Battery/charger help, please.

mytimetoshine

Bronze Member
Jun 23, 2013
1,574
3,370
El Dorado County
Detector(s) used
GRIZZLY GOLD TRAP - ANGUS MACKIRK EXPLORER- BLUE BOWL - GOLD CUBE, MINELAB PRO 25 PINPOINTER-
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
So I ordered a recirculating cleanup sluice off ebay and I need help getting the battery for it. I have zero experience with these type batteries so if I could get some suggestions and links that be great.

The pump says 12v 3amp so I'm going to take a wild stab at it and say I need a 12v 3amp battery? ..found that pretty easy on amazon but the charger... not finding that.
 

Attachments

  • 1458191477415.jpg
    1458191477415.jpg
    55.7 KB · Views: 167
Upvote 0
One more question though as I'm still a bit confused. The pump says 3amp but it also says 5amp fuse.. So does that mean I need to buy a fuse or it already has one? And if your using a high amp battery to get more hours of use then how does that work in correlation to the fuse?
 

IMHO, the suggested amp of 5 is recommended as an in line protection to the pump and something you can pick up at the auto parts store for less than $5. The pump only draws what it needs so no worries there.,
 

One more question though as I'm still a bit confused. The pump says 3amp but it also says 5amp fuse.. So does that mean I need to buy a fuse or it already has one? And if your using a high amp battery to get more hours of use then how does that work in correlation to the fuse?

Think of it like this, the amp hours or aH is how much storage the battery has, voltage is power. So no mater how high the aH, the voltage (power) is the same. So when you say high amp your meaning high capacity. higher ah, the longer the battery will power a device. Amps and amp hours are different, amps is how much current it takes away from the battery to run the device while amp hours is how many amps are available in the battery for the most part.
 

Also just since were talking about this stuff, automotive batteries are different than storage batteries in the way they are built and work. In a car battery the cells have way more surface area creating a better transfer of instant amperage to the starter to be able to turn over the engine. This is where CCA or "cold cranking amps" comes to play. The higher CCA the more amps which creates more torque in a starter motor. The draw back of this is the storage capacity of energy is much less so they wont run things like lights and low amp draw devices for as long as a storage battery.

Storage batteries are built differently where the cells allow more capacity. They may not have the instant power of a car battery, but they last considerably longer on a normal load. These batteries are rated in amp hours or aH. A car battery will do everything but not last as long, a storage battery depending on how large and what its rated at might start a car, but it will last much longer with everything else.
 

Last edited:
Ah.. it just clicked. Thank you Jerry
 

Man I don't know what it is about electricity but my brain just turns off... lol I barely understood any of that..I wonder why by brief career as an electrician lasted all of 2 months..haha


Let me try though... so a 3 amp battery being drawn by a 3amp "per hour" pump will be good for an hour?

The pump will run for an hour but the battery will be completely drained and that's not good for it....Winner 58 is spot on with his info
 

Well I just ordered the Panasonic battery I posted and the smart charger echoplex posted. 50 bucks.. Can't beat that and while I was at it I picked up some snake guards..lol. You got to love Amazon. Where else can you get a 12 v battery and snake guards? 1 hr of run time I guess isn't good but the whole point of this cleanup sluice was to cleanup up quicker hopefully an hour isn't necessary?... Can you run the battery while it's connected to the charger??
 

We used to run the highbanker on a small yard tractor battery with two 12VDC bilge pumps. It would last 6 hours on a charge, but we always had the small generator and charger hooked up to it to run all day. When the battery gave up the ghost after two years, we switched to an electric pump and had less to carry to the creek.
 

Make sure you get a waterproof fuse holder , you don't get any fuse or fuse holder with the pump . You should also get waterproof butt conectors for hooking up the pump .
 

Last edited:
I'm shocked that no one suggested a deep cycle marine battery! Much like a car/truck battery but designed to be depleted to a much lower level without damaging the battery. They provide plenty of amperage for any almost recirc system or 12V pufer drywasher. Combine that with a solar system to top it off and you can run for weeks at a time out in the field. Even a smaller one will last quite a while.
 

You can also buy a cheap 12v power supply to run the pump at home , I bought one of ebay for 39.00 bucks with free shipping just make sure it delivers over 5 amp and you'll be good to go .
 

I've got the POWER! lol, so yeah a friend of mine really hooked me up. These came from a government radio repeater site, they are 15yr batteries and the government changes them out after 4 years regardless if there good or bad, your tax dollars at work! These batteries are top quality and expensive! check it out> OSI Batteries - EnerSys PowerSafe SBS-C11 Sealed Lead Acid Battery 12.0v 91.0Ah Was going to put some in my trailer and keep some at home for power outages and projects, but I can spare one to you if you want it. If not no sweat i'll find a use im sure. One would power that bilge pump for 30 hours on a single charge!

View attachment 1286667View attachment 1286668
How much do you want for a couple? I want to set up a small solar for my water well in the near future.
 

Well I'm not sure at this point, I just ordered a inverter and more solar panels and I've promised a bunch to a few different people so far. Supposedly I might be able to get more so I'll let you know, out of the ten only 7 are good, one is only at 1 volt and two only charge up to 12.7 so looks like after I give the other 4 away I'll only have 3 and will be trying to get more for myself. depending on how many I can get I might have something for you.
 

I'm shocked that no one suggested a deep cycle marine battery! Much like a car/truck battery but designed to be depleted to a much lower level without damaging the battery. They provide plenty of amperage for any almost recirc system or 12V pufer drywasher. Combine that with a solar system to top it off and you can run for weeks at a time out in the field. Even a smaller one will last quite a while.

I was thinking about the deep cycle battery , but I was also thinking he was trying to keep the weight down . Thats why I did'nt put that out there , maybe one of the Optima batteries would be lighter . They are expensive , but may be a definate plus in lighter weight . I have'nt thought to check their weight .
 

I use Optima batteries in street rods the only thing is you need a special charger for those gel batteries.
 

I use Optima batteries in street rods the only thing is you need a special charger for those gel batteries.

Yeah , I checked the weight they go from 26 LBS to 44 LBS , so I would'nt say thats much of a weight saving . They are also expensive . It seems like they should have a solar pannel by now that would run a 12V pump directly .
 

I was looking at this battery on Amazon, but how do I charge it?

You dont want that battery because it wont hold the charge very long at 3amp hour.
Get at least an 18amp hour battery 12v. and you could charge it with a cheap 12v trickle charger,

However if you run the pump at home then you do not need a battery at all! Just use a 110v to 12v 6amp converter.
Cut the cigarette plug receptacle off and bare the two wires to hook up to the pump.

This way you can run as long as you want.


Under $20 at Walmart.
k2-_8d9b1ff9-137f-483a-b799-d8a10f2efe51.v1.jpg

GG~
 

Last edited:
Well I'm not sure at this point, I just ordered a inverter and more solar panels and I've promised a bunch to a few different people so far. Supposedly I might be able to get more so I'll let you know, out of the ten only 7 are good, one is only at 1 volt and two only charge up to 12.7 so looks like after I give the other 4 away I'll only have 3 and will be trying to get more for myself. depending on how many I can get I might have something for you.

All good. I was just thinking if you had a couple available, I'm going to be in the Chico area on Monday, and I could kill two birds with one stone.
 

You dont want that battery because it wont hold the charge very long at 3amp hour.
Get at least an 18amp hour battery 12v. and you could charge it with a cheap 12v trickle charger,

However if you run the pump at home then you do not need a battery at all! Just use a 110v to 12v 6amp converter.
Cut the cigarette plug receptacle off and bare the two wires to hook up to the pump.

This way you can run as long as you want.


Under $20 at Walmart.
View attachment 1287270

GG~

Ugh... that would have been perfect and cheaper... but obviously I need to learn.. sometimes.. that hard way teaches best!. All in all I only spent 50 bucks for the battery and charger with shipping so it's no big deal
 

Top Member Reactions

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top