electrical trouble shooting

[workinonit]

You need a meter that will read in milliamps. I'm surprised yours won't.

 

[Robfnk]

All that I can offer is that I bought a new skidsteer in 2009.

Dealer told me to keep the battery detached when not in use so as to not drain down the battery. He was correct. About six years later, had to replace the alternator. I stopped disconnecting the battery just to see what would happen. The battery stopped draining.

So…in my case, the brand new alternator in the brand new skidsteer was apparently causing the drain.

Almost exactly six years after that, I had to replace the alternator again, as it ultimately went bad. I mention this second replacement just to point out that alternators can go bad.


How old is your alternator? Is your alternator belt tight and in good condition?

The alternator is 3 years old. The belt is tight. That was the first thing I checked. I will check out the alternator later today or tomorrow depending on how bad the smoke is from controlled burns going on in our area.

 

[SARG]

The alternator is 3 years old. The belt is tight. That was the first thing I checked. I will check out the alternator later today or tomorrow depending on how bad the smoke is from controlled burns going on in our area.

Check the news ... the smoke is coming out of Canada.

And I still keep trickle chargers on our 5 machines all year.

 

[woody]

I have an Exmark that was doing the same thing and I picked up a battery disconnect switch from harbor freight and it has not drained since.

 

[Robfnk]

Check the news ... the smoke is coming out of Canada.

And I still keep trickle chargers on our 5 machines all year.

I'm sure your smoke is coming from Canada but I am in Florida by a 10,000 acre forest and they do control burns on different parts every year. We will get a lot of smoke for a few days then it clears until they start another.

 

[hummertom]

Because these tracs bounce and rattle a lot a small "leak" can be nasty over time sitting, I have a truck that has this problem, most modern vehicles are designed to be driven frequently, and have a small draw when sitting, what I did was to install a battery disconnect switch at the battery and install a small solar panel at the battery, both are available cheap at Harbor Freight. it keeps the battery at full charge and the switch is just like a key switch

 

[Robfnk]

update. Found a couple of issues. Was having trouble getting good readings because of a corroded connection where the ground from the battery connected to the frame. Then I was using a clamp on amp meter to try and find any leakage but since that only went down to .1 amps it didn't pick anything up. Remembered I had a Fluke OEM that had an amp setting. Using that I found a leak of .03amps on a plug that was put in years ago to run a pump sprayer.