2009 BX 2660 electrical issue - won't start

[Bamacummins]

Are the dim lights on the instrument panel the oil pressure switch light and the charging system light? It’s time to whittle down this oak tree. Is there a difference in brightness between turning on the Hazard flashers versus using a turn signal? They’re not on the same circuit (WSM). One is on the battery (RG hot) circuit and the other is on the fuel pump (RY) circuit.

And I have these prints too, I'm working through them for sure.

 

[Bamacummins]

Anyone know how many ground connections to frame? I can only find two, one from battery to first frame convection below the oil filter, then from their to the side frame where connected to starter.

 

[Sprytle]

. Another useful check is the voltage drop test. You can work in either direction moving away or towards the battery. Pulling fuses can help too.

 

[zoltanthegypsy]

You’re making that way too complicated. All you need to do is hold the volt meter on the battery while a load is applied by the starter. It really should stay above 12 volts but you might get by with 11. If it drops below that it’s for sure bad. After you’ve done that test repeat it except hold the volt meter on the starter terminals. No conductor is 100 percent efficient but if it drops a lot and the battery held up then you know there’s a battery cable issue.

That doesn't quite jibe with my recollection, but maybe I was thinking back 50 years ago when ignition systems were designed to operate at 9V and had a ballast resistor that got bypassed during cranking. ISTR 9-10V was reasonable for automotive cranking... but on to today:

Ran a test on my BX24 just now. Fully charged battery, 50F day. Voltage at the battery was right at 10V +- during cranking - and it was cranking just fine.

FWIW,
Zoltan

 

[Bamacummins]

Well, maybe I've figured it out. Neighbor said, run a quality jumper cable from battery positive to starter, sometimes the cable looks good and is corroded or degraded internally. It turned over good, so I will buy a new cable and hopefully it all works from there. Crazy when I tested voltage drop when trying to start the tractor and very little change.

 

[Bamacummins]

Repaired end of positive cable, new connector. All good now. Hard to understand very little if any corrosion, but maybe up inside the lead battery connector there were several of the copper wires corroded and gone. Big lesson learned here on trouble shooting. I generally think I know some about trouble shooting electric circuits, but this one through me for a loop. Thanks for all the help.

And of course another problem showed up - I'll post in a new thread.

 

[Sprytle]

I’d be curious to it’s reading on a mega before and after the connector replacement. It’s good that you fixed the problem.

 

[Bamacummins]

I’d be curious to it’s reading on a mega before and after the connector replacement. It’s good that you fixed the problem.

You mean a megar test? I remember those back in my power plant days, never seen or heard of that on battery cables.

 

[Sprytle]

Yes. I used it on small stuff (22 to 14) but never tried it on anything bigger.