On board trickle-charger

jdgreg · Feb 25, 2007

Last month, we had a cold snap, and it took it's toll on my battery, so I had to replace it. While at TSC getting a new battery, I noticed they had small on-board trickle chargers. So I thought why not? Been using one on the boat for quite a while, so I figured this would help keep the battery topped off and ready when I really needed to use the tractor.

Here's a pic of the charger I got from TSC. The cord comes out between the hood and the side panels. I used very short metal self taping screws and the supplied brackets. WARNING: when mounting the brackets, be very careful as the oil cooler is about 1/2" below where the screws go. I would be toooooo easy to poke a hole in the top of the cooler if you arent careful.

JoeL4330 · Feb 25, 2007

I have one, too ...mounted it as they suggest under/against the battery and I can see the lights through the grill ...I run the cord to a short 2:1 HD extension cord into which I (can) also plug my block heater ...then, all I have to do is plug the short cord in. Far as I can tell, it works just fine.

k6dyc · Feb 25, 2007

I got one that is solar powered, found the link to it posted here thanks to NY_Yankees_Fan, from Harbor Freight only $9.99! It works well if you have sun

.

sandman2234 · Feb 28, 2007

About 10 years ago while driving as an over the road trucker, when I would come home, I would have to empty my refriderator, and then load it back up when I left, to keep the batteries from dying due to the drain.
I bought a solar panel from BoatsUSA and wired a cigarette lighter plug on it, then dropped it in the skylight cover and put in up. It stayed up there, charging the battery all the time, and would put out enough to offset the refriderator drain, which saved me a lot of time packing/unpacking.
Seems adding a cigarette lighter to your dash and running a solar panel outside would be cheaper in the long run, and keep the charger away from the acid fumes that eat away at everything.
Just my $.02 at a different way,
David from jax

herringchoker · Feb 28, 2007

I have a Case 450 crawler at my woodlot that sometimes sits for months at a time between starts. Keeping the battery (and it's a big expensive one

) charged was always a problem until about 5 years ago. That's when I installed a battery desulfator (conditioner) and a 5 watt solar charger. I haven't had a battery problem since.

Soundguy · Mar 1, 2007

I have done both the onboard charger, and solar chargers, depending onthe equipment.. The solar one is really nice.. just leave it where you park your tractor and hook up when you park.

Soundguy

Dallas_Lilly · Mar 1, 2007

I have a camp trailer that uses an 12V blower motor for the heater and over night will drain a fully charged group 31 battery. I have been swapping it out with the second battery in my truck while hunting during the day but that is a pain in the rear and I gotta believe kinda hard on the alternator.

Do you guys think that the solar chargers would fully charge a dead group 31 battery during the course of 1 day if the sun was shining?

Soundguy · Mar 5, 2007

Uh.. yeah.. if you had about 3 acre's worth of chargers!

( buy yourself one of those 150$ generators that does like 1000 or 1200 watts AC and has a DC battery charge option on it.... kick it on when you leave to go hunting... )

Soundguy

donais · Mar 5, 2007

or you could put 2 6 volt forklift/ golf cart batteries trojan 105's? i think they are
run the heater all night and still have a green bar on the charge indicator in the am.....jon