L3130 BATTERY HELP

[rswyan]

A fully charged lead acid battery should read in the range of 14 volts.

... only while it's on a charger.

Normal resting voltage for a 12 volt lead-acid battery in good condition is around 12.7 - 12.8 volts.

 

[devildog1]

Yep should read about 13.25 to 13.35 volts on Battery Tender, keep us posted when new battery is checked under load.
DevilDog

 

[Skrizan]

12.8 will start the L3130---12.36 will not--also run the tractor thru the start delay a cpl or three times(light goes out 3 times). I assume ya bought the NG34 from Advance Auto---not good!!!!! I'm on my 2nd batt for my 03 L3130 and it fired right up this am at 4*F---bought mine new

Charlie, just curious, why is battery from Advance not good? (Beside the fact that I may have gotten a bad one )Another member was recommending the Gold battery from Advance with 25% off coupon, but I decided $128 After discount was good for platinum AGM. Taking it back to get checked today.

 

[bspeedy]

Bad battery is my guess. Maybe the old battery was good and the positive battery cable is in bad shape? I've had them give me fits. Have someone jiggle the positive cable around while you try to start.

Also, as stated, even though it's a 12 volt battery, 12.35 volts is way too low to start your tractor. It's troubling that this battery got so low even when new.

 

[Skrizan]

Bad news, battery tested as fine. So back to troubleshooting. A few notes to clarify based on some comments above. 1. Tractor was starting with old battery, just harder recently with cold snap. Old battery may have been the original from what I can tell, so bought new with 740 cca vs the 490 the old one had.
2. The new battery had to be charged up and the tractor started up once after the charge, but would not start again an hour later and ahowed 12.76 volts. 3. The connections to battery and frame ground clean and tight.

So, maybe bad cable? Why no power to Dash? Because not enough power for glow plugs? Lights don't work either, but wiper and heater fan run. I have not followed the hot cable from the battery to starter or any other connections. How does cable go bad, is it broken under the sheathing? Will try to wiggle it when I get a chance and see if it helps at all.

 

[rswyan]

Check the cable/connection to ground ...

 

[bspeedy]

Bad news, battery tested as fine. So back to troubleshooting. A few notes to clarify based on some comments above. 1. Tractor was starting with old battery, just harder recently with cold snap. Old battery may have been the original from what I can tell, so bought new with 740 cca vs the 490 the old one had.
2. The new battery had to be charged up and the tractor started up once after the charge, but would not start again an hour later and ahowed 12.76 volts. 3. The connections to battery and frame ground clean and tight.

So, maybe bad cable? Why no power to Dash? Because not enough power for glow plugs? Lights don't work either, but wiper and heater fan run. I have not followed the hot cable from the battery to starter or any other connections. How does cable go bad, is it broken under the sheathing? Will try to wiggle it when I get a chance and see if it helps at all.

Yes - internal corrosion. Sheathing is fine - cable is only carrying enough current to power dash lights or less. A jumper cable or other suitable cable temporarily running between the battery positive terminal and the starter will isolate this issue. It was quite a confounding problem on my tractor with similar symptoms.

Another thought. Sometimes a bad starter will kill a battery on it's way out. Use an independent starter / alternator shop for a rebuild if necessary.

 

[JRobyn]

A fully charged lead acid battery should read in the range of 14 volts.

False

 

[Redbug]

False

View attachment 534501

I stand corrected! Thanks JRobyn!

 

[moship]

Also keep in mind AGM batteries will have a slightly higher voltage when at 100% state of charge compared to conventional wet cell lead batteries, and both vary slightly with battery temperature.

There's also a difference between batteries supplied to colder climates versus warmer climates as warm/hot temperatures are really tough on their life span. To compensate for this the design (electrolyte to lead ratio) is slightly altered.

The OP should conduct a voltage drop test on the circuit in question. A bad cable will show a greater voltage drop when under load. As others have noted a wire assembly can look good but have internal corrosion that can not be seen.