Batteries

[Neat 1500]

I don't know why they didn't last. Should have been a better battery, but the supplier said a lot of people told him that.
The Red Tops are excellent. They are as good as the yellow and blue tops were disappointing.
rScotty

I have a Yellow top in my 1500 and his mate is an aux battery in my van. The van one is now a bit tired but the one in the tractor is still good. They both were bought together in April 2003.

 

[clemsonfor]

I guess that's why those optima batteries cost so much, they last a decade and a half!

 

[kenmac]

I was in walmart today and saw them $49.00 batteries (500cca) I should have bought one of those instead of a $120.00 battery

 

[clemsonfor]

I will try to keep us all updated on the life of it. If the thing turns out to lady 2 years it wasn't a deal. If it lasts 5 years I would call it a good buy and longer than that great. The last walmart batteries I have had lasted 7 pkus years each. I had one I think it was 8 years old when it gave out.

 

[betty2017]

The battery life depends on how you used them. Try to never over-charge and discharge.

 

[California]

Question: For a tractor not used much, how low should I let voltage go before putting the charger on it?

I found 12.2 volts on the YM240, obviously discharged more than it should be. 24 hours on the little trickle charger brought it up to 13 volts, then 12.52 v several hours after removing the charger. So I put the HF solar charger, the license-plate size one, on it and will leave that on several days. I doubt that can push it much over the optimum 12.6 volts.

Have I shortened the battery's life letting it get down to 12.2 volts?

 

[dragoneggs]

Question: For a tractor not used much, how low should I let voltage go before putting the charger on it?

I found 12.2 volts on the YM240, obviously discharged more than it should be. 24 hours on the little trickle charger brought it up to 13 volts, then 12.52 v several hours after removing the charger. So I put the HF solar charger, the license-plate size one, on it and will leave that on several days. I doubt that can push it much over the optimum 12.6 volts.

Have I shortened the battery's life letting it get down to 12.2 volts?

Yeah probably. I have a Battery Tender next to my tractor and plug it in if I know I won't be using it for a few weeks. I think this is the best way to get max life out of tractor size or larger batteries.

 

[normde2001]

Question: For a tractor not used much, how low should I let voltage go before putting the charger on it?

I found 12.2 volts on the YM240, obviously discharged more than it should be. 24 hours on the little trickle charger brought it up to 13 volts, then 12.52 v several hours after removing the charger. So I put the HF solar charger, the license-plate size one, on it and will leave that on several days. I doubt that can push it much over the optimum 12.6 volts.

Have I shortened the battery's life letting it get down to 12.2 volts?

If it dropped to 12.2 volts, and loses .5 v in a few hours, disconnected, it's just a bad battery.

 

[rScotty]

Question:
Have I shortened the battery's life letting it get down to 12.2 volts?

Theoretically yes - by a tiny bit. But in reality there are so many things that impact battery life I doubt you'll be able to point to any one of them as the final cause. If battery life was that easy to predict, I'd like to think that battery manufacturers would have figured it out long ago.

A year ago I found a stash of 4 batteries buried under some junk at the back of the barn by the flood here in 2013. They were all originally part of an old solar system we were making back then. So all had sat for at least 3 years and were in the 11 to 11.5 volt range with almost no amperage remaining. One might have been 10.9 or so. I put the smart charger on each in turn at 2 amps for a week....then did it again.
One battery recovered completely and instantly (Optima blue top) and it's now in a friend's plow truck all ready to serve for another winter. Another - this time an AGM marine - failed to ever get above 12 volts. I pitched it along with a very old Optima Red top that did much the same. The last battery looked for a while like it would recover. It took a charge to 12.8 volts quickly, but would drop to the low 12s within a day. Pitched that one too.
luck,
rScotty

 

[clemsonfor]

Question: For a tractor not used much, how low should I let voltage go before putting the charger on it?

I found 12.2 volts on the YM240, obviously discharged more than it should be. 24 hours on the little trickle charger brought it up to 13 volts, then 12.52 v several hours after removing the charger. So I put the HF solar charger, the license-plate size one, on it and will leave that on several days. I doubt that can push it much over the optimum 12.6 volts.

Have I shortened the battery's life letting it get down to 12.2 volts?

If it was a new battery , probably not much that you could discern, if its an older one you may have it die several moths earlier. I keep that solar HF charger on, I don't think it can keep it too high, you actually want the batteries in a float charge for max life which is higher than 12.65 volts or whatever of a fully charged 12v. I think they start gassing off at 14v so anything below I think 13.5 is perfectally safe.

My golf cart has a computer board on the charger and I have a volt meter on my dash of the cart. its a 48v cart. 50.8 v is a full charged pack and the float mode on it keeps it in the 52.3 to 52.7v range to make sure the batteries last as long as possible. Finishing voltage on the charger is upwards around 60v...I cant remember off my head what if is on a 48 v pack and I don't charger watch.