Rootball shuts down 3130

[Casey1]

I was pushing over a tree with the fel when it went over easier than I thought and the root got my battery. It pushed the battery back against a metal tab contacting the positive terminal. It pushed it hard enough for it to get through the terminal cover and direct shorted the battery to the frame. It smoked the rubber cover and it was at least 20 min before I could cut the root out and pull the battery away.

At any rate when this happened the tractor shut off like a light. I checked the fuses in front near the battery and fuses by the clutch but none were bad. I know the battery is probably toast now but if it did not blow any fuses why did it die. Is there a fusible link somewhere? Nothing comes on now. It was late and have not had a chance to really check it out but I was hoping somebody had some ideas. Thanks.

 

[KennyV]

You need 12 volts to hold the fuel solenoid on. KennyV

 

[SkyPup]

Good thing you did not have a battery fire or explosion......

 

[Casey1]

The way it was smoking and smelling I thought it might. I thought of the incident as being unfortunate but I guess I was lucky. It could have been much worse.

 

[SkyPup]

No kidding, it could have easily been much worse.

Just to show you how freak battery things can happen.

My good hunting buddy is a surgeon, we were out duck hunting on his airboat when the motor would not crank. He grabbed a pair of pliers and went back to tighten the battery terminals. Somehow, while he was using the pliers to remove the positive battery terminal, they shorted out to ground and created a huge spark. The look on his face was of intense pain as he grimmaced immediately afterwards. His gold wedding band had melted and severly burned his ring finger and the other two adjacent fingers down to the bone......

The only thing I think worse would have been a gas explosion and fire....

Not nice

 

[bx23barry]

I don't wear rings on any kind after I saw a battery burn a guy's finger completely off when it shorted to his wedding ring. I was a 24v system with 4 big batteries but rings are dangerous around any equipment/machinery no matter what the wife says.

 

[David_Kb7uns]

You need 12 volts to hold the fuel solenoid on. KennyV

You may check the circuit but many stop solenoids are only energized when you are shutting the engine down and energized for a few seconds afterwards by a timed relay. You do need power to keep the OPC circuit relays open to keep the relays from shutting the engine down. Notice that Kubota advertises key stop, just the solenoid pushing against the cam on the injection pump to the stop postition. Looked at an older lawn tractor earlier this season and the stop solenoid was burned out and you had to squeeze the solenoid together to shut it down but otherwise ran fine.
David

 

[Jay4200]

It pushed it hard enough for it to get through the terminal cover and direct shorted the battery to the frame. It smoked the rubber cover and it was at least 20 min before I could cut the root out and pull the battery away.

At any rate when this happened the tractor shut off like a light. I checked the fuses in front near the battery and fuses by the clutch but none were bad. I know the battery is probably toast now but if it did not blow any fuses why did it die. Is there a fusible link somewhere? Nothing comes on now.

Seriously? You hard shorted your battery out for 20 minutes - your battery is dead. I'm suprised it didn't explode, or at least vaporize a hole in the metal that it shorted to.

You didn't blow any fuses because you didn't overload anything. You did the opposite, and shorted everything to 0V. Charge or replace your battery and you should be back to normal.

Jay

 

[Casey1]

Seriously? You hard shorted your battery out for 20 minutes - your battery is dead. I'm suprised it didn't explode, or at least vaporize a hole in the metal that it shorted to.

You didn't blow any fuses because you didn't overload anything. You did the opposite, and shorted everything to 0V. Charge or replace your battery and you should be back to normal.

Jay

Yes, you are right. I replaced the battery today and it was fine. (thank goodness)

The ground cable to the battery was burned though (maybe that is what saved an explosion?) with the copper strands fused together solid on the end nearest the battery. Battery was crushed on one side and punctured as well.

Not one fuse was blown. It did stop the engine at the time and I am puzzled why since I thought that the alternator would keep it running without the help of the battery.

 

[Fredex]

I thought that the alternator would keep it running without the help of the battery.

Since the alternator is connected to the battery, the alternator was also shorted to ground. Just for good measure you may want to verify that the alternator is still charging correctly now that you've fixed up the battery damage.