Cutting under fences - using 17-18 PTO hp?

TresCrows · Jul 4, 2002

I think it is the extension cord thing mostly. I got enough water hoses to drag without messing with extension cords and then there is the pond thing. I can wade around in my pond and other wet areas without fear of electrocution. When I had a home in Houston on a small lot the electric stuff mades since but when I finally cut the "cord" and went gas I never looked back. I am not sure what most homeowners do, I suppose you are correct that most buy cheap 100 dollar units but then very few people on this board qualify as "most" homeowners. Most of us it seems have at least 5 acres or more, even substantially more and "most" folks don't even have a riding mower much less a diesel tractor, no, most folks with acerage sooner or later wind up with some pretty high power/heavy duty equipment compared to "most" homeowners.
The inverter is a good idea but not sure for ME (as in me) that putting clock hours on my many thousand dollar Kubota is cost effective to running out a 200/250 dollars gasoline string trimmer. I consider them almost disposable. Just looking at different sides to the issue, not being argumentative. Happy 4th of July. J

Bird · Jul 4, 2002

Ozarker, I've used converters a lot in RVs, but never had one of those inverters. I can see how they could be very useful. And you're right about me not giving up my DR. I had a Stihl string trimmer (about $360 if I remember right) and it worked great, but after carpal tunnel surgery, the doctor told me I shouldn't use that type because of the vibration, so I sold it my brother and bought the DR. And of course the DR's great for me, but not the greatest on steep slopes.

And of course, I also have the same concerns as TresCrows. When I lived in town and had an electric trimmer, I didn't use it unless the grass was dry (don't like electricity and water), but that would never do here. In fact, we've had small amounts of rain almost every day lately, and high humidity, so everything was soaking wet when I started this morning, and had not dried out good even by the time I finished with the DR.

Ozarker · Jul 4, 2002

I've never owned an RV but don't they have inverters built in so you can run 110v appliances off the 12v system?

Bird · Jul 5, 2002

never owned an RV but don't they have inverters built in

Many do (more all the time, I guess), but none of the 6 I've owned did.

Ozarker · Jul 5, 2002

So what does the converter in an RV do? I tried looking up Converters on the internet and found inverters and transformers.

When I lived in Germany, I had to use transformers to step down the German 220v to run my US 110v appliances over there. Worked good on everything but clocks. Clocks would lose 10 minutes every hour because German AC is 50 cycle as opposed to US 60 cycle.

Bird · Jul 5, 2002

So what does the converter in an RV do?

I'll betcha Gordon knows a lot more about this than I do. Basically, I guess you could say it's the opposite of the inverter; it changes the 110 AC to 12 DC. When you're in an RV park, or anywhere else, that you can plug into 110 AC, it provides the 12 DC to run everything and to keep the battery charged.

In the last two RVs we had (a fifth wheel and a motorhome), we had to have 110 AC to operate the air-conditioners, VCR, and the washer/dryer (which meant either being plugged in somewhere OR having the generators running). Everything else ran on 12 DC; lights, radios, TVs, fans, water pump, etc. Now I don't know a lot about electricity, but doubt that you could get an inverter big enough, or enough battery power, to run the washer/dryer and air-conditioners. And our TVs in the RVs were 13" color, 12 volt. My brother's motorhome does have an inverter and he has a much larger TV, 110 volt.

Ozarker · Jul 5, 2002

Now I understand. Thanks.

Now I don't know a lot about electricity, but doubt that you could get an inverter big enough, or enough battery power, to run the washer/dryer and air-conditioners.

Oh yes. You can get them plenty big enough to do that. That is essentially what a solar powered home does. Solar panels charge a battery bank and an inverter turns the power from the batteries into 110v AC for the house. The have inverters that have an output of 5500 watts with 10,000 surge.

But I believe we will eventually go to 12v DC in homes. The only reason we use AC is because it is easier to transmit AC power over long distances. That will no longer be an issue some day when people are producing their own power on site.

Bird · Jul 6, 2002

believe we will eventually go to 12v DC in homes

That always seemed to me like it would be a good idea. And when I said I doubted you could get an inverter and batteries big enough for major appliances, I was thinking of RVs and the added weight, but I guess even that little problem could be overcome.

Ozarker · Jul 6, 2002

You're probably right. Weight would be a problem. The longer you need power, the more battery storage you need. When I was putting together my emergency power pack I decided to test it on various things. One of the things I did was run my computer, monitor and printer on one deep cycle battery and the inverter. I could run a little over 2 hours before battery power go too low.

Two hours would clearly be inadequate reserve power for an RV so you would have to have a bunch of batteries.

But I think we will move toward hydrogen fuel cells in the near future. A cabinet about the size of a chest freezer full of fuel cells will produce enough power for the average household and the fuel cells can run on natural gas or renewable fuels such as alcohol.

Bird · Jul 6, 2002

Ozarker, you probably know more about batteries than I do (you wouldn't have to know much), but the RV trailers I had were equipped with single 12 volt RV/Marine deep cycle batteries, and even my first Winnebago had a single 12 volt for the coach, and a second 12 volt for engine starting. They worked OK and the only time I actually ran low on power was on a cold night when the furnace blower ran down the battery in the Winnebago. However, a lot of the newer coaches (and even my '92 Bounder) have a 12 volt battery for engine starting, but two 6 volt (golf cart?) batteries in series for the coach; tremendous improvement! And we never ran low on power with that. And of course there very well may have been further refinements made in the last 10 years that I don't know about.