Texas Hunting Forum: 6-volt vs 12-volt

A lot of it has to do with the motor itself. I've seen little bitty 12volt motors than won't throw worth spit, and big 'ol 6volt motors that'll throw like crazy.

My American Hunter mechanism with a 6volt motor (motor is abut 4" in Diameter) will throw great. And the 12 volt motor (about 2"dia, looks like an RC car motor) in my Remington mechanism will not throw very far at all. My Bro-in-law's 12volt american hunter will out throw my 6, but not by much, it's a large industrial type motor that has a lot of torque to go with the rpm. All work well enough for our needs, but there is a difference. Voltage is not everything. Motor HP rating, RPM rating, Amp draw, and available amp hours on the battery are all factors.

When you double the voltage, you cut the amp draw in half (all other things being equal of course). So theory says, if the motor is the same HP, and the batteries have the same amp hour rating, that a 12 volt will last longer before draining the battery. But that's where the problem lies. If you grab a 6volt sealed gel battery (one of the big'uuns) and a 12volt battery (big'un as well), the 6 volt will have more amp hours due to larger individual cells than the 12 volt. Because they have to put twice as many cells in the 12volt to get the desired voltage. But then the 12volt operates more efficiently, or so theory tells us. So all in all it's a wash.

But like others have said, as long as there's a solar panel in the equation, throw all of the above rambling out the window. We run them on all feeders, and only need to replace batteries every few years at most. Anything we've run w/o a solar panel needs a recharge in a few months, at the longest. And most of the time it'll kill the batteries so bad they'll never truly recharge. So A $20-30 solar panel is worth every penny, IMHO.

Then to nit pick, the actual load placed on the motor will have an effect, all be it a small effect in this application. Lowering the spin plate will allow a free flow of feed, but the plate itself has a lesser effect and thus does not throw the feed as far (this way is less apt to clog on stalks, but makes feed easier to shake out) . Closing the gap lets less feed flow, and thus the spin plate has a greater effect on velocity, but this requires a longer run time to throw the same amount of feed (this way lets less feed shake out, but is more apt to clog). Then the design of the spin plate itself comes into play, which is a whole other world of variables.

My overall advice is not to be so focused on voltage alone. Buy a quality mechanism, and experiment with different settings. Longer run times with a smaller gap, vs. shorter run times with the larger gap. I typically run as tight a gap as I can, so feed doesn't shake out as easily, and to get the velocity that gets me the wider broadcast. But I have to make sure my corn is clean, otherwise it's prone to stop up if a cob or stalk gets hung up in there. And if the barrel part is set-up properly, you do not need a varmint guard at all. But that could be a whole other thread.

Sorry about the long post.

Jay

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Tolerance is the virtue of a man without convictions.