Desert Fox gold wheel, Power adapter questions. Options

[Miles H]

Hey guys im not the best with electronics to be sure not to make something my self. I made a little short wave radio when I was younger so I understand a little and know how to solder things together. I want to hook my Desert fox up at my house to just plug into the wall. Them make a 40$ adapter which i think is to expensive. If any of you can look at this and give me a cheap easy solution to build or use something else with out blowing the thing up. here is the expensive adapter they sell http://www.blackcatmining.com/mining-equip...wer-adapter.cfm And I can not find another one like it besides maybe a lap top charger if thats all I need to use I would like to know what to look for if all I need to worry about is the 3.33 amps or some type of conversion please help. Thank You guys and thank you Bill for the Desert Fox.

[Miles H]

I forgot to also explain that im trying to find something that will allow me to hook the battery cables to the adapter like the adapter they sell is designed. If I could just splice the wire coming out of an adapter and connect the ends to the connectors I will make a little box for it making it safe I just need to know if it will work. I dont want to splice the cable and find that there is only one wire coming out knowing that wouldnt work. I apologies for my spelling as well I am holding a baby and typing with one hand

Hey guys im not the best with electronics to be sure not to make something my self. I made a little short wave radio when I was younger so I understand a little and know how to solder things together. I want to hook my Desert fox up at my house to just plug into the wall. Them make a 40$ adapter which i think is to expensive. If any of you can look at this and give me a cheap easy solution to build or use something else with out blowing the thing up. here is the expensive adapter they sell http://www.blackcatmining.com/mining-equip...wer-adapter.cfm And I can not find another one like it besides maybe a lap top charger if thats all I need to use I would like to know what to look for if all I need to worry about is the 3.33 amps or some type of conversion please help. Thank You guys and thank you Bill for the Desert Fox.

[swizz]

Hi Miles,
If you currently own an automotive battery charger, you should be able to use it for this purpose. It should convert the power for your Fox no problem.

[Miles H]

thats what I thought but it confused me that they sell a battery charger also and it was weird to e that they would sell two different products that can do the same thing. Thank you for your help! Bill had good things to say about you and im glad I have joined the group I plan to join you guys when I get the money to pay for a membership. I figure I need to get my sluice and all that first and im very limited on money with a wife and a kid and both of us being in school. So its just saving a little here and there and justifying it toward a hobby I love haha
quote name='swizz' date='Jan 28 2011, 04:49 AM' post='21995']
Hi Miles,
If you currently own an automotive battery charger, you should be able to use it for this purpose. It should convert the power for your Fox no problem.
[/quote]

[russau]

i agree with Swizz 100%. at home i only use my battery charger for my equipment.

[Miles H]

cool thank you. I questioned it because the charger is only 1.5 amps tops and that running power to the wheel and the 2.0 amp pump so thats a lot to draw from. After all that I got a battery today anyways and a charger from harbor freight for 10 bucks. Th battery was priced wrong or something it was a 90$ RV battery for 25 bucks so I grabbed it. I could run everything off it for days.

i agree with Swizz 100%. at home i only use my battery charger for my equipment.

[Coalbunny]

I had a battery charger that I used for a bit with my Desert Fox, but the DF seemed to work better straight off of a car battery. It totally escaped me why, until my grandfather explained it- the battery charger is not designed to give the same output the battery does. The battery charger puts out x volts and x milliamps whereas the battery might put out x volts and y amps. The DF is designed for a specific load.

To properly power it, get a car battery. And the DF will work right off that battery all weekend long without much drain at all. If you want you can also hook up the battery charger to the car battery, but it's senseless as the useage is minimal.

[Miles H]

Yeah looking at how low the amps coming out of the charger were I know it could work but its definitely not what the machine is trying to pull so it will run possibly slower most likely at the pump making the thing very hard to balance out as hard as it already is to tune one to work perfect. Anyways I ended up getting a battery and a charger to charge the battery as I use it just to make sure Im always getting the power its asking for. After using the thing and playing with the speed control I realized how sensitive it is and that there is no way around running the thing short of power. I couldnt even tell if the speed control was up or down changing it because the speed is barley noticeable, I had to draw a mark on it and time its rotation it ended up being 1.3 second difference for a rotation or something like that. The thing is going to be fun to play with and any body that would like to try it out with there concentrates write me a message. I have no problem with letting someone use it, it's good practice for me anyways. At the moment I dont have cons to practice with so I would love to get it down perfect for when I can start using it efficiently

I had a battery charger that I used for a bit with my Desert Fox, but the DF seemed to work better straight off of a car battery. It totally escaped me why, until my grandfather explained it- the battery charger is not designed to give the same output the battery does. The battery charger puts out x volts and x milliamps whereas the battery might put out x volts and y amps. The DF is designed for a specific load.

To properly power it, get a car battery. And the DF will work right off that battery all weekend long without much drain at all. If you want you can also hook up the battery charger to the car battery, but it's senseless as the useage is minimal.

[Miles H]

Yeah looking at how low the amps coming out of the charger were I know it could work but its definitely not what the machine is trying to pull so it will run possibly slower most likely at the pump making the thing very hard to balance out as hard as it already is to tune one to work perfect. Anyways I ended up getting a battery and a charger to charge the battery as I use it just to make sure Im always getting the power its asking for. After using the thing and playing with the speed control I realized how sensitive it is and that there is no way around running the thing short of power. I couldnt even tell if the speed control was up or down changing it because the speed is barley noticeable, I had to draw a mark on it and time its rotation it ended up being 1.3 second difference for a rotation or something like that. The thing is going to be fun to play with and any body that would like to try it out with there concentrates write me a message. I have no problem with letting someone use it, it's good practice for me anyways. At the moment I dont have cons to practice with so I would love to get it down perfect for when I can start using it efficiently

I had a battery charger that I used for a bit with my Desert Fox, but the DF seemed to work better straight off of a car battery. It totally escaped me why, until my grandfather explained it- the battery charger is not designed to give the same output the battery does. The battery charger puts out x volts and x milliamps whereas the battery might put out x volts and y amps. The DF is designed for a specific load.

To properly power it, get a car battery. And the DF will work right off that battery all weekend long without much drain at all. If you want you can also hook up the battery charger to the car battery, but it's senseless as the useage is minimal.

[ScottKS]

Yeah looking at how low the amps coming out of the charger were I know it could work but its definitely not what the machine is trying to pull so it will run possibly slower most likely at the pump making the thing very hard to balance out as hard as it already is to tune one to work perfect. Anyways I ended up getting a battery and a charger to charge the battery as I use it just to make sure Im always getting the power its asking for. After using the thing and playing with the speed control I realized how sensitive it is and that there is no way around running the thing short of power. I couldnt even tell if the speed control was up or down changing it because the speed is barley noticeable, I had to draw a mark on it and time its rotation it ended up being 1.3 second difference for a rotation or something like that. The thing is going to be fun to play with and any body that would like to try it out with there concentrates write me a message. I have no problem with letting someone use it, it's good practice for me anyways. At the moment I dont have cons to practice with so I would love to get it down perfect for when I can start using it efficiently

Here is my Desert Fox i got back in 05 (06-21-05 to be exact....lol) and i added a 12V-5A Output plugin AC Adaptor but i too have the same problem you are haveing (have since i got the machine) From quote above:"I couldnt even tell if the speed control was up or down changing it because the speed is barley noticeable"...why pay $20 more for a speed control if it doesn't do just that...lol..well anyways i don't use this hardly at all...have only used it like acouple of times because it's such a pain to setup and cleanup...i only have like a pan of cons every outting and i do cleanup the day after so i just pan them instead (it's faster that way) but i will always keep it because i have always liked the way they run (have ever since i got it and saw one at the Denver gold show back in 2002) so i will keep it and use it for like backpack in hard to reach areas and also for what it's named for "The Desert" for sampleing lol.


P.S. Here is a flyer i got with the machine and just found...only 10% reduction huh......well maybe that's why we can't seem to tell the difference...idk but it's not worth the extra $20.....oh well. The plugin one they sell is only 3amp vs. mine is 5...not a big difference but it doesn't blow it up.

[Miles H]

Thank you for the pics. I was looking for adapters that would work and I spent way to much time driving around to find one but that was my plan. My biggest complaint about the machine is the fact that the legs dont ven have a proper footing in the box so it can pop or slide over and be leaning I thought that was a really stupid design so I end up kicking the legs up a little bit which gives it a little better footing. Eventually I just plan on making a recirculating sluice like the keene because they are way to exspensive and then a blue bowl and you can use the same pump and I should be able to get the whole set up for the price of the gold wheel