozzle within reach while you turn the hand crank and hope you don't overfill the fuel tank of the tractor. This meant I had to move the caddy along side the tractor. Now I just leave it in place within my garage. I have a 12 volt battery that I use as the power supply versus the battery of the tractor. I just flip the switch of the pump, the nozzle dead-heads the centrifugal pump until you pull the lever of the nozzle, watch until it's full and shut off.

How do you keep the battery charged up?

[LBrown59]

This will make that little ole pump sing.
Thanks guys for all your help
== L B ==

lb59 - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

[LBrown59]

Here it is all done after replacing the transformer with the battery charger.
It's up and running fine except the drum needs filled with 30 gallons of diesel.
That might be a while since I have a 5 gallon and two 2.5 gallon cans to use up before filling the drum.
You can bet I won't be lifting the cans and pouring from them when I can simply pump the diesel out of them using the new set up.
Again thanks all for your helping me with this project.== L

Click Here


MikePA: Replaced huge inline picture with link.

[LBrown59]

Originally Posted by LBrown59

Here it is all done after replacing the transformer with the battery charger.
Click Here
MikePA: Replaced huge inline picture with link.

Thanks Mike I didn't like the big picture either but I'm new at this picture posting thing and it's not easy to master it on a computer that takes 5 to 15 minutes to bring up a page.
I probably spent and hour or 2 or more trying to get that picture posted and felt llucky it even posted.
Guess the computer needs a tune up;but in the mean time it's make do with what ya got.

[patrick_g]

Originally Posted by LBrown59

Thanks Mike I didn't like the big picture either but I'm new at this picture posting thing and it's not easy to master it on a computer that takes 5 to 15 minutes to bring up a page.
I probably spent and hour or 2 or more trying to get that picture posted and felt llucky it even posted.
Guess the computer needs a tune up;but in the mean time it's make do with what ya got.

When I built a new computer I gave my old one to my wife but it was just so slow for her that I couldn't stand it and since it was tax time and she (with 35 years experience juggling $ numbers, most as a budget analyst) was doing the taxes... I went to Wally World and dropped $248 for a new one that runs circles around the previous. Didn't want Vista, preferring XP and this was the only one in stock with XP installed. It has slots so you can plug in the mem card from a camera.

Glad you are up and pumping. That is a pretty hefty looking charger. It should do anything you need done in the charging and or pumping department. With all the youthful enthusiasm you will have left over from not working so hard handling fuel containers you will be able to work with your tractor more!

"I love it when a plan comes together!" - Hannibal Smith ("The A Team", George Peppard)

Pat

[LBrown59]

I've had this charger for a few years.
I didn't really want to have it tied up on this set up all the time.
Then I got to thinking setting the charger in the carport for the fuel set up was as good a way to store it as any.
Got it out of the way and gave me more room in the other garage where it was just sitting along the wall doing nothing until I needed it for something.

Originally Posted by patrick_g

Glad you are up and pumping. That is a pretty hefty looking charger. It should do anything you need done in the charging and or pumping department. With all the youthful enthusiasm you will have left over from not working so hard handling fuel containers you will be able to work with your tractor more!

"I love it when a plan comes together!" - Hannibal Smith ("The A Team", George Peppard)

Pat