Battery

[Brian70ss]

Hi, if I leave the battery in my n over the winter and charge it with a battery tender once a month to keep the battery up will that keep it from freezing or should I remove it and put it in the basement

 

[Den N Ms]

Brian,You could leave it in the tractor,but I would unhook one of the cables and fully charge it with the tender first.Then like you said hook the tender up one day a month to keep the charge up.Or just crank it once a month and let it run say 15-20 minutes to charge the battery back up.You also could put it in the basement but you still need to put the tender on it,and you just may need to use your tractor this winter for something.Like if you or someone gets stuck.

 

[Bob]

If you have a "float charger" there's no need to disconnect it.

It wouldn't HURT to remove one of the battery cables, though.

 

[gahorN]

Running it once a month for 15-20 minutes would put a lot of water, condensation, and rust in your engine.

 

[Anonymous-0]

I leave the batteries in my 6 volt tractors and check the charge with a hydrometer monthly.They start in early march with no battery charging.Many of the cheapo maintainers had gone up in smoke and started fires.

 

[G6 at Snook, TX]

If you leave it in the tractor, I suggest that you crank and run the tractor once a month to six weeks and run the engine hot to burn off any condensation and whatnot. If you are satisfied to leave the tractor dormant until spring time, disconnect the battery and pull it, or leave it in, and give a good charge on your battery charger once a month or so. I don't like trickle chargers much. I prefer the definite timer set charger.

 

[gahorN]

Let me see if I understand this dilemna correctly.

We are talking about NOT placing an engine in proper storage for the winter/off-season and, for the purpose of making our valuable tractor into an expensive battery-charger..... starting it up every month or so (risking additional wear, water/rust in the engine, etc.) ....rather than simply disconnect or removing a $50 battery to a warmer place and occasionally using a cheap charger to re-charge it?

 

[G6 at Snook, TX]

I don't know if that last post was directed at me or all of us, but I don't see how running a tractor once a month during the winter to heat it up for an hour or so would cause much trouble for these motors. I would think that if these motors are so fragile that they cannot withstand a monthly exercise, then you need to get a different tractor. Is it the most efficient way to maintain the tractor? Probably not, but I don't see it causing much harm if done correctly.

Honestly, I am ambivalent on this and I certainly don't care to dogmatize on this subject.

 

[Jerry Kirkpatrick]

I run my 8N for a few minutes at least once a week year 'round just to hear it run. Don't know if it's bad for the tractor or not, but it's good for me!

 

[gahorN]

(quoted from post at 22:37:49 11/16/09)
Let me see if I understand this dilemna correctly.

We are talking about NOT placing an engine in proper storage for the winter/off-season and, for the purpose of making our valuable tractor into an expensive battery-charger..... starting it up every month or so (risking additional wear, water/rust in the engine, etc.) ....rather than simply disconnect or removing a $50 battery to a warmer place and occasionally using a cheap charger to re-charge it?

(quoted from post at 00:03:26 11/17/09) I don't know if that last post was directed at me or all of us, but I don't see how running a tractor once a month during the winter to heat it up for an hour or so would cause much trouble for these motors. I would think that if these motors are so fragile that they cannot withstand a monthly exercise, then you need to get a different tractor. Is it the most efficient way to maintain the tractor? Probably not, but I don't see it causing much harm if done correctly.

Honestly, I am ambivalent on this and I certainly don't care to dogmatize on this subject.

I wasn't shooting at anyone. I just found it amusing to what silly lengths we will sometimes go to solve non-problems.

 

[G6 at Snook, TX]

(quoted from post at 06:47:40 11/17/09)

(quoted from post at 22:37:49 11/16/09)
Let me see if I understand this dilemna correctly.

We are talking about NOT placing an engine in proper storage for the winter/off-season and, for the purpose of making our valuable tractor into an expensive battery-charger..... starting it up every month or so (risking additional wear, water/rust in the engine, etc.) ....rather than simply disconnect or removing a $50 battery to a warmer place and occasionally using a cheap charger to re-charge it?

(quoted from post at 00:03:26 11/17/09) I don't know if that last post was directed at me or all of us, but I don't see how running a tractor once a month during the winter to heat it up for an hour or so would cause much trouble for these motors. I would think that if these motors are so fragile that they cannot withstand a monthly exercise, then you need to get a different tractor. Is it the most efficient way to maintain the tractor? Probably not, but I don't see it causing much harm if done correctly.

Honestly, I am ambivalent on this and I certainly don't care to dogmatize on this subject.

I wasn't shooting at anyone. I just found it amusing to what silly lengths we will sometimes go to solve non-problems.

Fair enough. That sounds reasonable to me.