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Flexible power Bravo Pump
The Bravo pump I purchased recently from another member on here has proved a good investment, blowing up the smaller Nashers Bombard 380 very quickly, and getting the floor up to pressure with no hassle.
It’s the one with a built in battery, which gives great flexibility most of the time as long as it can be charged up occasionally.
When we’re camping in Devon we hook up to the caravan electrics point, but I can see that by the end of two weeks it will become a chore charging it up.
I decided I needed ‘The Ultimate flexible Bravo’ which can be run off it’s internal battery, off the RIB batteries, or the car.
Taking the battery compartment off the pump revealed that the battery was just a 12V – 7AH maintenance free battery like the ones you get in emergency exit signs.
First bit of good news is that it will be easily replaceable, and secondly it meant I can connect the pump to almost any 12V supply.
To run the smaller electric pump we have I’d already fitted a flying lead in the RIB console with a small Anderson connector on the end, and had also made up another lead with crocodile clips on, so it made sense to use the same size Anderson connectors on the Bravo pump.
I opened the Bravo up and completely replaced the old power cable with a much longer length of twin core 2.5mm2 tinned cable I had left over from another job, and put one Anderson connector on the end.
Note I used a piece of cord tied through the connector and a length of adhesive lined heatshrink to ensure that any pull on the cable is transferred direct to the connector body rather than to the crimped and soldered terminals.
I then snipped the connectors off the end of the original power cable and added another Anderson on the end of it with the same strain relief incorporated.
The connection to the battery is therefore now outside the pump body, but as the pump isn’t waterproof anyway that doesn’t bother me at all, and it still fits in the original bag.
By disconnecting from the internal battery, I can then connect the croc clips, or connect to the flying lead in the RIB console.
Flexible or what?
Nasher.
Images
1 flying lead already in ‘The Nashers Revenge’ Console.
2 How the strain relief is constructed.
3 And it finished.
4 The new assembly without the cover.
5 And with the cover back on.
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Been caught out in the past with a flat battery as I'd forgotten to charge :-(
