A lawn mower battery can work. Really it depends on how many vaporizer cycles you want to run before recharging the battery.

Or you can leave the engine running and do pretty much unlimited cycles.

 

The math says that a lawn battery will work. Take the watts needed to run the vaporizer and divide it by the volts and you will get the amps required. Most vaporizers have around a 150 watt heater which divided by 12 volts gives a 12.5 amp draw on a battery for about 5 minutes. Make sure the battery is fully charged.
I use a deep cycle marine battery just because it is available and my yard is close behind my shop so I don't have to drag it far.
Hope the formula helps out.

 

I use a seperate marine deep cycle for everything. I put it on battery tender and it pumps syrup, runs my vaporizer, pretty much everything I need it for. I have had it three years now and have been super pleased with its performance.

 

How big of a marine battery do you use?

 

You don’t say how many colonies you intend to treat. I use a $30 walmart lawn tractor battery to treat six with no issues. I recharge the battery with an inexpensive 2 amp trickle charger.

 

I have a 4-wheeler. I hook up the wand and leave it idling. Works fine, your mower should do the same.

 

Thanks, everyone for such helpful information. I'm treating just 2 hives so it sounds like I should be in good shape. I just didn't want to purchase a wand and then realize I wasn't prepared. Yes, the formula helps, Beeboy, thanks. I'm off to purchase a wand next. Thank you all for such fast and helpful ideas.

 

A lawn mower battery works just fine. I can vaporize (with my Varrox, if may be different with different wands) up to about 18 hives before needing to recharge. More can be done but the burn is less satisfactory, which makes it pointless, IMO. In really cold weather, it will do one or two less.

I have a little rope sling around mine so I can carry it like a purse when headed out to the yard. Very convenient.

 

I use a car jumper/charger. Costs $125 +/-, but it's easy to carry around, has A/C and D/C and USB ports, tons of power, and it may come in handy with your F-150 some day. Just keep it charging when you're not using it, and it's always ready to go. I tried a couple of the little pocket chargers costing $60. Small and convenient, but I found they don't hold a charge for s***. Amazon's got them by the dozen.

 

...I tried a couple of the little pocket chargers costing $60. Small and convenient, but I found they don't hold a charge for s***.... .

Do you mean the jump starters with LiPo batteries? I do not understand what did you find. Too little ampere hours, Ah?

 

I've used this. Works well.

https://www.harborfreight.com/3-in-1-portable-power-pack-with-jump-starter-62306.html

 

I use a unit that is similar to Bob's. I like it because I can use it during a power outage as well as for blowing up tires. J

 

I used the battery off my Cub Cadet RTZ 55. 2 Hives. 2 Deeps each. 2 Grams Oxolic Acid. 2:30+ minutes Each. Surprised by radius of how far the fumes actually traveled.

Haven't tried to start mower yet. Lol.

 

My only suggestion, just like if using a trolling motor and drawing down the charge, "deep cycle" is really the only way to go. But I suspect, if doing only one or two hives, most any 12 volt'll work.

Sorry, have my new OAV unit, but haven't stuck it in a hive yet.

 

I bought the following trolling motor battery - it is a 35 AH battery …

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00K8E8M1C/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I also got the power center case to put it in for going to the apiary:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001PTHKMG/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

With the ProVap 110, I can probably treat 50 -60 hives before I draw down a full charge.

I like the case, It has a 12 volt socket on each end that can be used for cell phone charger, or anything else. I made a Randy Oliver style Suck-a-bee hand vac I can use for sucking up bees for alcohol wash testing that I can plug into the case also.

http://scientificbeekeeping.com/the-suck-a-bee/

 

For only a couple of hives, you don't need much. I used this battery $19

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003S1RQ2S/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

and this trickle charger $12
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01822CSA2/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

a full charge gave me about 12 sessions of VAP using an OA wand.

It's light, small, and does the job.
D