dead battery......again

[buster 2]

I havent posted in a while,lots been going on,
archery season,fall turkey, bear,deer,and a new little boy in the middle of it all.now the snow is falling and my battery is dead-50 8n 6 volt
the battery is about 1 year old , the one before it lasted about the same,tractor starts fine- always, than one day, dead ,if I catch it in gear and run her, it will start fine the rest of the day, sits over night, stone dead.I even disconnected one battery cable over nite thinking I had short draining it down,nope-dead. the last battery did the exact same thing.I bought both batterys at Napa..junk? maybe.any ideas, is my genny or over charging ? what else could kill 2 batterys in 2 years ? I hate to buy another one {not from Napa }and replace it next year-kinda costly. I thank everyone for the help and wish you all a happy new year. Ed

 

[Tom N MS]

Do you have Auto Zone in your part of the world? My Dad had one go dead after about a year and they replaced it for I think it was $8..He later found he had cutout problems that was draining the battery and it had prob. contributed to the early death. With the tractor running check across the battery with a meter to see what reading you get to see if the gen. is genning. I think should read about 7.4..If that is wrong I will be corrected many times in the next 5 minutes.

 

[Tom N MS]

Forgot to say, but you prob. know...can't use a digital meter,,they go nuts..Use an analog meter..

 

[JMOR]

If the battery was strong enough to start it just moments before you took the cable off & then dead later, then there ain't nothin left in the picture except the battery!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, what's the question?

 

[Dell (WA)]

Buster........take yer battery into a battery shop fer "FREE" checkout. Complain it should last longer than 1-year ...etc...

But seriously, the non-suspended tractor is RUFF on batterys. Die-Hards die eazy. Real 6-volt tractor batterys are built more robust. I like to recommend (byte my tongue) John Deere 6-volt tractor batterys. Electrons are color-blind. (grin)..........Dell

 

[old]

That is one of the few reason for switching to a 12 volt system. 6 volts battery's made now days aren't what they where back 50 years ago. 995 of my tractors are on 12 volts because it just plain cheaper on up keep now days then on 6 volts.
Hobby farm

 

[Danny in CO]

Dell,

How are things in the NW? How is your sister doing?

Don't party too hard tonite!
Danny

 

[Dave (Tx)]

Take the battery in to be tested but take a hydrometer with you. The load tester some places use will show a charged battery even though one of the cells are dead. The hydrometer will easily demonstrate this. But beware - a lot of these folks never heard of one or know what its for.

 

[Dell (WA)]

Danny.........got my annual pot of "oyster stew" simmering in the crockpot. Just got back from emergency run for some celery sticks to chop-up for flavor.

According to my german heritage mother, first meal of new years should be "white fish" for good luck. Oysters iff'n you can afford it. Werks fer me. yum-yum

In the meantime, I'm listening to some great PBS TV musical stuff.

Sister is in the hospital with rapid onset dementia, just as I was worrying about.......Dell

 

[souNdguy]

If you take a cable off.. the battery is out of circuit.. unless you are good at magic.. or there is alot of conductive crud on the battery.. it ain't the tractor.. it's the battery.. etc.

Soundguy

 

[Bruce (VA)]

You could have two bad batteries in a row......just like you can win the lottery if you buy a ticket. The first thing I would do is make sure the battery & all the terminals & grounds were squeaky clean. And, that I had a new 1 gauge cable on the negative side & a new strap on the positive side. A $5 hydrometer (tip # 49, below) would be my next step after I knew the battery was fully charged. The battery has a warranty; take it back to NAPA. I wouldn't concern myself so much about the brand; last I heard, only 2 companies were making batteries in the US.

The key to battery longevity is simple: do not allow the battery to discharge. Run it every two weeks or so to keep it charged, and/or keep a 'battery tender' type trickle charger on it. The battery in my 1951 6v N is dated April, 2000. It started just fine yesterday & I expect it to do so for a few more months!

Happy New Year!
50 Tips

 

[Mike OH]

Dave how true what you say. I once took my 12v JD battery from my JD back to the dealer to be load tested after I found it would not hold a charge and my hydrometer showed it had a dead cell. They checked it and said it was good. I limped by for several months (after the warranty now expired) only to find that I couldn't get it to charge at all. Then my 6V Jubilee battery started acting the same way. Back to the dealer only to have them say it was good too. Took it back home and reinstalled it and found it was now putting out less than 6v, so this time I went back for a recheck and after a long discussion they determined the equipment they were using was faulty and rechecked on another piece of equipment said it was shorted out. Needless to say I don't buy any more of their $70.00 plus batteries from them.

 

[Waltmo]

Had the same problem with a Ford 5000.
Then when I put another new battery in I always take the cable off.
When a battery is run down in cold weather it will do damage to it and will not hold charge.
WaltMo.

 

[Waltmo]

Had the same problem with a Ford 5000.
Then when I put another new battery in I always take the cable off.
When a battery is run down in cold weather it will do damage to it and will not hold charge.
WaltMo.

 

[Joe)NYC)]

I had a similar problem but battery was abou 3 years old. I was constantly charging it. One day I decided to check the individual cells and found one cell was dead causing the problem.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Heres a excellent site on batteries.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/car_battery
This site explains about ratings, discharging, and the hydrometer and how it works.
batteries

 

[Anonymous-0]

After reading the link I posted above,I was supprised that even on the shelf a battery starts losing some of its life after a year. Next time I buy a battery I'll look for the maf. date. Kinda sounds like when you buy a 6 volt batt. it may be new to you but not the born on date.

 

[Tom N MS]

Most likely just new to you especially 6 Volt ones that there is not much demand for...