Do you charge your battery before winter?

bigtiller · Nov 17, 2017

I had a JD 3020 that I would top off the battery every fall because it was seldom used, once a month or so. I had to replace the battery every 3 years. I eventually sold that tractor to someone who would use it. When my stand-by generator had a dead battery I started using a maintainer and it always starts now. I have a maintainer running on every idle battery I use now.

mguitas · Nov 17, 2017

Use a battery tender.

DieselBound · Nov 17, 2017

sixdogs said:
I've never used a battery tender type of charger but instead got a NOCO Genius charger recommended by many in the thread below from a couple years ago. It says it could also act as a tender type charger but I don't use it that way.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/projects/350239-looking-automatic-battery-charger-without.html

It works great and I charge everything as late in the fall as possible and sometimes in the spring or summer. Compared with the old style chargers that just cooked things to death, these are night and day different. I saved the old chargers but only for the Zombie Apocalypse when they might be needed. The difference between the old and new style chargers is amazing.

I cannot say enough about how great the NOCO Genius chargers work. Wish that I'd gotten one years before: spent years with a stupid DieHard charger that would stop charging every time I'd turn my back on it!

the old grind · Nov 18, 2017

After nearly a year (?) with both I'm happy with 'BatteryMinder' (R) http://www.batteryminders.com/1510-12-volt-maintenance-charger-desfulator-with-warranty and 'Accumate' (R) AccuMate Smart Chargers These were vetted by folks with fancy testing gear and charts drawn to illustrate results. (a Gold Wing club and others)

I won't bother with a totally dead battery, as sulfation can pile up on the bottom and short out the plates. That said, batteries that barely work have come back into service after my own 'procedure'.

What I do to a weak battery is to start with the distilled water top up and a 24hr soak to 'homogenize' the fill. Next day I hook up the gadget and remove it when the green light signals 'full/trickle/maintain' (floating circuit). Let it soak until 'same time next day' and reconnect. After a few days the green light will come on almost instantly, signaling that the new charge has set deep, if there is such a thing.

Guys, 'restoring' a faded battery is like cleaning your fuel system with Seafoam. If you think it's a one-shot, or one-day-and-done job you will be disappointed and perhaps blame the product. It takes days, weeks or months for a battery to self-destruct on it's own if not kept at full charge. None will come back to 'new' capacity, and it takes time to recover what we can.

TractorGuy · Nov 18, 2017

This reminds me, I need to order another solar panel for my little tractor. I have one on my backhoe, lawn tractor, and gate openers. Keeping lead acid batteries topped up indeed makes them last longer.

Chris527 · Nov 16, 2020

This is what I get for bragging about my 15 year old battery, Saw my front screen was wet, thought it was hydro oil, turns out battery juice, seems it got the best of my battery mount.

sixdogs · Nov 16, 2020

Chris527 said:
This is what I get for bragging about my 15 year old battery, Saw my front screen was wet, thought it was hydro oil, turns out battery juice, seems it got the best of my battery mount.

View attachment 676714

That is shocking. It could have blown all over you.