What's the best 12V DC power source for my fueling station?

[grsthegreat]

OK, here's a related question:

If I'm powering the pump with an independent aux battery, is the inline fuse really necessary or not?

I have one on mine.

 

[Lefty7]

If you raised tank up 5-6 feet you could gravity fill. No electricity or anything. All you would need would be a few steps for delivery guy.
My excavator neighbor/friend's tank is like that and he fills his truck, Bobcat, track hoe, etc. that way. No pump or power.

Thanks, Fuddyduddy1952... [great handle, by the way, and a great year for some things, too].

Yeah, me and Sir Isaac Newton get the gravity thing, but am I soon gonna raise a +half-full 500 gal. tank 5-6 feet? Probably not; there's other fish to fry. I'll save that project for when the big grid goes down, or when my aux battery tanks and I don't have another one, and when the asteroid belt moves and makes the sun so dim that I can't charge it with solar, or when ... Uh - in the immortal words of Pres. H.W.B: "Naht gohnna daht..."

But I get it, and you said it best: simplicity. So I do have one of those manual crank jobs sitting new in a box, just in case.

 

[Lefty7]

I have one on mine.

Yeah, most everybody does - and that seems to be the stock, default answer. But in the application I described, is it really necessary? I mean, in reality, what the heck's gonna happen in between my charged-up motorcycle battery and the motor of my GPI pump that's somehow gonna burn up 18-20 ga. multi-strand copper wire or trash the motor?

 

[grsthegreat]

Ya, probably nothing. My 12 v pump came with an inline weatherproof fuse on the red clamp cable. im sure thats to meet UL Listing.

 

[Lefty7]

Ya, probably nothing. My 12 v pump came with an inline weatherproof fuse on the red clamp cable. im sure thats to meet UL Listing.

Exactly.

I have inline weatherproof fuses new in stock that ain't never been used yet. And they have their place.

But since my fuel station is outside 24/7, getting blasted by the prevailings and whatever they bring, and since I have - on rare occasions - had fuses, both the old kind and the newer kind - go bad for no blessed reason other than 'its time had come', and if simplicity is indeed the thing, than why put one in?

 

[LouNY]

The simple reason for a fuse to protect the wire in case the pump or the wiring gets shorted, pump in a locked rotor mode, switch shorting out.
If it does that wire will over heat melt the insulation and be a hazard to any fuel it gets to. You are much better off with a fuse close to the battery connection.

 

[Lefty7]

OK, thanks for that, LouNY.

And thanks once again to TBN friends for your widely varied suggestions and good opinions. Yer the best.

~Lefty7