Feeder Issue

[Blane]

I have a 12 volt solar powered system that I bought from a guy in the Houston area that he was building. It is a green powder coated box with an attached solar panel and varmint guard and digital timer(no name anywhere on it). I placed a new 12 volt battery in and tested it. The spinner will barely turn, not throwing any corn. Usually this thing is a beast and will pelt you with corn. I removed the battery and ran jumpers from battery, straight to motor and it is mucho quick. I put a meter on the posts of the motor with the battery hooked up through the timer unit and when the unit ends the countdown, it shows to have just over 12 volts at the motor. I have cleaned the posts on both the battery and motor and checked the connections. What is causing the motor to loose power when under a load. I am getting 12 volts to the motor but it is not spinning like when hooked directly to the battery?

[BrianW]

Might have some broken strands of wire from the battery to motor,when you took battery out and jumped it(I assume with different wires) it was getting the full 12v,I would use the jumper wires and get it set up..Good luck

[gonehuntin68]

Check your timer, some timers have settings on them for the speed of the spinner plate. IF that isn't the problem then it's possible the timer is bad.

[Blane]

I did use different wires to jump it across, but after the countdown, when the spinner is supposed to fire, I am getting 12 volts to the motor. It's just not spinning the plate like it should be. I originally had the setting at 50% and up'd it to 100% trying to get more out of it. That didnt help. Looks like Ill be getting a HCR timer to put in the box.

[RascalArms]

First thing I would do is try another battery. Believe it or not you can have a battery read the correct voltage but when under a load the amps drop and it becomes WORTHLESS.

[Tree Phantom]

First thing I would do is try another battery. Believe it or not you can have a battery read the correct voltage but when under a load the amps drop and it becomes WORTHLESS.

Yeah, battery.

[RascalArms]

First thing I would do is try another battery. Believe it or not you can have a battery read the correct voltage but when under a load the amps drop and it becomes WORTHLESS.

Yeah, battery.

I would put money on it being the battery....learned this the hard way....

[dustoffer]

If it is the battery, why does it spin normally when wired direct but not when running through the timer with the same battery? My bet is on a bad wire--not enough good strands to carry the current needed to spin at full RPM.

[RascalArms]

If it is the battery, why does it spin normally when wired direct but not when running through the timer with the same battery? My bet is on a bad wire--not enough good strands to carry the current needed to spin at full RPM.

I might have misunderstood the OP's mention of this. I thought he used a separate power source when wiring direct to the motor?

[BURTONboy]

If your wires look good, not frayed or cracked or any physical damage, I would think they are ok. If you hooked the same battery up in every circumstance you described above in the op, then I would say the batter is ok. I would then try another timer. Do you have another feeder you can borrow the timer and battery from just as a test? If so, go through canceling things out. I agree in that the battery can read correct volts at the motor, but not have any juice. But if you used the same battery for both test, and it spun like crazy when going around the timer, then I would tend to think the timer might have a short or something in it causing the loss of power. Thus the reason whoever sold it to you sold it.... Just a though!

[super_dave]

Probably dirty contacts in the relay inside the timer. Or maybe corrosion inside I'df it is solid state switches.