NDR--How to rate battery powered motors?

Jeff Reardon

Jeff Reardon

Well-known member
Supporter
A question for the engineers,electricians and other technical folks in the group.

I am working on a project that requires us to rate electric/battery powered motors by size or capacity. We are trying to rewrite existing rules that bar any motorized equipment to allow small, battery powered motors on the scale of a small bilge pump or similar motor.

With the rapid improvement in batteries, we are leery of creating a loophole that would allow high capacity batteries to drive large equipment.

Any suggestions on a standard way of ranking electric motors to prevent this?
 
Jeff
Traditionally horsepower ratings are used to limit gasoline motor size on lakes. For your intended restrictions, I would think a "wattage" restriction would be the most appropriate. I'm not sure how an enforcement officer would go about checking this in the field (unlike looking up a serial number on a gasoline motor for spec on HP restricted lakes for example)
 
Thanks Dave. Most of the motors used are going to be water pumps--which could easily be rated on gallons per minute.

But there will also be some other small motors. We're trying to come up with an enforceable standard that would allow a variety of harmless equipment but not create a loophole for a high powered electric power tools.
 
Thanks Dave. Most of the motors used are going to be water pumps--which could easily be rated on gallons per minute.

But there will also be some other small motors. We're trying to come up with an enforceable standard that would allow a variety of harmless equipment but not create a loophole for a high powered electric power tools.
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Ice augers?
 
Ice augers?
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Tod: Motorized recreational gold prospecting equipment. Long story, but Maine has rules on the books to protect trout streams from recreational use of suction dredges and other motorized equipment. The way the rules were drafted inadvertently also eliminates use of some small battery-powered equipment that doesn't pose any threat to fish habitat. We're looking to redraft the rules to allow those sorts of things, but not open the door to suction dredges or other similar machines.
 
Ice augers?
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Tod: Motorized recreational gold prospecting equipment. Long story, but Maine has rules on the books to protect trout streams from recreational use of suction dredges and other motorized equipment. The way the rules were drafted inadvertently also eliminates use of some small battery-powered equipment that doesn't pose any threat to fish habitat. We're looking to redraft the rules to allow those sorts of things, but not open the door to suction dredges or other similar machines.
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That is a crazy one, would have never guessed.
 
Not sure where the break point is between what the miners would need and the state would accept from a performance standpoint, but limiting the electric motors to handheld might make sense. In other words if a person can carry the entire motor and battery pack perhaps that would limit use sufficiently to control mining. Even with new technology, batteries are still very heavy. Tod's question about ice augers puts it in perspective, my electric ice auger doesn't have nearly the power necessary to power a suction dredge of any useful size.
 
Rather than having an engineer get into technical specifications that no one will understand, couldn't you just specify what is and is not allowed by name and purpose?

Ie, 12 volt trolling motors and bilge pumps?

Or is motorized gold prospecting equipment really that similar to the items that do not threaten habitat?


For instance, Minnesota has a regulation that allows trolling motors on some duck lakes but not gas motors. The law originally said "electric motors less than 28 pounds thrust" but it has been ammended to say "Any 12 volt electric motor"

Minnesota also has regulations pertaining to Aeration equipment used to prevent ice formation on docks and for preventing winterkill of fish. The language describes in plain words what aerators do and also regulates "any equipment that functions similarly" ... which would include ice eaters used by waterfowl hunters even though they aren't using it as an "aerator" per se.
 
Thanks folks. The 12 volt battery limit might make most sense, and if what we've been considering. We'd also want to allow AAA, AA, C and 9 volt batteries. I've been pretty surprised at the ingenuity of some of prospectors to develop devices like this:
https://www.amazon.com/Gold-Miner-1V_TGP-001-Panning-Machine/dp/B006ABHCYU

And trying to anticipate similar innovations without opening the door to something you could power with a 600 HP Tesla motor.
 
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