I am trying to use a 12Volt hydrostar marine utility pump to for a heating system experiment. Originally I hooked the pump up to a 12V battery (got it from autozone) but the battery seemed to short out after about 10 minutes. For this project we don't need as much output that the pump provides so we decided to hook up the pump to a power source that we could adapt the voltage and see the amps on. However when we plug the pump into the power adaptor the reading of the volts drops down to 2 volts and this cannot be adjusted. We are wondering what to do to fix this. Is there a way to use the pump with a source in which the voltage could be adjusted down to a range of 6 volts to 10 volts maximum?

Is your source voltage capable of producing over 10 amps of steady power? From what Im seeing on that pump its taking that 10 amps to run it.

12 Volt Marine Utility Water Pump

Instead of using a battery, use a 12 V / 5 amp power supply. You would need the transformer to allow for a 120 V 15 or 20 amp input to a 12 V 5 amp output. Try ant Radio Shack, Lowe's, Home Depot or Electrical Supply company to get the transformer

The amperage of the car battery is the villain, not the voltage.

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Originally Posted by donf

Instead of using a battery, use a 12 V / 5 amp power supply. You would need the transformer to allow for a 120 V 15 or 20 amp input to a 12 V 5 amp output. Try ant Radio Shack, Lowe's, Home Depot or Electrical Supply company to get the transformer

The amperage of the car battery is the villain, not the voltage.

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I hate to disagree but 10 amps is really what your going to need to run that pump if it fits the specs from what I posted earlier. (110 watt)


Watts to amps (A) conversion calculator

According to the specification page you listed, the Voltage of the pump is 12 V. The amperage is 5 Amps.

Corah,

The motor is required to have a nameplate, can you give us the information off that nameplate.

Not sure if the 5 amp is loaded or unloaded. It also shows 110 watt. That far exceeds 5 amps. I agree we are going to need to know the rating load off the pump to determine which is best.
The 110 watt can also be for the motor rating to determine horse power.

Well, I'm not correcting anyone, but the owners manual says it is a 9 amp pump. I suggest you put it on a good battery and test the amperage draw there. Keep in mind it will be higher depending on the head demand. But once you find out that info you can get a power supply to power it. When all is said and done, you could have bought a 120v pump cheaper and used a relay if you needed a low voltage control.