Another battery purchase

[Jim in LA]

Ran the ‘51 8N for a little while this morning. I discovered a new oil leak at the oil filter canister lid. I took the lid off and inspected the rubber seal and cleaned off the rim, have to wait and see if that worked. I went to restart the tractor and only got a buzz at the solenoid. This battery was a little more than a year old, a Continental 12 volt that I got just to get the tractor started, it was about 2 in. narrow of an OE battery but that wasn’t a concern when I bought it. I removed the battery for the overhaul and when I went to reinstall it, I noticed the positive post had turned black and a wire brush would not restore it. Of course it needed charging, having sat unused for a few months and I wondered if it was about to go bad. It has been in the upper 20s to 30/34degrees the past four or five mornings so I suspected it was kaput( I noticed the case was bulged a little bit too) I connected my DMM to it and got a reading of 12.8 volts but as soon as I hit the starter the voltage dropped to 2.82 volts. I got a 550 CCA battery that is close to OE dimensions and tractor now fires and runs in about 2 seconds. I noticed the positive cable clamp had started turning black but it did clean up. By the way, I use a volt meter instead of ammeter on my single wire alternator and it always pegs the needle fully to the right. Is this normal?

 

[wore out]

Ran the ‘51 8N for a little while this morning. I discovered a new oil leak at the oil filter canister lid. I took the lid off and inspected the rubber seal and cleaned off the rim, have to wait and see if that worked. I went to restart the tractor and only got a buzz at the solenoid. This battery was a little more than a year old, a Continental 12 volt that I got just to get the tractor started, it was about 2 in. narrow of an OE battery but that wasn’t a concern when I bought it. I removed the battery for the overhaul and when I went to reinstall it, I noticed the positive post had turned black and a wire brush would not restore it. Of course it needed charging, having sat unused for a few months and I wondered if it was about to go bad. It has been in the upper 20s to 30/34degrees the past four or five mornings so I suspected it was kaput( I noticed the case was bulged a little bit too) I connected my DMM to it and got a reading of 12.8 volts but as soon as I hit the starter the voltage dropped to 2.82 volts. I got a 550 CCA battery that is close to OE dimensions and tractor now fires and runs in about 2 seconds. I noticed the positive cable clamp had started turning black but it did clean up. By the way, I use a volt meter instead of ammeter on my single wire alternator and it always pegs the needle fully to the right. Is this normal?

What is the voltage reading when it's "pegged to the right", if over 15 Volts or so either the meter is defective or the alternator is overcharging.

 

[Texgasser1]

Ran the ‘51 8N for a little while this morning. I discovered a new oil leak at the oil filter canister lid. I took the lid off and inspected the rubber seal and cleaned off the rim, have to wait and see if that worked. I went to restart the tractor and only got a buzz at the solenoid. This battery was a little more than a year old, a Continental 12 volt that I got just to get the tractor started, it was about 2 in. narrow of an OE battery but that wasn’t a concern when I bought it. I removed the battery for the overhaul and when I went to reinstall it, I noticed the positive post had turned black and a wire brush would not restore it. Of course it needed charging, having sat unused for a few months and I wondered if it was about to go bad. It has been in the upper 20s to 30/34degrees the past four or five mornings so I suspected it was kaput( I noticed the case was bulged a little bit too) I connected my DMM to it and got a reading of 12.8 volts but as soon as I hit the starter the voltage dropped to 2.82 volts. I got a 550 CCA battery that is close to OE dimensions and tractor now fires and runs in about 2 seconds. I noticed the positive cable clamp had started turning black but it did clean up. By the way, I use a volt meter instead of ammeter on my single wire alternator and it always pegs the needle fully to the right. Is this normal?

Y'all losing batteries left and right.

 

[Jim.ME]

Ran the ‘51 8N for a little while this morning. I discovered a new oil leak at the oil filter canister lid. I took the lid off and inspected the rubber seal and cleaned off the rim, have to wait and see if that worked. I went to restart the tractor and only got a buzz at the solenoid. This battery was a little more than a year old, a Continental 12 volt that I got just to get the tractor started, it was about 2 in. narrow of an OE battery but that wasn’t a concern when I bought it. I removed the battery for the overhaul and when I went to reinstall it, I noticed the positive post had turned black and a wire brush would not restore it. Of course it needed charging, having sat unused for a few months and I wondered if it was about to go bad. It has been in the upper 20s to 30/34degrees the past four or five mornings so I suspected it was kaput( I noticed the case was bulged a little bit too) I connected my DMM to it and got a reading of 12.8 volts but as soon as I hit the starter the voltage dropped to 2.82 volts. I got a 550 CCA battery that is close to OE dimensions and tractor now fires and runs in about 2 seconds. I noticed the positive cable clamp had started turning black but it did clean up. By the way, I use a volt meter instead of ammeter on my single wire alternator and it always pegs the needle fully to the right. Is this normal?

Got a handheld VOM? Check the tractor's voltage with that to see if your tractor voltmeter is correct. If it is correct I would suspect the voltage regulator.

 

[Mule Meat]

A battery can read 12 + volts and still be bad. You need a good tester that can give you the CCA output under load (starting) or static (no load).


Can't honestly answer your question on the voltmeter without know the max volts it will read.
If it only goes to 14 volts. Yes it is normal.
If it goes higher than 14 volts. Then more than likely the internal regulator on the alternator is bad.

 

[Mcrafty1]

Volt meter pinning when the tractor starts could explain the frequent battery failure.

 

[RJKeith]

When studying electrical engineering basic circuits n college, the battery model we used was a constant voltage source that never changed and an internal resistor that increases in value as the charge decreases. Because voltage equals current time resistance, when you had the meter across the terminals, and the meter draws little current, you see the 12 volts. When you start the tractor, the starter draws lots of current, so there is a greater voltage drop across that internal resistor, and you see the low volt reading across the terminals. Always test a battery under load.

 

[Jim.ME]

First step in answer to, "By the way, I use a volt meter instead of ammeter on my single wire alternator and it always pegs the needle fully to the right. Is this normal?", Is to check the voltage with a known meter having voltage numbers. You didn't give a voltage number only that the voltmeter pegs, so one has to guess it is only a scale gauge of unknown range. So it might be over charging, or it might not be. Real numbers are required to diagnose.

 

[Fixingfarmer]

Measure the voltage at the battery terminals then at the wire from your pegged out meter. I’m betting it’s overcharging. 14.2 volts is perfect. Anything above 13.6 is acceptable. 14.5 and above problem. Usually measurements will be all the way to 14.8 to 15 if it’s anything above 14.2. Always figured they get there gradually and it just wasn’t noticeable till the battery couldn’t take the charging and the mechanic was called but I could be wrong a vr failure might make it jump all at once.

 

[MSD]

Never had good luck with Continental batteries. We switched to AC Delco's and are having good luck with them.

 

[Jim in LA]

I checked the battery with DMM and voltage is 12.5V
With engine running, the display goes nuts( cheap Chinese Exectech meter.
I failed to mention the needle pegs as soon as switch is on.
Checked system with analog VOM:
Static battery voltage is 12V
Running is 12+(maybe13), also measured at the alternator and at the meter post. I think it’s just because it’s a cheap(quality not price)meter.
Neither the VOM nor the panel meter dipped when cranking the engine.

 

[Jim in LA]

A battery can read 12 + volts and still be bad. You need a good tester that can give you the CCA output under load (starting) or static (no load).


Can't honestly answer your question on the voltmeter without know the max volts it will read.
If it only goes to 14 volts. Yes it is normal.
If it goes higher than 14 volts. Then more than likely the internal regulator on the alternator is bad.

Parts store confirmed battery was bad.$$$$

 

[Jim.ME]

I failed to mention the needle pegs as soon as switch is on.

If the needle of your tractor's voltmeter pegs when you turn the key on, that alone indicates to me the voltmeter is in need of replacement.

 

[Jim in LA]

If the needle of your tractor's voltmeter pegs when you turn the key on, that alone indicates to me the voltmeter is in need of replacement.

That is the conclusion I have reached. I need to get a new oil plug and screen too so I will order a new meter as well. I cannot recall where I bought it but it did not come from YT parts.

 

[caterpillar guy]

Well if the volt meter is for 12 volt and you put more in it will peg whether it is good or not. My semi has both a volt meter and an amp meter. When I start it the voltage drops some and as the amp meter works back to 0 the voltage climbs to close to 14 volts had been that way for 25 years and never had a problem with batteries nor life of them. I get about 3-5 years out of them. The old 91 used to get about 5-7 years out of a set. I figured the electronics was probably the reason for the lowered life time in them. The 91 was an old mechanical engine .

 

[Hemmjo]

Parts store confirmed battery was bad.$$$$

Has anyone had a parts store tell them the battery is good? They don't make any money if your battery is good.

Jus sayin...

 

[Hemmjo]

That is the conclusion I have reached. I need to get a new oil plug and screen too so I will order a new meter as well. I cannot recall where I bought it but it did not come from YT parts.

Is it possible it is a 6v meter on your 8N, that would explain the pegging with a bad 12v battery..

 

[Jim in LA]

Meter measures 8 to 16 volts. I may have gotten it from Amazon. I will be getting a new one soon.