Question for John T

[Jo Bird]

John
I've read and gone through your charging trouble shooting guide. Every thing is wired right and run daily the battery stays charged. How ever after sitting for about a month the battery is drained. I removed the voltage regulator to check points and discovered it was magnetized, that's after being removed, with no wires attached in my hand, all 4 tabs attract the end of anything metal put near them. Should it be that way or shot as I think it is?? What caused it to magnetize its self ?? The contacts on the coil L/A are open and look good. The contact points are burnt closing the circuit to the B/F terminal. I'm thinking the burned points allowed the drain on the battery.. to magnetize the voltage regulator coils, is that possible?? A little more back ground, I know it is not green but the theory is the same, LOL, the tractor is a 180 Massey Ferguson diesel, all new wiring to the charging / starting system, new amp meter, the genny was rebuilt by a local repair facility and he checked the VR at the same time, it was ok at that time.. Nothing else has been hooked up yet so the possibility's are limited.. I'll be getting a new VR but was wondering if I am correct in my thinking. Thanks in advance for your help, your guide was a great help to get me this far..
Jo

 

[F-I-T]

JB:

I'm not JT but I have some advice.

Maybe the battery is internally shorted, and that drains it, It can happen.

Or...you have an outside draw draining the battery. Try this test. Get a light bulb the voltage of your system. A dome light bulb works well as they have a terminal on either end. I'm assuming 12 voilts for your tractor. Engine off, remove either battery cable. Touch one terminal of the bulb to the naked post. Touch the other end of the bulb to the loose cable. If there there is any current flow, the bulb will light, and you have found that there is a draw. Now unhook a wire one at a time and you'll find which circuit is creating the draw, then fix that one circuit.

I've done this a thousand times and this test has never let me down. I even have a buzzer that I use so I can hear it while I remove one wire at a time.

Frank

 

[Jo Bird]

F-I-T
Thanks for the testing tip,I have done as you suggested many times to narrow down a short. I may have pinched one of the new wires.. I will surely test that out when I install the new VR. Do you know any way to test if a battery is shorted out ?? I'm charging it up, will record the voltage and let it set a few days and check the voltage again to see if it has gone down. I think I may have made a poor choice in buying a deep cell marine battery for this tractor, but that's what the MF dealer recommended.

 

[John T]

Jo, Im in the RV in Moab Utah outside Arches and Canyonlands Natl Parks, first time I could get on line in a while wooooooo hooooooooo.

Great advice from our friend the Frankster aka FIT, could be the battery is simply showin its age cuz if a cutout relay is sticking that drains the battery very quickly (overnight NOT a few days to do so) and the genny would get hot also.

Tell ya what, next time its gonna be down for a while unhook a big battery cable n see if it still runs down??? If so its NOT a tractor problem and a shop can load test the battery for free.......If it dont run down with a cable removed, maybe next time unhook the wire that comes down from dash n wires to BAT on the VR n see if that stops the run down??? If so then the VR may have a leak or theres a minor (high resistance) short no tellin where in the tractors other wiring which Franks test may or may not find.

Its not hard to see if the problems in the tractor somewhere simply by unhooking the battery to see what happens and if its NOT the battery itself runnin down just from sittin there not connected (short in battery) then try unhooking the VR next to see if theres some sort of leak from BAT on the VR to elsewhere......

It dont hurt to light non abrasive as possible clean/buff/polish the relay contacts if they are temporarily sticking but once the shiny silvery coat is gone they will go bad soon n stick again. Theres all sorts of soft iron poles in the VR which acquires residual magnetism in a short while of use

John T Headed to the Colorado high mountains soon to cool off

 

[F-I-T]

Stay clear of the fires, John. I have kids and grandkids between Boulder and Denver, and they send me photos of the glow from their patio every night.

 

[Jo Bird]

John
Thanks for the reply,you and FIT both have excellent ideas to help me trace down the problem. Its just going to take some more probing.Thanks again..
Jo

 

[John T]

Plan "A" is to get on I 70 in West Central Colorado Tuesday headed to Grand Mesa in West Central Colorado then later we will work back up to I 70 West of Denver then North through Rocky Mtn Natl Park then back to 70 (central Colorado) thru Kansas

WE WILL BE WATCHING THE NEWS The fires Im aware of are a bit south of Denver in Colorado Springs and up North near Fort Collins so maybe central Colorado will be safe?????????????????

John T

 

[F-I-T]

Yes, that's my understanding. One of my consulting pals lives in Ft. Collins and he tells me that he has been wetting his lawn twice daily since the firs began, and still gets an ember of so firing up.

My wife took a drive with the g-kids through Rocky Mtn.Nat'l Park just a couple of weeks ago.

 

[DONMYEIL]

A deep cell battery is made to take a long time to run down. If indeed you installed a deep cell in the tractor it is now most likely toast as they cant stand a high amperage draw like the tractor starter would put on it. Dealer should have known better .