Wiring up the hydraulics

The neighbours who have so kindly donated the machine to me to convert also happened to have a collection of 12v deep-cycle batteries out of a telephone exchange which they offered as well. At 150 amp hours capacity, they'd be ideal for this machine. The only catch is that they're huge, and very heavy. This is the hydraulic pack wired up on the bench with the batteries next to it:

To start with I connected one 12v battery using 4 AWG cable and a 100A circuit breaker.

The wiring was a little tricky as while the motor was being supplied with 12v, the solenoid valves on the pack need 24v, so I used a pair of small gel-cells to supply the 24v - you can see them tucked in between the pack and the big batteries in the first pic.

With a bit of hose hooked up to the output and a lot of spilled oil, the thing works.

Next job was to remove the old engine-driven hydraulic unit:.

And fit the new unit along with batteries:

The little grey box with a switch is my control for lift or drop. The 12v supply worked well, but not as fast as I'd like, so I installed the second battery and adjusted the wiring:

It'll get some cable ties added to keep everything in place, despite this battery location being an interim measure - ultimately they'll be located where the engine is now, but I want to keep the machine as operational
as possible during the conversion. The downside with this location is the weight of the battery - I mentioned they were heavy: 60kg each, so that's 120kg sitting on the front.

The video below shows the hydraulic lift in action, with the difference between 12v and 24v: