Ok, been thinking about a way to charge the batteries at a pull and keep thinking about Dan's pony motor setup.

If I can come up with a briggs engine and an alternator, would this work? I'm envisioning building a frame on wheels that the engine and alternator would mount to, then having cables to run from the alternator to the batteries similar to jumper cables. A few questions come to mind as I think about this. What size engine would I need to power the alternator, and what type of alternator should I get? Also, would I need a regulator? Would the ground just bolt to the housing of the alternator?

I'm thinking about this because it would be a cheaper alternative to a generator/battery charger setup, would charge faster and be more portable than a generator/charger deal.

Dan, I know you've done this, can you or anyelse offer some advice?

Thanks
Alan

between pulls around here some of the tractor guys use the 12v cigaret lighter outlet on the generator to charge there battery. im sure its not as fast as charger or alternator but it eliminates the need for a charger.

Cory

Hey Alan I run a charging system on the side of my battery that you plug into 110 electric so when I get home at night I just plug it in and it never over or under charges makes the batteries last alot longer and I can pull back to back and cool her down no prob I have some of them here I think in stock but thats what alot of us run if interested email me and I will try to send u pic or more info

I have 3 batteries in parallel, can that little device handle that. Also, the reason I'm looking at the motor/alternator is for those times I have more than 2 runs at the same track.

Alan

not a prob Alan ive ran as many as 4 pulls same track then loaded up got home fired it up and unloaded and i just charged it the night before

i have a 100+ amp alternater i run on motor with a seperate switch that i can charge the deep cycle batt. while running i have the hyd steer on a sep switch that i turn on and off when i need to steer so when i leave with the sled i shut the charging off to the batt. and turn the hyd. pump on. when im done with the pull i turn the switch on to charge batt.i also have a small charging unit like out of a camper mounted on rad support that i can plug up to generator while truck sits or to a inverter plugged up to cig lighter.lot more weight you can put farther out front were you want it instead of mounting a engine and alterators. my apinion.

Not looking to mount it on the truck. It'll be on wheels so I can take it to the truck. Another thought that just hit me is rigging a clutch setup on the motor so I could use the briggs to power a small air compressor as well. Just thinking here...

Alan

puller:<<< Is this charging unit mounted on the weight bar of the truck? Got any pics of it??

if your gone to wheel somthing around it may as well be a battery charger .and hook it up all on sep.switches.just use the deep cycle batt for the steering.i run my fans off the same batt too.

no, its mounted on the driver side rad support along side rad its only a small square box prob. weighs 3 pds.

i have a snap on inverter that you plug up to cig lighter, im going to try plugging up that to the cig lighter that still works in my puller to the charging box thats mt. on truck. serprisingly it ran my batt charger but did get warm it has a built in fan and fuse and i paid $40.00 for it.

I had one jus tlike you said and it worked great.

I just took a board and mounted a weed eater engine in the middle.

on one end of the board I mounted an old generator and volt reg.

on other end i put an old a/c comp. I had it mounter where i only needed one belt, but i only ran one at time.

comp was very slow, but woked in a pinch.

you can build this fro junk lying around, so it is a very budget friendly deal.

if you start spending mony just buy something

How big of a Briggs motor would you need to run an alt?

I have a 5.5 H.P. briggs that runs one 67 Amp alt. and a 100 Amp. at the same time. it grunts when I turn on my steering but it hasn't quit yet. if it ever does poop out on me I'll be going to a 8 or 10 h.p. briggs.




Dan

We used a 3.5 briggs hooked to a 100 amp one wire GM alternator. This was mounted in the bed
This worked fine for the alternator - no isssues.
We then decided to try a power steeing pump
Turnin the wheels would snuff the 8 horse motor we installed everytime.

We finally went back to motor driven alt and steering pumps on an underdrive pulley setup

No more hassles, and a lot less friggen around during runs and between runs

Nothing to turn on or off, or remember to turn on or off

I'm just looking at this to charge the batteries when the truck is setting. So I wonder if the little 2.5hp briggs I've got will work.

Alan

It should if your only using one 67 to 85 Amp alt. it 's when you get those 100 + amp alt. that it kills the motors.



Dan

Keep it simple, even if you lose a couple horses......just build it as strong as you can, so you can spare them.....

Any links or tips to the under drive system Ken???


Thanks,

A.........

Adrian, March makes all kinds of Pulley Sets.
I'm pretty sure Summit and/or Jegs sells them as well.
Just look up March Performance and they should be there.
They are a little pricy but they make a good product.
I think it was about $104 for a underdriven crank pulley for a 460 ford a year ago.

Ken, I understand your thinking about letting the motor power the pump and alternator, but when I dyno'ed last spring, we found that the water pump and alternator (no load) was robbing about 20 hp. So it is a safe bet that the p/s pump is taking at least that much. In my class, everyone is squeezing every hp we can get from the motors to be competitive so giving up 40-50hp to the wheels is un-thinkable. That is why I'm looking at this idea to charge batteries as I think an alternator will charge them faster than a std. battery charger and will be easier to tote around than a generator and battery charger.

alan

one thing to remember though is that the alternator puts out 14 volts when its running so your ignition system sees 14 volts instead of 12 and makes a better spark.

If your allowed to hang weights off the front. then this set up is the best option. it puts the weight on the weight bar and keeps your batteries at full charge at all times. plus I get to keep the water pump and fans running in between pulls with out worry of draining the batteries.

How big is that cell Dan?(gallons) And how much do you use per pull?

Sorry about Hi-Jack


A.........

That's a 5 gal fuel cell .. you can get them out of Jegs for $139.99

And I can make 2 300' runs on it and still make it back to the trailer on fumes.


Dan

If you have access to a lathe its not that much trouble to turn out an undersized pulley out of a piece of aluminum, ours is a one to one ratio.I tend to agree that you will gain more from the 14 volts to the ignition than you will lose to the drag of the alternator, especially on the second run when time has not allowed the battery to be charged.

If you are worried about the voltage drop of the spark, you can wire in a 6 volt battery with your 12 volt battery and run 18 volts to your ignition and really make it spark. An MSD is rated up to 18 volts.

I have a question in regard to the voltage drop concern. If you are running the alternator with a brigs motor, why couldn't you just let it run while you are pulling also? Then it would be the same as if it was running off the motor anyways, plus you could still charge the batteries at any given time between pulls too?

I do let my run all the time. This way I know the battiers are at full charge.





Dan