Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Feeding Stren Feeder problem..

I am haveing problem with my feeder. It seems the top spindel plat where the feed is scarted out of the hopper, is not running. I dumped all the feed out and spun this plate and found that the motor that turns this plate does not have enough torque, when it is under full load from the feed. It seems as if this motor is not getting enough current. Has anyone else seen this problem with the Stren feeders?? Has any one seen this problem with ANY of the feeders?

Thanks...

I have three of the Stren feeders. I had a similar issue before. First, make sure the battery is fully charged. Stren sells a charger that insures a full charge by charging overnight from an electrical outlet. The motors dont spin at full strength if the battery is weak.

Second, Stren has AMAZING customer service. They have even replaced one of mine with a new unit when both upper and lower motors failed. Their warranty is 4 years!

big_pond,
I had a similar prob with my Stren feeder ( see a prior post under stren adf-75d problem). When I took apart the feeder I found the hot wire to the agitator motor had part of the insulation abraded down to the copper. This occured right where the wire passed from the feed containing part into the motor housing. Check and make sure this isn't causing your problems. It was an easy fix once found.
Sarc

When I have no feed in the hopper the adjitator motor runs, and even whenthere is feed in the hopper intially it ran as well. But after a couple of days, somehow to much feed got down on the adjitator and jamed it. The unit does have a solar pannel on it to keep the batteries charged.

big_pond
I also have the solar panels but in my experience fully charging the battery with the plug-in charger achieves a more complete charge than the solar panels. Stren actually sent me a charger free.

Frank

big-pond it sounds like a weak battery. The timer is made so it scales back power to the upper motor to 40%. So if a 12 volt battery is down to 10 volts it appears fine when testing. However once scaled back to 40% only 4 volts left to turn and may not do so with the weight of feed.

I have several clietns that now just buy a second battery and keep it charged with the free charger and switch every time they fill 'er up. YOu should have gotten the charger. If you do not get it fixed call me. I guess you know your wife got it from me as a surprise for your B-day

Whats up Greg!! We need to talk about getting more bream...
I'll be back out there Saturday or Friday night to see if this rain has helped my pond out any. I filled it with a different type of feed yesterday and ran the test. It seem to be doing fine then, but we will see. I will call you somtimes.

big_pond, it may be your solar power causing the problem...you need to have a regulator/controller with the panel, or you will overcharge the battery and ruin it. The regulator will shut off power to the battery when fully charged to eliminate the problem. You can find them on ebay pretty cheap.

eastland thius is a new one for me. The solar panel is only a 1 watt maintainer. Can it overcharge? I think maybe this is more for the 5 watt solar chargers, let us know. thanks

Big POnd out your way on the 5th/6th if interested.

Big Pond, I hope after the last two days in Georgia you will see a huge difference in your pond. I walked out in my backyard last night and it was like a sponge.
Let us know what you find

Well the last time I went out there was tuesday, and it has only gone up a foot!!That just aint enough for all the rain we got. I hope we got alot more out there today!! this is terrible. I will go out there to night or tomarrow to see how thing are going.

Of ourse I will also see how the feeder is doing