I'm urgenty looking to buy/hire upto 3 Fiamm 12v 97amp hour gel monoblocks. Can
anyone help? They would only be required for a short period, following this I
would be happy to return them.

Thanks

Hannah

Hi all ,I have a battery set available 72 v from a Morrison , in 2 trays , 2v
cells x 18 with link wires etc , they take charge & show 72v on a meter ,
thought I,d offer them to the group before ebay , delivery may be possible
within the South East at extra cost ,
The large charger is available too , all working.
£225 each
Motor is £100

Hi everyone

I've just joined this group. I have also just acquired a rather lovely old milk
float: It's a Brush Pony built in 1947. This week, it has been put back into
active service, now delivering goods from our warehouse to our art supplies shop
- a distance of approximately one third of a mile.

I would appreciate some expert help - sorry if these questions have been asked
previously!

1. I was advised to plug in and switch on the charger before connecting it to
the float. Is this recommended and if so, why?

2. How can I ascertain the condition of the batteries? There are no iinstruments
connected. Would it be worth adding some solar panels to recharge the batteries?
What sort of range can we expect on level ground?

3. As it is a slow moving vehicle sometimes travelling on a main road, I feel
that it would be sensible to put some kind of orange flashing light on the back
- is this legal?

Regards
Martin

Hi Martin, and welcome to the group.

Great to hear your Brush Pony has been put back into active service.

I will try to answer your questions, but no doubt the experts will be
along shortly to answer properly :)

1. Not sure of the reason for the advice to switch the charger on
before connecting the battery. I wouldn't have thought that would be a
particularly wise thing to do. I believe most chargers are automatic,
and will not actually start the charging process until they "see" a
battery connected to them, so at best there would be no benefit to
switching on before connecting to the battery. If the charger is a
simple one that does not detect the presence of the battery before
starting, you are likely to get arcing on the battery connector
contacts as the connection is made, which may damage them. I would
therefore advise the opposite: connect everything up, and then switch on.

2. You can get battery testers that attempt to estimate the condition
of a lead-acid battery in a few minutes. I have never used one, but
people seem to say they work well. Another possible way is to run them
down completely, and see how long they take to charge. They should
take several hours to charge fully - if the charger reports "charge
complete" after 20 minutes, the batteries have had it. Measuring the
terminal voltage is not always a reliable way to see if your batteries
are in good condition - you may find they read full voltage when
sitting in the garage, but drop down very rapidly to zero when any
kind of load is placed on them.

It's difficult to say whether a solar panel would be worth it or not.
The capacity of milk float batteries is usually quite high, so you
would need a huge solar panel to make any kind of useful impact. Range
is very dependent on the individual float. Again it depends on the
capacity of the battery, and the weight of the vehicle.

3. Yes, an amber flashing light on the top is legal, and is
recommended if you drive the vehicle on any "national speed limit" roads.

HTH

Tim.

Martin wrote:
>
>
> Hi everyone
>
> I've just joined this group. I have also just acquired a rather lovely
> old milk float: It's a Brush Pony built in 1947. This week, it has been
> put back into active service, now delivering goods from our warehouse to
> our art supplies shop - a distance of approximately one third of a mile.
>
> I would appreciate some expert help - sorry if these questions have been
> asked previously!
>
> 1. I was advised to plug in and switch on the charger before connecting
> it to the float. Is this recommended and if so, why?
>
> 2. How can I ascertain the condition of the batteries? There are no
> iinstruments connected. Would it be worth adding some solar panels to
> recharge the batteries? What sort of range can we expect on level ground?
>
> 3. As it is a slow moving vehicle sometimes travelling on a main road, I
> feel that it would be sensible to put some kind of orange flashing light
> on the back - is this legal?
>
> Regards
> Martin

Hi Martin, it would be great to see some pictures of your brush pony
I used to service and repair these trucks many moons ago

Regards Nick.
>

Hi Tim

Thanks for your welcome and your advice.

I guess we will just have to experiment a bit to find out the "safe range" for
our batteries. Comfort might be a factor, too!

We will certainly fit an amber flashing light.

I have uploaded a couple of photographs to a new album. We are planning to add
some canvas sides to protect our goods whilst in transit and possibly some sort
of removable protection for the driver - especially in the current wet weather!

Regards
Martin

http://www.richmondandtwickenhamtimes.co.uk/archive/2009/10/23/News_Richmond/470\
0476.Picture__Joyriding_thief_pinches_milk_float___then_crashes_it/


anyone else seen this one?

"...causing a substantial amount of milk to be spilt..."

No use crying over it, I suppose.

Boom boom!

Sorry, I'll get my coat.


ernie_the_milk wrote:
>
http://www.richmondandtwickenhamtimes.co.uk/archive/2009/10/23/News_Richmond/470\
0476.Picture__Joyriding_thief_pinches_milk_float___then_crashes_it/
>
>
> anyone else seen this one?
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> milko-unsubscribe@...
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>

Hi all,

I am an artist looking to obtain around about 200 plus standard milk bottles
(568ml/15mm) for a piece of work I am planning on exhibiting in London. Could
anyone point me in the right direction, any assistance would be greatly
appreciated, Thank you. Jonny

Hi floaters,

If you've tried to e-mail me on my old address recently and you
haven't had a reply, please try again to the new address (from which
this message is sent).

Virgin.net recently switched to a new e-mail platform, and since then
my mail had become uselessly unreliable. About 50% of mails sent to me
were never being delivered to my inbox, and were just disappearing
into a black hole. In fact, as of yesterday morning, only about 1% of
e-mails sent to that address were actually being delivered.

I have now switched to a better e-mail provider, so hopefully the
problem has been resolved.

Sorry about that!

Tim.

--- In milko@..., "stelmow" <mediabus1@...> wrote:
>
> Hi all ,I have a large charger available 72 v from a Morrison,working but
wiring could be imporoved, thought I,d offer them to the group before ebay ,
delivery may be possible within the South East at extra cost ,
>
> £225
>

Thanks Martin - nice video!

If anyone would like to see the original TV programme about this,
shown on ITV, let me know - I still have this on DVD.

I can't post it on YouTube for obvious (copyright) reasons, but get in
touch off-list if you'd like to see it :-)

Tim

Martin Rees wrote:
>
>
> Hi,
>
>
>
> For those that haven’t seen it on the Milk Float Corner website, we have
> posted a short video on You Tube of the 2005 world land speed record we
> set in the E150 Milk Float as part of a project to set a world speed
> record for milk floats! Please use the link below or go to YouTube and
> type in ‘Speed Record – Milk Float’
>
>
>
> Hope you enjoy it. It was a bit of fun, but we thoroughly enjoyed
> ourselves and hope we get the chance to increase some day with our new
> models which can be seen at www.bbig.com <http://www.bbig.com>.
>
>
>
> For those of you who don’t already know, we are now in full production
> with our vehicles and anyone interested in seeing the latest models,
> just lety me know by emailing me at mr@... <mailto:mr@...>.
>
>
>
> We have a raft of demonstration days coming up, so I hope to see some of
> you then. I will post the dates on the forum in due course.
>
>
>
> Martin Rees
>
> BBIG (Blue Bird Innovation Group)
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnSKEC2a1Ow
>
>
>
>

hi all i was having a look on you tube on sunday and found the old water ads
that contain the jobs floats some of you may have been on and seen them but for
people who have not go on to you tube in the search area put water and sewer ad
- milk float -chuck hansen it shuld come up  i dont have an accout so i cant
copy and paste to site hope you find it and happy veiwing

Does anyone have a working milk float in the York area that isn't in daily use.

Matt Seymour
BBC Radio York

Hi All.

the following link:-

http://www.thrivingsustainably.org.uk/index.php/sustain/mblog/milk_power/

...is a mobile renewable energy stand based on a milk float based in Oxford.
It's called 'Earth Rover 1', so I'm going to call mine 'Earth Rover 2' when I've
finished fitting solar panels and a wind turbine to it.

Clive :-))

Link doesn't work so here is another...

http://climatex.org/articles/Tools/earth-rover-1/

Clive :-))

--- In milko@..., "CLIVE" <cliveburke@...> wrote:
>
>
> Hi All.
>
> the following link:-
>
> http://www.thrivingsustainably.org.uk/index.php/sustain/mblog/milk_power/
>
> ...is a mobile renewable energy stand based on a milk float based in Oxford.
It's called 'Earth Rover 1', so I'm going to call mine 'Earth Rover 2' when I've
finished fitting solar panels and a wind turbine to it.
>
> Clive :-))
>

Back in May of this year there was some discussion on these topics, and Peter
suggested that a more effective way of saving power than regenerative braking
would be to get into the habit of reading the road ahead and easing off the go
pedal in good time when approaching hazards and junctions, to avoid applying
power that then had to be dissipated in the form of excess heat by the braking
system.

Reading the road ahead, easing off the go pedal and allowing the vehicle to
freewheel is a technique that I have been using very successfully in the 65
years since I first rode a pedal cycle, and a freewheel device was built into
the design of the 1937 Rover 12HP saloon car for just that purpose - I know
because owned one of these as my first car. However, if the transmission system
allows you to freewheel, you obviously won't get any braking effect from it.

This freewheeling technique works equally well on other vehicles with manual
transmission (but not fitted with a freewheel device) if you simply shift the
gearstick into neutral - and I regularly drove half-cab double-deck buses with
crash gearboxes that way. When I had time in hand I also drove them as a matter
of course from one end of the route to the other with my left foot up on the
dashboard without ever touching the clutch pedal - and you couldn't do that with
an AEC bus with an air operated preselector gearbox! - but that's a horse of a
quite different flavour.

As to the legal implications of coupling a petrol or diesel generator to the
battery and charging it during the journey on an electric vehicle, this was gone
into very thoroughly elsewhere a couple of years back, at which time the
official interpretation was that it is all a matter of whether the battery or
the generator is the primary power source. If the generator is capable of
powering the vehicle with the traction battery bypassed, then the vehicle is a
petrol or diesel powered vehicle that uses electric circuitry as the power
transmission system. If the generator is not itself sufficiently powerful to be
capable of powering the vehicle, but is only capable of trickle charging the
battery, then using the petrol or diesel generator to charge the battery doesn't
affect the vehicle's status as an electrically powered vehicle, irrespective of
whether or not the vehicle is in motion when the charging set is running.

I haven't studied the legal niceties of hybrid vehicles, and anyone thinking of
building one probably wouldn't start with a milk float.

On the basis of the very restrictive rules that apply nowadays to the use of red
diesel at farm shows and other public events that take place on private land but
to which the public are admitted, it would seem that exactly the same
distinction would apply, i.e. is the diesel engine actually propelling (or
capable of propelling) the vehicle, or is it merely driving auxiliary equipment
(i.e. a battery charger).

If it's only powering a charging circuit and not the vehicle itself, you could
equally well use a TVO engine or brew your own bio-diesel out of old chip fat or
cooking oil, but in either event you'd need a licence to produce and store your
own fuel, and there is a limit on how many thousand gallons/litres you can
produce per year. The Hon Sec of the National Vintage Tractor and Engine Club is
authorised to issue licences to home-brew and store TVO for their own use to
members of local clubs affiliated to NVTEC, but I don't think that the same
applies to home-brewed bio-diesel. If you have ambitions in that direction,
check with HMRC, who administer Excise Duty on road fuel and heating oil.

Tony

..A big box containing a four speed contactor controller was waiting on my
doorstep.

Looking forward to getting it installed in place of the horribly buzzy
electronic unit, so it will sound like the floats I used to remember -clunk
clunk clunk whrrrrrr!! ;-))

Clive :)

Forgot to mention where it came from...

It came from a helpful man called Trevor Ritson at

http://www.float-hire.co.uk/

Email
enquiries@...

Telephone
0845 423 8935

Have added them in the 'links' section...

Clivey :-))

--- In milko@..., "CLIVE" <cliveburke@...> wrote:
>
>
> ..A big box containing a four speed contactor controller was waiting on my
doorstep.
>
> Looking forward to getting it installed in place of the horribly buzzy
electronic unit, so it will sound like the floats I used to remember -clunk
clunk clunk whrrrrrr!! ;-))
>
> Clive :)
>

Hi all.

Just been over to CBL Electric Vehicles to talk about restoring mine and what a
great place, floats of every variety and more stored elsewhere I'm told.

So next time someone asks the question "Where can I get a milk float?" we have
an answer.

Clive :)

...(falling seriously in like with another handsome Smiths Cabac float already
there!)

;-))

Hmmm... Spam?

ati monkey wrote:
>
>
> hi I'd like to introduce you a very good company : www.wto-store.com。
> You can find the most Xmas gifts you ever wanted You won't miss it~!

Hi all just joined, Im 56 and  I live in Cardiff Wales UK.

I have been looking for a W+E early 3 wheeler ( would restore to CUD livery) or
a very early morrison (Horrells livery) to restore so any info would be
gratefully recieved.

  I worked as a kid on a couple of milk rounds, first was with Cambrian United
Dairy's round 7 Rumney, thats in Cardiff, on a W+E 3 wheeler in the early 60's,
then Horrells on a very early morrison with doors, and in 1986 first took a job
as a roundsman, finaly realising a ambition to have my own round that I had
since a kid! with Husband bothers, I thought it was the best job I ever had,
only prob was the misses hated it having to work every weekend, and only 1 day
off.  Nothing like to sound of a float, tincle of bottle's as day is braking! 
Nearly all those rounds have gone now, but I think with a aging population, and
as all us baby boommers get old, I think there will be a need for milk door step
deliveries!

I finished with milk rounds in July 1990, where I was working as a relief
roundsman with Farmers and Dairymen, all these were in 4 wheeled Morrison
floats, but I have never forgotten that 3 wheeler, and would love one to knock
around in!  I think my famaly think I have finaly lost it hee hee.