[AT] Battery Life?

Francis Robinson robinson at svs.net
Sun Nov 21 07:54:11 PST 2004


At 11/21/04 8:28:00 AM, you wrote:
>I find that new batteries on my 8N (12 volt converted system) only last 
>about 2 years. I just had to buy a new battery yesterday, and they ain't 
>cheap. Does anyone have any things they do to make their tractor 
>batteries last longer, or if not, does two years seem too short? I'm 
>thinking that the fact that the tractor is only run every few weeks in 
>the summer months and rarely at all in the winter might make the 
>battery  life shorter. I was thinking some of the following might help, 
>but was not sure:
>
>    * Re-Charge the battery occasionally with a battery charger,
>      especially in the winter?
>    * Disconnect the battery from the cables in the down months (maybe I
>      have a slight short draining the battery?)
>    * Maybe store the battery inside in winter (the probelm is I
>      occasionally use the tractor for snow removal in winter so this
>      would be a little inconvenient)
>
>Thanks in advance for any ideas or suggestions or comments on the ideas 
>above.
>
>Rob
>NE PA USA




	Be sure the top of the battery is clean. Dust will draw moisture and it can bleed current between the + 
and - . I am very fond of the tiny float chargers (about $10 to $15). They have even a slower charge rate than 
a 1 amp trickle charger. A float charger can be left on indefinitly and the battery will always be up. I just have 
one but move it from one unused vehicle to another a few days at a time over the winter. 
	Keep the terminals clean and assemble them with clean chassis lube. Chassis lube is better than 
vasoline as vasoline contains some moisture but it is better than nothing. In the presence of water (rain, 
condensation etc.) a spotless dry assembled connection can degrage in 24 hours. It is common for a weak 
battery connection to "grab" under a hard load like starting or headlights but be poor enough that the small  
maintaining charge can fail to get to it.  I used to get a lot of flack about the chassis lube (which I have been 
using for 50 years) but now I just refer the doubters to the recommendations at the battery manufactures 
websites. I believe Exide may just know a thing or two about batteries...   :-) 
	I used to sell Interstate batteries and was also a battery recycle station. I firmly believe that many many 
many batteries are sold each day that are a connection failure not a battery failure. During those years I never 
bought new batteries. I would throw a charger on a trade in or recycle battery over night then load test it. If it 
tested OK I would let it sit a few days and load tested it again. People have a problem and jerk the old battery 
out not knowing if it failed internally or not and go buy a new one and stick it in with a now fresh (if not clean) 
connection and it works. From that they assume it was the battery. I have seen service station (remember 
those?) guys throw a load / volt meter on a customers battery connecting to the terminals only and say the 
system was charging but the battery tested bad... You can not properly load test a battery through the 
terminals, you have to connect directly to the battery. If you hold a volt meter probe to the terminal and the 
other probe to the battery post (still connected) and hit the starter you will get a reading if the connection is 
poor.
	Some tractors in particular have a lot of vibration. Batteries don't like vibration. Long bouts of cranking 
that are long enough to get the starter hot to the touch can warp the plates in a battery.



"farmer"


Francis Robinson
Central Indiana USA
robinson at svs.net






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