Video Transcript
Hi folks, Dana here at HydroSide, and I’m here to announce the successful implementation of a big change to our HydroMover. Now, many of you saw our original demo video of the hydro mover and it worked great. However, not everyone was able to use that system since not all of you have high flow rates or a full-sized quarter-mile-long wheel line. We’re excited to say that we’ve simplified and made our unit available to all wheel line users. The HydroMover that has gone solar behind me is one of our solar units. That’s been in service since early this season. And as you can see, it’s in tough conditions and you can likely see the staining on this unit from the hard water conditions that’s currently in. Fortunately, even with the hard water deposits from the season, the panel is performing great, and the unit has not had any recharging issues whatsoever.
In a future video. We’ll talk a bit about basic maintenance on the panel, which turns out to be much less than on the turbine and you don’t even need the lift up the hood to access it. Now, what I’d like to do is share a bit of the why behind this change. First, we found that there were certain challenges with the hydroelectric configuration. Some growers had flow rates that were just a bit too low for the turbine to perform while others had a lot of organics and solids in their water, which had to be screened out, or they would plug up the turbine. Another common issue was the need to leave the unit in a field for a month or even more before using it and not having a way to passively charge it without water actually running through it. We worked with one of those farmers who had all three of these challenges and we installed a solar panel back in early spring of this year as a stop-gap.
Well, that stopgap turned into a very reliable, simple, and stable way to power that unit. Now, bear in mind, the testing conditions were in Washington state. We’re not every day is sunny and often it’s overcast and that machine’s charging system performed beautifully. This is because we only consume about one amp of power per set move and about 27 amps traveling across a full quarter-mile field with our 140 amp hour deep cycle Marine batteries. We have plenty of juice and it takes only about 10 minutes to top up those batteries on the solar, after a set move or about a day of sun after running the length of a full field. Now thanks to those challenges, feedback from our growers, and our amazing nimble team. We elected to roll forward with our new simpler mover that can be used in every condition and size configuration ranging from a full 40-acre square or wheel line irrigating your front yard, no more issues with the right flow rates, a plugged turbine, or even dead batteries. Instead, you have the same built Idaho tough HydroMover. Just now it’s powered by the sun. Stay tuned because this design will get even simpler since we will streamline the dual bull gear design because we eliminated the turbine and the dual swivels, and that will make the new unit a bit lighter while still maintaining the toughness and build quality have come to expect from HydroSide visit HydroSide.com or call 208-580-4467 to learn more or to find a dealer near you to own the next generation of wheel line movers by HydroSide.
