Ice Cream Update
Updated Wednesday 17/06/2009 10:42am
April, 2009.
Nothing has caused us more head scratching and problems than ice-cream vans with slush machines! Since Dave Fish, US4Slush, invited us to become involved, we have spent a lot of time, effort and money dealing with a slush machine which has a mind of its own, trying to produce a system on the cheap, which was mistake, and dealing with a variety of vans, the most common of which, is the ‘elderly' or ‘smiley' Transit.
This accounts for 75% of the problem. After two years, we now don't have problems with Sprinters and Transits, post 2000-06 (without the vacuum pump drive). New Transits can have 150a alternators, anyway, which is a big help.
The bottom line, as far as old Transits are concerned, is that, at idle, the alternator does not provide enough power to run the slush machine (via the inverter) and the normal vehicle electrics. This means there has to be more reliance on batteries - we have installed up to four batteries on some Transit vans, for example.
In addition, we have uprated several alternators (including the one with the vacuum pump). We are also experimenting with other pulleys and a different design of stator to provide at least 90amps at idle. This part of the exercise is still not complete, because of the complexities involved. However, what we supply for the older Transits, at the moment, does work, albeit not as well as we want. The intention is that any improvements we make, subsequently, will be fitted on vehicles, retrospectively, and hopefully f.o.c. the record to-date, for a slush machine running continuously, is six hours at a fete (there are few problems when driving round the streets).
A list of options for different vehicles can be found on our products page. For example, with a 2000 transit, we would like to see four batteries fitted, ideally. this may not be possible for space reasons, so the next option is three batteries, then two batteries, etc. if you have to go down to one, don't bother!
A major move has been to dispense with ‘cheaper' inverters. These have been a disaster! Learn from our experience if you wish to go down this route. At best you can have a vehicle off the road, not earning. At worst you can cause electrical damage or even a fire!
The equipment we now use has reliability as the primary objective - we should have gone down this route from the beginning! Today, our inverter or combi (inverter / charger) is a pure sinewave version. It is expensive but it has a two-year warranty. Our complete slush system costs twice as much as the original price, three years ago, but we have estimated that the payback period should be around six months, which we think is a good return on investment, though we are not ice-cream specialists, obviously, and we would not want to tell you your business. It might be worth mentioning that our system can also support the bunker freezer, albeit not at the same time as the slush machine.
After 26 years in our business, we think we have learned a lot on the subject of battery management as a whole - we have a world-wide reputation - and we will improve the slush system concept as we go along. what we also hope to do is to make everything more user-friendly, so that van owners can fit the complete system themselves. However, this is serious equipment and needs more than a pair of pliers. accordingly, we are working with and would welcome other parties who are interested in working with us in the installation of our systems. Please give us a call.
If you would like a testimonial, ring Colin Rady : 07748 343340.
Useful telephone numbers:
US4Slush, Poole, Dorset. Contact: Dave Fish. 0845 338 7041/07831 704649.
Gibson Hire, Haywood, Lancs. Contact: Andy Gibson (june onwards). 01706 622051.
SMS Garages, Cardiff. Contact: Andy Dawson. 07801808688. 07973 377089.
Zener Autoelectrical, Swafham, Norfolk. Contact: Steve Smith. 07917 661977.
Romeo Figliola, Luton, Herts. 01582 614314.
