Any good at pulling!

Rogue Wave · 15 January 2007, 10:12

There a thread by Chris 15000 (I've promoted him) asking about twin batteries. I am a firm believer in twin batteries but i realise you don't need two big batteries if you can hand start your motor!

So what's the biggest motor you have started on the pull cord?

Stoo · 15 January 2007, 10:34

60 Mariner. I don't think my 150 even has a place for a chord...

Nick Hearne · 15 January 2007, 10:35

My old V4 Johnson 100HP, Tried starting on the battery, but ran it flat!
Ended up pull starting it after a lot of cursing!

jwalker · 15 January 2007, 11:00

200 suzi. Surprisingly easy.

Nasher · 15 January 2007, 11:04

As with JW, my 200 EFI Suzi starts easily on the emergency cord supplied.

I was amazed to see it on the engine when I aquired it, so tried it from cold and was surprised how easy it was.

Wouldn't want to do it all the time though.

Nasher.

Rogue Wave · 15 January 2007, 11:08

wow

looks like this could be a challenge for the next rib conference..

jwalker · 15 January 2007, 11:26

Which brings us back to Chris's batteries. I used to use Bosch batteries in the boat and in my vehicles. Strange things. They die without warning and won't accept a charge, hence the necessity to pull start. I swapped them for Exide, not my choice but when you're away from home and you need a battery, you need a battery. Anyway, the main one lasted about 3yrs and the backup was still good when I sold the boat. I now use Fulmen and I've had failures there too. They hate being partially discharged for any length of time, but I've also got one which is 5 years old and still good.

My feeling is that as battery capacity and current delivery has increased for a given physical size of casing, they have become less reliable.

Now, back to Wogue Rave's pulling......

Nos4r2 · 15 January 2007, 23:12

1976 55hp twin cylinder Johnson-370cc per cylinder-pull started it with a rope around the flywheel on muffs after a rebuild. It's not the HP that make it hard, it's the CC per cylinder. I worked up a hell of a sweat doing it.

By comparison my 50/3cyl mariner is a doddle.

Windchill · 09 February 2007, 15:06

I've hand cranked a 10 litre Gardner diesel!!

alexm · 09 February 2007, 15:29

A 75hp Mercury... it was always a reluctant cold starter and took ages!

jyasaki · 09 February 2007, 16:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by jwalker

My feeling is that as battery capacity and current delivery has increased for a given physical size of casing, they have become less reliable.

What kind of betteries were they? Regular (i.e. "normal") cranking wet cells? SLA's? AGM's? GelCell?

My personal opinion is that batteries are getting much more specialized, and the different construction techniques and physical make-ups make them somewhat more fragile than, say, automotive batteries from 30 years ago (which, I suppose, means I agree with your statement.)

Alternate construction types (especially Gel Cells, but to some extent AGM's as well) benefit in longevity from careful matching of both the load and charging rates. I don't know if the failure rates (mechanical/electrical failure) are higher than they used to be, or if they're simply easier to kill. I suspect it's the latter.

My boat has a pair of "marine" cranking batteries (supposedly a bit more robust than a standard auto battery, but not really a true deep-cycle battery); seems to work fine for what I ask of them (actually, one battery would, as well, but it came with the pair, so that's what I use.) I could probably save a bit of space by going to a pair of AGM's, but will defer that decision until I actually start having problems with the current batteries.

jky

ashbypower · 09 February 2007, 16:40

These http://www.sonnenschein.org/ in MVHO are the bees, however not cheap.

Chris · 09 February 2007, 18:36

The system I have gone for is the Merlin Split charging system with an automatic VSR relay that will charge the cranking battery and then the 'House' battery without any manual switch turning.

http://www.power-store.com/view-item...d=1153&id=198&

Then I am getting one of these small AGM cranking batteries

http://www.power-store.com/view-item...d=1293&id=214&

and an AGM house battery (the 80ah version of this one)

http://www.power-store.com/view-item...d=1311&id=217&

The main reason is that I am really short on space in the console but due to the small size of these batteries I can fit both in with room to spare. Plus I like the idea of a 5 year warranty and no maintenance.

Chris

IBWET · 10 February 2007, 21:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by jwalker

Which brings us back to Chris's batteries. I used to use Bosch batteries in the boat and in my vehicles. Strange things. They die without warning and won't accept a charge, hence the necessity to pull start. I swapped them for Exide, not my choice but when you're away from home and you need a battery, you need a battery. Anyway, the main one lasted about 3yrs and the backup was still good when I sold the boat. I now use Fulmen and I've had failures there too. They hate being partially discharged for any length of time, but I've also got one which is 5 years old and still good.

My feeling is that as battery capacity and current delivery has increased for a given physical size of casing, they have become less reliable.

Now, back to Wogue Rave's pulling......

J,

Interesting point as to why modern batteries fail, as a kid I was always around a garage, when customers complained about none charging symptoms, one of the things carried out (after the customer left with a new battery) was to turn the replaced one upside down wash it out to removed the build up resting at the bottom, refill with correct mix, from memory this worked 95% of the time it would perform like a new battery. It was the material at the bottom that would build up and short the plates.

This was the norm in that particular garage many years ago, I don't know if it would work today as technology has moved on. Could save someone on here a couple of bob.

codprawn · 10 February 2007, 22:54

For most batteries technology has NOT moved on!!!

Tried this once - ended up wrecking a brand new pair of trousers - looked like moths had been at them. Cost of the trousers and cost of the acid - may as well just buy a new battery!!!

jwalker · 10 February 2007, 23:44

Yeh, I tried it once a long time ago but it wasn't successful. Talking about batteries, the one on my car has failed this week and it's just two years old. It appears to be a duff cell. It's had a couple or three almost complete discharges during its life but I would have expected a decent battery to withstand that. I might consider something a bit sturdier as a replacement.

keelhauled · 11 February 2007, 06:51

Yeah I had a battery that must have been on its last legs and sometimes had to rely on pull starting. I used to bring one of those power pack things from Lidl. Totally useless!!! Pull cord anyday!