1066 Battery Dying While Sitting?

[danmcd]

Hello and thanks in advance for any help you can offer. I have a 1066 that is in excellent running/cosmetic condition. I'm having a continuous issue with the batteries bleeding down to nothing after it sits for a relatively short period of time. I have to unhook the battery terminals each time I am not using the tractor for a day or two to prevent this from happening. I know it must be some sort of short or grounding issue but I don't know where to start looking. Any ideas from the experts?? Thanks.

 

[seville009]

I had a brand new skidsteer in 2009 that the dealer told me to keep the battery disconnected, or else it would drain. He didn't say why. He was correct, so I kept it disconnected.

Maybe five years later, I had to replace the alternator. For the heck of it, I stopped disconnecting the battery. It never drained after I changed out the alternator.

So....in my case, the alternator was draining my battery when it wasn't running.

For what it's worth.....

 

[5030]

Stop disconnecting the battery and get yourself a battery disconnect terminal that goes on the negative battery post. Makes a good theft deterrent item too.

 

[danmcd]

Thanks, so far I have not been able to find a battery disconnect that will work on this tractor. The battery posts are way too close the the sheet metal side enclosures but I'll keep looking. I will look into the alternator issue as well.

 

[WranglerX]

Thanks, so far I have not been able to find a battery disconnect that will work on this tractor. The battery posts are way too close the the sheet metal side enclosures but I'll keep looking. I will look into the alternator issue as well.

Battery disconnect switches are pretty generic...

P: Search: battery disconnect

battery disconnect

www.waytekwire.com

Del City - Search Results: battery disconnects

www.delcity.net

Personally I would hunt down and fix what is draining battery so you don't have to deal with any disconnect switches...

 

[Fragger]

Wire all accessories thru the ignition

 

[LouNY]

If you remove a cable and reconnect it in a darker area can you see a spark,
if no visible spark you can use a meter on the amps scale to see if you do indeed have
a current draw.

If no current draw;
Are you using two 6 volt batteries in series?
If one battery gets a bad cell it will suck both batteries down.
If you have switched to two 12's could still be the same issue.
You can pull the fill caps off the cells and use a volt meter, testing voltage
from each cell to ground and you should see a continuous step in voltage through the system.

 

[CobyRupert]

Thanks, so far I have not been able to find a battery disconnect that will work on this tractor. The battery posts are way too close the the sheet metal side enclosures but I'll keep looking. I will look into the alternator issue as well.

Put your disconnect on the negative / ground terminal of the battery. If the switch, or negative terminal contacts the sheet metal, it’s no big deal, it’s already electrically contacted to the sheet metal through the neg ground cable.

Just make sure that when the switch is open, the “battery side” of the switch isn’t making contact to the sheet metal and bypassing the open switch or battery can still drain.

Using the ammeter function across the open switch, or from a disconnected battery cable to the battery terminal, will tell you how much current is leaking. (Hopefully less than your meter can measure)

Pulling fuses until you find the one that stops the leakage can also be useful.

[Additional info: the voltage across the open switch should match the voltage across the battery terminals, because electrically, although no current can flow through the open switch, the negative cable should have +12v on it , as as the voltage is continuous from the battery positive terminal through the leaking device. No current flow = no voltage drop. Unless it’s a leaking diode in an alternator or solid state relay, then things can measure weird as the meter’s characteristics come into play. But I digress. ]

 

[hornett22]

Parasitic draw test is what you need to do. There are several videos on youtube on how to do it.

 

[danmcd]

Thank you all so much. I'll start to track down the problem through your suggestions. It's great to have help available from experienced people. Thanks again and have a great 4th of July weekend.

 

[5030]

Never put a disconnect on a positive terminal, always the negative post. I don't have a drain issue, I use mine as a theft deterrent when my units are sitting in a remote field. It greatly negates malicious tampering.

 

[DonRybak]

I think Seville009 is dead on with the alternator. There is an internal diode that will cause that parasitic drain. Just disconnect the alternator when done for a couple days and see if the drain disappears. Just remember to reconnect it when going to use it so you don't lose the charging function.

 

[CobyRupert]

If you remove a cable and reconnect it in a darker area can you see a spark,
if no visible spark you can use a meter on the amps scale to see if you do indeed have
a current draw.

If no current draw;
Are you using two 6 volt batteries in series?
If one battery gets a bad cell it will suck both batteries down.
If you have switched to two 12's could still be the same issue.
You can pull the fill caps off the cells and use a volt meter, testing voltage
from each cell to ground and you should see a continuous step in voltage through the system.

That’s a neat trick. Never thought of dipping the meter probe into the battery.
(Just don’t accidentally have it set to resistance measurement and spark the hydrogen(?) Possible? )
I’ve used the battery testers that are like anti freeze testers that draw out the battery acid and measure its specific gravity to tell you the cells voltage / health. Or I’ll just measure the voltage across the battery posts. If a fully charged battery quickly drops ~ 2 volts, you know you’ve lost a cell. Unless you’re into desulfurization(?) of batteries, it probably doesn’t matter which.

 

[rockinmywaypa]

we have a 1086 here with the same problem, we put welding lead disconnects on the positive side and disconnect if we are leaving it for any longer length of time. you can fit them in anywhere on line and if you install the female side closest to battery it will be protected from shorting on anything.

 

[WranglerX]

Never put a disconnect on a positive terminal, always the negative post. I don't have a drain issue, I use mine as a theft deterrent when my units are sitting in a remote field. It greatly negates malicious tampering.

Really ... "Positive post"???....... That argument has raged on for years in several automotive blogs I follow and never proven either way is correct. Open either negative (ground ) lead or positive battery lead remove any current loop.... Manual disconnect switches are not voltage/ground sensitive and electron flow theory says any "open" on current loop (parasitic drain) stops electron flow....

 

[loggin]

Really ... "Positive post"???....... That argument has raged on for years in several automotive blogs I follow and never proven either way is correct. Open either negative (ground ) lead or positive battery lead remove any current loop.... Manual disconnect switches are not voltage/ground sensitive and electron flow theory says any "open" on current loop (parasitic drain) stops electron flow....

I believe it is just better practice to put a switch on the ground side. If a positive wire were to come loose from the connections to the switch and touch the frame there would be a short with a large wire running straight to the battery without a fuse and the battery could very likely explode. Whereas if a ground wire were to come loose and touch the frame nothing would happen.

Just my 2 cents.