Battery Drain

[toyboyttoo]

Thanks everyone. It appears to be the alternator. I have in it for repair right now and hopefully this will fix the problem.

 

[k0ua]

Thanks everyone. It appears to be the alternator. I have in it for repair right now and hopefully this will fix the problem.

Thanks for letting us know the outcome..:thumbsup:

 

[Soundguy]

Keep us posted when u get it back

 

[toyboyttoo]

It's not the alternator. Checked out fine. Recharged the battery and put everything back together. Put it outside (-5 celsius) and dead the next day. I pulled the battery and took it back to the dealer. One dead cell. They are replacing it but I still think that there is a drain somewhere. I will retest once the new battery is in. Dealer said that the normal draw when off should be around .5 ma. Does this sound reasonable? we tested it at about 3 ma draw which did seem pretty high. Thanks for all the help. It is much appreciated. I don't know much but I am an eager learner!

 

[Soundguy]

So inlne ammeter shows 3ma draw? (excedingly low by the way)

Start isolating circuits starting with charging.

 

[Farmall45b]

General spec. for parasitic drain is 50ma. I would suspect that something like a tractor would have significantly less than an automotive application as there are far fewer solid state modules on a tractor. You need to get a DVOM and pin down the parasitic drain. A test light is not a good way to test for parasitic drain. A high impedance, low impedance, and solid state test light will all give a different result. Test with a meter to see if it is within spec. I suspect the dealer meant to say 5ma total parasitic drain not .5ma.

 

[k0ua]

It would seem to me that if the parasitic drain was really 3ma, that is to say .003 amps and given maybe a typical 70 amp hour battery.. Lets see how long it would take for that battery to drain down to somewhere around half of its capacity.. Lets make it easy and say that if 30 amp hour are used up we are concerned about its remaining capacity. So lets multiply .003 amperes by 10,000 hours and that would equal 30 amp hours.. 10,000 hours works out to about 416 days. I am thinking you would start the tractor a little sooner than once a year or so.. Therefore I don't think I would spend much time looking for a 3ma parasitic draw. Your Milleage May Vary.

 

[toyboyttoo]

Gentlemen. I apologize. I was wrong in the amp numbers I gave. The dealer actually said the normal drain would be around 50 ma. I get the new battery on Monday and once I reinstall it, I will take a proper battery drain reading. The reading I mentioned in my previous post was taken by a friend and I am not sure it was accurate or what range on the multi meter he was using. Thanks again for all the assistance!

 

[Soundguy]

yup.. like i said. your drain was exceedingly small.