Well, since I wanted to feed Aquamax 500 this year, and the weather is nice I decided to fire it up today with fresh food and a fresh battery.

I have the timer set for 1 second, the motor speed set on medium and it throws 1.38# of food. Is there any way to reduce the amount of food thrown, but still keep the same throwing distance? With the timer set on one second, it still throws food for a good 5 seconds.

With the timer set on the same 1 second interval and the motor speed set on high it throws right at 2#.

I think I have to find a different way to catch the feed that it throws. A bucket lets some bounce out and fall to the ground and what bounces off my fingers really HURTS!

I suggest you contact Ron "feederman" at AP. He has been very helpful. Here is his PB info page.

http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showprofile&User=3915

esshup,

Try changing the motor speed to low. The motor speed actually controls the motor that drops the feed down to the thrower motor (which stays at a constant speed). Even though you set the run time for 1 second when it runs that additional 4 seconds at the end to clear the chamber out it will throw that feed out as well.

Ron good advice as usual. Also tricky here but if you want to experiment you can partially block the opening. In fact aqaupro used to provide the plates but too many folks then complained about jams.

esshup,

I can send you one of the "fingerling plates" but, you will have to experiment with it and the make the hole bigger to accomodate the Aquamax 500.

Thanks for the quick replies. Let me try setting the motor on low and see how it works before I'll ask for the plate. I'd like to mix the 600 and 500 once the fish get accustomed to the food. I think I'll take a cloth sack and hold it over the discharge this time!

So, from what I understand, the motor speed only controls how fast the feed is fed into or in front of the blower, and has no bearing (or very little) on how far the food is thrown, correct?

Feederman: pm sent. For the rest of you out there, low saw right around 1 1/4# dispersed, Med was right around 1 3/8# If anybody else wants to check, I used a plastic bag and held it around the opening. Next time I'll put on gloves - those pellets sting!

As long as I was out there, I took the fishing rod along as well. 10 minutes of casting resulted in 1 LMB, 11" long .66# (on the first cast). Caught on a Storm Sub Wart - it's a smaller version of the Wiggle Wart.

Is that great PB service - thanks Ron.

Feederman:

The plates arrived today, THANKS! I've got just the tool to open them up, and I'll post what size I settle on.

Thanks, tell me if they work out.

good morning feederman. Can I still get the remington/adf 25 lower uniit only? How about the adf75 thrower. Problem is, I dont need the very large hoppers. I wish I could get one with 15-20 gallon tapered hopper. I have looked at TH, AP, and the other brands that use your lower unit and there is a large gap from small to very large units, size and money wise..

thanks

We do not sell the ADF-75 lower unit alone. You can order the DX1 lower unit from Greg,Shawn,Todd or Native Outdoors.

Recent customer service experience from AQP is the best I have ever received from ANY manufactuer.
They took care of my problems immediately.

Ditto that George !!

Ron all the units are up with new timers and working IMO better than new. The new timers seem to give more power to the units. No problem with jams since the new timers went in. No battery drawdown either.

Guys one unit had a bad bottom motor , I suspect because the old timer caused a problem/short. When I contacted Ron with a description of occurrence he said send it back. Ron mailed me a UPS label for return service but before it arrived in the mail a replacement feeder arrived via UPS - a brand new one.

No way to beat that service. My fish are happy now.

Ron:

I didn't measure the amount of food thrown, but it is reduced. I'll do that tomorrow, and I'll remember to wear heavy gloves! I increased the hole to 7/8" or .875" or 22.225 mm for you metric types.

I only have AquaMax 500 in this particular feeder, so I don't know how well that size will work for larger pellets. But, there were no clogs or bridging in the couple of cycles that I ran it.

Ron, the silicone caulk at the bottom of the holding bin has pulled away from the bottom steel. What problems will it cause if I don't re-seal it until this bag of food is gone?

Thanks again!

It should be just fine.

Thanks. I didn't get a chance to measure how much food it threw today, too busy moving dirt, and tomorrow will be a carbon copy of today, but after that it'll be done!!

As long as you're here, what are the specs on the solar panel? I hooked the feeder up to a new lawn/garden tractor battery and want to be sure that it'll keep it charged. The battery indicator was showing full, but now it's -1 bar.

Thanks again.

It is a 1 watt panel. is the battery rechargable? Was it fully charged? Was it a new battery?

esshup, you need to get a 12v 7-8 amp hr. gel cell battery. It will charge to a higher voltage. A 1 watt solar panel will not charge a lawn mower battery. It will supply less than 0.1 amp to the battery. Lead acid batteries are not made for recharging, but can be charged from autos with a high current and used for high output and short time. It would be better to get a small trolling motor battery, charge it fully, recharge when it runs down.It should last a long time.

Thanks guys, I see the light now! It was new, and I fully charged it with a CTEK 3300.

I also have a couple 50 watt and larger solar panels, but I'd have to hook up some sort of a regulator..... the price was right, I was hoping to get enough to run a submersible 12v well pump but then I found out what the batteries would run.