Totally, completely, utterly dead battery, or ... ?

[Diggin It]

X-300 has been slow to start lately, needing jumps most days. Looked into the connectors at the battery and found one bad, reworked it. Connected charger, looked like it was charging, but later noticed battery was 'too warm'. Next day, battery was dead again.

This morning, I jumped it from another machine. Once started, I disconnected the jumper cable and the X-300 died. Reconnected the jumper and tried again. Fired right up, but died again one the jumper cable was removed. It will run when jumped, but not on the internal battery.


So, dead battery, or something else electrical? I don't have a spare battery to swap out unless I take one off another machine. If there's an electrical problem, I don't want to kill another battery.

 

[seville009]

Maybe take the battery to an auto store to have it tested. If it痴 bad, put a new one in, as that痴 pretty much your only choice. If you continue to have problems, it痴 probably the alternator, but your new battery should be ok once you charge it back up with a charger. It could also be the battery cables are broken inside and not delivering a full charge

 

[Industrial Toys]

For starters. How old is the battery? Ever had it drain right down and had to be boosted? What's it in? I don't know what an X-300 is. Dodge Car (Mom had a Dodge 600), or Crotch Rocket style Motorcycle is my best guess. lol

Seems no one uses a hydrometer anymore. That can tell you much about a battery. Or you can read the holes in your seventy dollar jeans like reading tea leaves!

 

[k0ua]

So what voltage does your charging system read with the mower running at rated RPM's.? DO NOT have the other jump doner running when making this test. We want to see what the generator/alternator of the little lawn/garden tractor is doing.

 

[Diggin It]

Swapped the battery out of the brush mower/donor machine. Started right up, ran strong.

Stickers on battery are punched for 'Aug' and '3' which I'm taking to mean 2013 since the mower was built in '06.

 

[5030]

So, go spend some cash and buy a new battery. Keep in mind that using a weak battery will eventually destroy the alternator. They aren't designed to put out full output all the time.

 

[YLee Kioti]

These are handy to have. Especially for those with more equipment then just a single vehicle.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=battery+...alternator+tester,aps,190&ref=nb_sb_ss_i_3_25

 

[DK35vince]

This is all I use to test my battery.
So far it is all I ever needed.
I can see the battery voltage when the engine is off, see what it is charging at when the engine is running, and load test the battery.
1�� Amp 6/12V Battery Load Tester

 

[tomplum]

Yes keep a good battery in it. Jump starting with just a small amount of carelessness will kill your ECU and a 100$ bill....