Portable Battery Charger

Portable Battery Charger FARM SHOP Maintenance 21-1-8 "My tractor is stored about 100 yards from an electrical outlet and rather than run an electrical line to the tractor, I made this portable battery charger that I can take to the tractor," says Harold Brewer, Lebanon, Tenn. "The problem is that I only use the tractor to put out hay every couple weeks so it doesn't run enough to keep the battery up. "I put a 3-hp. Briggs & Stratton engine on a piece of plywood and hooked a GM alternator to it. I put a 6-in. pulley on the engine with a 3-in. pulley on the alternator. I went to a generator and alternator rebuild shop and traded the stator for a one-wire stator, which eliminated the field wire. "The engine runs at about 3,000 rpm's. When you hook up the battery, it pulls down to about 2,000 rpm's. The alternator puts out 15 amps and 14.6 volts. I have an amp meter and volt meter hooked in line so I can read them at any time. A 15 min. charge and the battery is ready to go. "There's one 10-ga. wire coming from the battery post and one 10-ga. wire coming from the ground. The wires are about 10 ft. long with alligator clips. The whole setup is light enough to carry around. Since I took this picture, I added a T-handle between the engine and alternator to carry it." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Harold Brewer, 3390 Chicken Rd., Lebanon, Tenn. 37090.

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