Battery Info

[grsthegreat]

My suggestion is to go to Interstate Battery if you have a shop near you? They only do batteries, and they're good at what they do and sell. Just my .02 cents worth.

I dont know. Ive had 2 interstates fail on my tractor . The first was 1.5 yo, the last was 11 months. Alternator tested good. Both batteries had shorted cells. I went with AGM this time around. Tractor bouncing probably isnt a good thing on flooded cells.

 

[isdavyy4u]

The are Battery Tenders and then are the newer battery chargers that have a repair mode. It's the repair mode mode that pulses and knocks off crap on sulfated plates I was referencing in a previous post.
Battery Tenders.......I use them on everything I have in the barn.

 

[DarkBlack]

This thread got me thinking of my SO's 2011 MF 1529 tractor. It only has like 180hrs on it, and still has the OEM battery in it. That's quite a run.

Got you beat (so far) , I just changed out the OEM in my 2008 MF 1540 this past summer.
It never once had a trickle charger , or battery tender on it during its long lifespan either.

 

[grsthegreat]

On the tractor, i added a 1amp smart charger to keep it topped off. No snow this year, so tractor has been sitting quite a bit. Its hardwired onto battery posts and has quick disconnect outside hood so i dont have to open hood to unhook.

 

[ultrarunner]

Used to be my last two didn't hold up very well.

We were a jobber going back 50+ years and the local rep was fantastic.

Never a warranty claim in those days… about 10 years ago it got bad and we stopped stocking them… several warranty claims from customers and not one honored…

 

[just_Dave]

The only issue with AGM batteries is they NEED - WANT a higher voltage for charge levels to be fully charged. Depending on or where your installing this an AGM might actually be a hindrance and negative over just a regular Lead battery if the alternator charge output is is low voltage wise

On a tractor vibration is a factor as well for life of the battery

 

[LouNY]

I haven't seen that and I have several AGM's in service. There is a ton of misinformation and contradictory so called "facts" out on batteries that it can be hard to wade through all the bull and hype.
I just treat conventional (flooded lead acid) the same as I do AGM batteries I see the same or maybe a bit better lifetimes on the AGM. But to me the major advantage is that the corrosion on the terminal and cables is mostly completely eliminated, and then the advantage of no gassing off of corrosive and explosive gases. And no liquid spilling while carrying or handling even when slinging them up into awkward places.

Here is an interesting search and it just shows how much conflicting information is out there;
charging voltage lead acid or AGM at DuckDuckGo

 

[Hay Dude]

We were a jobber going back 50+ years and the local rep was fantastic.

Never a warranty claim in those days… about 10 years ago it got bad and we stopped stocking them… several warranty claims from customers and not one honored…

Sounds like the bean counters took over from the engineers.
That has ruined more companies than anything I’ve ever seen.

 

[DarkBlack]

I haven't seen that and I have several AGM's in service. There is a ton of misinformation and contradictory so called "facts" out on batteries that it can be hard to wade through all the bull and hype.
I just treat conventional (flooded lead acid) the same as I do AGM batteries I see the same or maybe a bit better lifetimes on the AGM. But to me the major advantage is that the corrosion on the terminal and cables is mostly completely eliminated, and then the advantage of no gassing off of corrosive and explosive gases. And no liquid spilling while carrying or handling even when slinging them up into awkward places.

Agree. In real world applications the charging characteristic of an AGM, or traditional battery is close enough, especially with varying engine rpm’s to essentially make it irrelevant. In either case your simple alternator is simply going to present a voltage higher than the battery’s. What current flow actually occurs at those voltages will depend on the battery, not the alternator.
The alternator doesn’t know if current is flowing in the battery or through pumps or lightbulbs on your tractor.
Lithium batteries, though, are different enough to warrant consideration

 

[EddieWalker]

The weather was nice today and the ground is dried out, so I decided to install the new battery and get the last of my mowing done.

The new battery is identical in size and configuration. It was a simple swap.

I got in my tractor and everything was dead. I tried again and the dash lights came on, but the started didn't make a sound. I put my volt meter on the battery and it read 11.8

I hooked up the jumper cables to my truck and I was able to get some clicking noises from the starter. I let it run for 15 minutes without any improvement. I let it run for another 15 minutes without any improvement.

I decided to try my backhoe battery instead of my truck. The backhoe battery is less then a year old, 950 CCA. After hooking it up, I got the same results as with my truck. I let it run for half an hour and there wasn't any improvement.

With the jumpers on the new battery in my tractor, I'm at 12.08 volts. Without the jumpers, the battery in the tractor is at 11.8 volts.

This is odd to me since I was expecting 14 volts or better with the jumpers. I've had the new battery on a trickle charger for two weeks, and it's odd that my voltage is so low.

Right now I have an old battery charger on it for the night to charge it better than the trickly charger. It's an older Schumaker charger, and the meter isn't showing anything to indicate that it's charging. I don't know for sure if it's working. I probably need to put my meter on it, but I haven't done that yet.

What am I missing?