How to power a cricket bowling machine 500W through 12v DC battery

Hi,

I have recently purchased a cricket bowling machine which has a 500W, 220V motor. There is no mains power connection where i want to operate this machine. In this case i will have to use a DC battery and a DC to AC pure sine wave inverter.

I am looking for help in choosing the right kind of inverter and battery. I have got recommendations to go for 1000W pure sine wave inverter and a 12V deep cycle lead acid battery. Can anyone advise on how many amp hrs battery should be required to continuously run the machine for 2hrs and what kind of battery will be good (i have done some online search and found some AGM batteries, are they the same as deep cycle lead acid ones?)

Would really appreciate if someone can recommend a power inverter and battery. WhatsApp Image 2020-11-24 at 4.10.37 PM (1).jpeg

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Comments

Prawns

Forgive my basic knowledge - im definatly no electrician! but hopefully somebody will correct me if Im wrong

Amps=watts/volts

so 500watts divided by 220volts=

2.2amps (which i assume is per hour of machine use?)

so a 2 amphour battery would run that machine for less than 1 hour?

Ive had a beer or 2 after work now - maybe im way off lols but gets the topic bumped for hopefully a electrician to probably correct me lols. I imagine the invertor also has some "loss" with the conversion so you might also have to allow for that

Jason

I'm jealous @attique. It would be cool to have your own bowling machine. I have my first game of the season on Sunday so certainly need the practice!

Great to see you've already had a helpful reply from @Prawns. Let me also mention some other members with electrical knowledge who might also like to add to the discussion: @bruce93, @HandyAndy, @Seaton, @MikeTNZ

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community. We're so pleased to have you join us and look forward to reading about all your projects and plans for around the house and garden. We're sure you will get plenty of helpful information, advice and inspiration from our amazing community members.

Jason

HandyAndy

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/11019#Comment_11019

Hi @attique ,

i am not familiar with your machine (and i can't find any additional information on the supplier website). it looks like there is a speed adjustment? which is likely to involve some electronics, so a pure sine wave is probably the best fit - as a general rule of thumb, if the product has electronics (sensitive devices, laptop chargers etc.), a pure sine wave is required, other sine waves can damage the circuitry.

without knowing all the electrical specifications of the machine, it is hard to determine if the 500W is constant, peak, average etc.
so if i assume it is constant we can work with the following.
the machine needs 500W to operate, always go bigger = Output Power: 1000W minimum, and you want an inverter with a peak power around double the output power = 2000W, this is to account for any start up currents, varying/fluctating loads

@Prawns was on the right track with the Amps=Watts/Volts, however, the load (machine) will effectively be powered by 12V, therefore, 500W/12V = 41.67Amps (42A)
should the 500W not be constant, we could derate the 42Amps, however, we shall proceed at 42Amps,

at 2 hours, that equates to 84Ah, although it is not that simple, as the battery discharges, the rate of discharge increases, so i think you would ideally need to go with 100-120Ah.

battery types, Lead Acid - a pretty traditional battery, i tend to stay away from these.

AGM, a good alternative and offer deep cycle properties.

so to sum up, 1000W Inverter, 100-120Ah AGM Battery - you would also need to have or buy a battery charger, to charge the batteries after use.

i would expect to pay between $250-$500 for a 1000W pure sine inverter (if you will use it alot, best to go for a higher end model)
and i would expect to pay about $250-$350 for a 100-120Ah AGM battery

this advice is general and indicative only, happy to look into it a bit more if we can get some more information.

HandyAndy

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/11019#Comment_11019

I just did some more looking around and i found the following site
https://www.networldsports.com.au/paceman-bowling-machine-pro-x2.html

they offer a model with inverter and battery, it's about $600 additional - maybe they you can purchase separately?

however, they say 2 hours running time with a 22Ah battery, so i'm not sure how they calculated it, but there must be some load characteristics that i ame not aware of.

might be worth giving them a call at least @attique

attique

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/11009#Comment_11009

Thanks @Prawns . The calcs are spot on, i guess beer is not having any impact these days 🙂

attique

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/11019#Comment_11019

Hi @Jason , where do you play mate? I am sure you will do fine without practice as well 🙂

attique

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/67906#Comment_67906

Hi @HandyAndy ,

Thanks a lot for looking into it. Yes i agree a pure sine wave is the best fit as the machine has some kind of speed controls as well.

I also thought 1000W/2000W peak inverter would be good with this kind of load. The battery calcs really help. I had no idea how to calculate the battery requirement. It looks that 100-120Ah would be enough for a couple of hours use.

Again, thanks a lot for looking into it. It has really helped clear the picture for me.

attique

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/67907#Comment_67907

@HandyAndy , called them but they dont provide phone support. Asked me to email them which is fine.

I am also looking at the other option of pure sine wave inverter generator. Going by the same principle 2KW max load inverter generator should be able to run this machine and will remove all this battery, inverter, charger etc. Would be easier to carry and operate. What do you think?

HandyAndy

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/96819#Comment_96819

@attique

i think that is a good idea, also will be handy for other things as it will be easy to cart around

definitely not a bad option when comparing prices

attique

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/115051#Comment_115051

Excellent. Thanks a lot for your help 🙂

Jason

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/67915#Comment_67915

@attique

I play (poorly) for the mighty Bulleen Bulls in the Eastern Cricket Association here in Melbourne.

Looking forward to seeing your bowling machine in action soon.

Great to see you've been getting plenty of help with it.

Jason

MikeTNZ

Hi there @attique,

This sort of thing intrigues me somewhat.

The whole thing runs with some sort of a motor, meaning that it won't be a constant mechanical load and therefore won't have a constant current draw either, which will affect the supply from the inverter and the current supplied by the battery.

To get the motor spinning in the first place, there will be a certain amount of "initial load current", this could be anywhere from 3-5 times the normal run current, all motors have this anomaly to them.

2 hours is a long time to have any motor running, however if you are stopping and starting it, your battery capacity is going to be seriously lessened by the ILC, every time it starts.

Also, how do you plan on charging the battery?

With inverters, don't ever buy a cheap one, I've done lots of work with them over the last 10 or so years and some are not what they say they are.

A lot of the cheaper ones use pulse-width modulation to turn a square wave into a sine wave, poorly, I might add, it will not only (over time) burn out any electronics connected down the line to it, but they are also terrible for causing all sorts of radio/TV interference for 100's of metres around them.

Battery-wise, I would go for two batteries connected together in parallel, rather than one large one, this will extend the life of the pair of them.

Irregardless of what sort of battery you get, please make sure you buy the correct charger, deep cycle batteries need an intelligent charger, not just your usual 12v car battery charger, using something like that will seriously shorten the life of the internal cells.

I hope that this has been of some help, attique, if not, ask away below!

Cheers,

Mike T.

Cam_Spence

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/125350#Comment_125350

Hi, sorry to jump in so late, but I am currently about to do the same thing with our bowling machine and am chasing advice. How did you end up with your battery and charger?

Cam

EricL

Hello @Cam_Spence

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community. It's wonderful to have you join us, and thank you for sharing your question about your bowling machine.

Let me tag @attique to make them aware of your question. Sometimes the bowling machines have kits that are sold separately to power them. Did the bowling machine come with a manual indicating the preferred rating of the power source?

Would it be possible for you to post a photo of it and its electrical tag? This will allow our members to assess the unit. We can then make recommendations on what power source to look for.

If you need further assistance, please let us know.

Eric

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