ccharlie

Thank you all for the replies. In response to PeteB, unfortunately the manual says nothing at all about the specifications of the battery. I cannot find anyone online selling such a 101R battery of the power rating and dimensions as listed by Jase hutch. Where does one buy such a battery?

Thank you so much Jase hutch!! Most grateful.

Hi all, I've got to replace the battery on a CS100 chipper and I wanted to check what battery model/type is best to use. That's about it really! Cheers, Charlie

Cheers for the superb photos!! We shall be using them as the basis for a bridge we're going to build this week. We hope it will be a cross between yours and this one: http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=213590&stc=1&d=1478552239

I'm looking to get my winter wood sorted out and would love to find someone with a mass ready to go. Preferably kiln dried. 10 sq metres would be great. Near to Exeter/Bovey Tracey/Moretonhamstead.

I so wish I could help but just had to say how much I love your proactive nature!

I know that I'm dragging up an old thread; however, having had an Eliet Major 4S on hire this week I thought I'd post a review. The shredder is compact enough to fit through a doorway but at 90kg it's a heavy and top heavy machine that makes it unwieldy to move about. With only two wheels there's a knack to tilting the machine up so that the weight is on the wheels, before moving it where you need it to be. But (and this is a massive but) if that place is up a steep hill then it is very awkward and sometimes impossible to get it there, at least without using a vehicle. The weight being spread across only two wheels means that you are prone to getting stuck if you have to move it through soft/boggy ground or through the shredded pieces you've just produced. Towing it without a trailer requires some novel strapping techniques. Our shredder came with the top spout so that you can direct where the shreds are being sent. In three full days of use this spout has got blocked once and it is quite a pain to unblock. The main cutting section has got stuck six times, mainly on our first day when we'd let a 2" branch go straight in and it would jam. Now, on anything over 1.5" I hold onto the branch and slowly feed the fat end in bit by bit. The reverberation whilst doing this can be horrible. There's no automatic feeding mechanism on the 4S so most of the time you've got to push stuff in (the feeder section is pretty much horizontal) although the machine normally pulls the last two foot of material in. We've been shredding small trees, branches and leaves. The shreddings produced range from 0.5"-4" in length and are all thin pieces. The resulting compost piles are now super hot inside so the machine is doing something right from a compost point of view. Our local vendor in Torquay rents the 4S out for £120 for 5 days. Pro's: - Small - Tackles all small pieces of wood or plant matter. - Petrol consumption is ok. - produces great material for composting. - The construction feels solid. Con's: - Stalls quite frequently. - Unblocking it can be time-consuming and very frustrating (but you get quicker each time you do it). - Noisy - Difficult to manoeuvre on slopes or soft ground. - Small side branches have a knack of getting stuck in a small corner at the top of both sides of the feeder shoot which stops the whole branch from going in. - Very top heavy (I wouldn't want to load one into the back of a van). Would I buy one? I'm really not sure. The faults are enough to make me question the price tag. Maybe it's worth spending a grand or two more for a Prof so that you have four wheels and an automatic feeder...

Some great suggestions here folks. One Fineren Bodygrip Box for Squirrels and one Fenn Mark 4 trap ordered... shall see which one works best for us!

I have just been wondering how to track my walking around our wood. I shall definitely give this app a go! Many thanks for the heads-up.

Some of these articles are great! Many thanks for the link.

Nah, the CS38/39 is a standalone and only involves climbing and ropes. No chainsaws or handsaws are used during the course. CS40/41 (Aerial Tree Pruning & Dismantling) is the next tree stage which does require you to have your chainsaw licence. Thanks all for the comments. I'm chuffed to bits!

pm on the way.

I didn't know where you were (it doesn't say under your name over <<< there). Are you on the isle of Lewis? I may be heading up north in a couple of weeks so can always make a detour... (but not as far as the isle of Lewis!).

I thought that some peeps may be interested to hear that I've got great news: a few weeks ago I completed my CS38/39 course and passed the assessment! So, someone who is paralysed from the knees down can clamber about in trees and rescue peeps and be assessed as being safe to do so. I am absolutely chuffed to bits and was delighted by the training offered by Arb for Training in Yorkshire. Next on the list is CS30/31 but I don't think that shall happen until later on in the summer... Time to get out and about and back up the trees.

I'd love to say yes to all of the above (having just completed my CS38/CS39) but I've got a 30" waist and the Stein Vega plus size 2 looks as though it is 34"+. Is that the case?

I know that Island Lescure is looking for more than a tablet but... if you were to be looking for a rustproof, shockproof, snow proof, waterproof tablet then the Panasonic Toughpad has to be the one for the job. And what a wonderfully over the top promotional video they made: [ame] [/ame]

Trailer training is just what I need to get on with so this thread is ideal!! I've just asked SRTS Ltd (Steve Robertson Training Services SRTS | Driver Driver Training, CPC, Lorry driver training, Fork lift training, Hiab Training - for my reference) to send me over their available dates and prices; they sounded nice and sensible on the phone, which is a good start. Will have to see how the potential dates fit into my schedule.

I imagine that this question gets asked a lot and I have done a search; however, there are simply so many threads about chippers that the juicy ones with specific details are hidden away amongst multitudes of related threads. Can we have a sticky about chippers? Or... Can we have a sub-forum with stickies about frequently discussed bits of kit; e.g. one sticky for chippers sub £2000, one for chippers between £2000-£5000, one for chippers over £5000, then log splitters sub £1000, log splitters £1000-£10000, log splitters £10000+, etc...? We have 20 acres of land to look after and need to get a decent standalone chipper (i.e. petrol driven). My other half is set on getting a Timberwolf and it appears to be a choice between their two gravity machines (TW 18/100G e/s Chipper or TW 13/75G Chipper). I prefer the look of the 18/100G as it can be towed. Are there any other makes/models that we should be considering? Are there any other features that we should look for? We are located in Devon and would prefer something local but would be willing to arrange for delivery for the right machine.

Many thanks TCD for your recommendations. Max Bayles is going to come round tonight with 2.4 tonnes, which is perfect.

I'm looking for a few month's worth of firewood: split into small sections - max 10" lengths, preferably dried. 3 cubic metres or so would be great (but could be up to 10 cubic metres if that's more convenient and the price is good). Anyone got some ready to go? We are between Exeter and Moretonhampstead.

For me it is primarily the fish question and not from the fish point-of-view (although I greatly approve of them not being harmed by new schemes). The fish question relates more to what you have to have in place on traditional schemes to stop them being harmed. Here there was an 8 foot by 4 foot wire mesh on rollers that would automatically rotate all day and night as required. It would break and quickly the debris in the stream would clog the mesh and stop an adequate flow of water reaching the old turbine. This would then automatically shut down until the mesh was cleaned. Sometimes people have to install smolt screens, which have similar problems. Anything that can be done to a system's design to limit any form of blockage is going to easily pay for itself over the 20 year period. One downside that people very, very rarely mention is the noise. On a still day our 100kW system can be heard from at least 500 metres away. It's not a bad noise as such but very much there... Archimedes screws are also a more basic technology that are supposedly easier to fix; however, from personal experience, it is almost impossible to find someone in the UK who is acceptable to an insurance company to weld a three foot piece of steel back onto the bottom of such a screw! (They had to send two guys over from Germany to do so...).

Interesting question. They considered upgrading the 25kW unit; however, it lies at the end of a 1/2 mile long millstream, which loads of salmon and other fish were getting trapped in. Their was a large mesh screen above the entry pipe to the turbine, which stopped them swimming down and being shredded to pieces! This mesh worked was attached to a very simple and very clever rotavator that moved clogged bits of mesh down and round, with the water pushing the dirt away and downstream. Very pleasing simplicity. The Environment Agency was very keen for a new system to be installed, which would address the fish issue. So they did so, reworking a weir/salmon run at the same time. The new 100kW system is an Archimedes screw. This was selected so that fish could safely swim down the whole length of the screw during operation and be ok. I think that the maximum fish length is 5', which you don't see many of these days! The turbine has a maximum rotation speed of 2 metres per second, which is apparently fine for a fish to go down. I've been in touch with the EA about the damage caused to fish by hydropower units. Out of all the hydropower schemes that have been set up in the UK there are only three recorded instances of fish being harmed (which totals about 30 fish in total). i.e. they are very safe for fish. So... the old scheme is still in a shed just down from the house. The new scheme is up near to the river and the salmon run. The new scheme is run by a local coop and they pay us a rent for the use of the land and a proportion of their income, which is handy as we've got loads of dilapidated buildings to sort out! Things to ask when looking into a new scheme: 1. What is the head available? We've got four metres or so, so very much a low head system. 2. What volume of water is available? 3. Are there any planning or ecological restrictions? 4. Do you have access to an electrical connection that can handle your output (not a problem if you'll use it all on site)? 5. Can you design a system so that at the end of the Feed-in-Tariff period you can either afford to carry on running it or easily remove the system?

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tcfengineering - Had any progress? Would love to know what you've found as I should really head down the Alpine Tractor route but shan't do so for another six months or so...

I've bought a property that had a 25kW system installed in 1986. That was installed before Feed in Tariffs and was earning the owners about £9000 a year. From 2005-2010 the turbine became less reliable and in 2012 it was switched off. (Although the generator is absolutely fine). A new 100kW system was installed to replace the old one but a private company installed it and pays us a great rent. So... we've now got a 100kW hydro unit, 4kW solar panel array and solar thermal for the hot water (in summer!): feels a bit greedy having them all! Feed-in-Tariffs run for 20 years from the date that the system is installed/starts producing (can't remember which one is the precise date). You also get paid for any electricity that you export to the grid (for larger schemes this is 3.3p/kWh). The comparison is that FIT is aprox. 30p/kWh and the electricity payment only 3.3p/kWh. Once the Feed in Tariff period (20 years) has ended then you will still be paid for all the electricity that you produce; however, your payments will drop by 90%. The Micro Hydro Association will answer all of the questions you can ever dream of: Micro Hydro Association - Micro Hydro Association