Well my China made Battery finally starting to fail. 2002 to 2014!

SPIKER · May 7, 2014

Hopped on it today and nothing, gauges jumped and swung but no cranking. I know everyone said I should throw that China made battery into the trash the day I unpacked it from the crate in March of 2002. Well I figured nothing lost if it didn't last that long. Well it has suffered thru the key being left on 3 or 4 times, the mishap when the FEL HOSE QD fell against the Sol Post and shorted it cranking it down to no measurable voltage. Each time I hit it with a full high boost recharge and re-established a good full charge. It's on the trickle charger now but I'm going to try and hit it with a high boost and reestablish a base line but the 10 volts tells me a cell might have finally come loose inside. When I first left the key on it I did pour in a double dose of that battery stabilizer chemical stuff from Harbor Freight. They don't carry it anymore that I have been able to find. Anyhow looks like I'm going to be in the market for a NEW one should it not pull back out of this issue.

Mark

RetiredCarGuy · May 7, 2014

Any 12 year old battery from China is quite amazing. I once saw a 16+ year old Varta (Germany) that was still in service.

George2615 · May 7, 2014

You are Lucky to get 12 years from that battery. Most I've got is about 5-6 years on my tractor and 8-9 years on autos. Take it to the auto parts or battery store and get a new one. I think our cold winters don't help.

Bob Rooks · May 7, 2014

Battery in my dozer is coming up on the seven year itch. So far so good.

RonMar · May 7, 2014

My tractor was delivered end of June 2005(9 years next month) and the orig battery is still working great...

SPIKER · May 7, 2014

Going back out to the farm tomorrow to do some cleaning and try & finish a wall so I can build up some shelving. I have it on trickle charger (1amp hr unit) but that might not make much diff after 12 years lol... Anyone got one laying around still dry when they imported their tractors?

ya I was going to look at them today on that side of town but had to drop off a 26hp Kohler eng I sold. funny that gas eng was 1 man job to move yet the 3 cyl Jinma is a 3 man job...

I'm thinking I might want to get a Battery relocation kit from Tommy down at affordable, I need a steering cylinder repack kit and perhaps some FEL arm kits for my old ZL20 loader too...

Tommy you have any of them relocation kits for the battery? not sure if I want to tear into it as I have a ton of work to do but ...

Mark

Btown · May 7, 2014

The battery in my Ford 1700 is 12 years old. It was a little weak to start it in the winter without plugging the tractor in for a couple hours. I still have an original battery in my F-250 7.3.

Btown · May 8, 2014

Btown said:
The battery in my Ford 1700 is 12 years old. It was a little weak to start it in the winter without plugging the tractor in for a couple hours. I still have an original battery in my F-250 7.3.

.

The f-250 is a 2001 with only 66,170 miles

Sodo · May 8, 2014

Could be the chinese mfr is not playing by international "battery manufacturing rules" which ensure future battery sales. I had an OEM battery in a Nissan that lasted 11 years, and I didn't want to replace it because I was quite curious how much longer it might last. From that I've concluded that lead-acid batteries can last 11 or 12 years but are engineered to fail sooner. Possibly the OEMs have enough purchasing power to specify batteries that don't have that BS.

I was told by a chemistry professor that lead-acid batteries fail mainly because it's an engineered, timed chemical reaction that the industry spent considerable $$ to refine. They need the battery to fail shortly after, but never before a guaranteed life expectancy. Or at lease a life expectancy that is generally accepted by consumers.

Here's how it works. The lead plates have a certain amount of physical space above the bottom of the battery. When the lead (flaking off the plates) piles up until it touches, and shorts out the plates, then that one cell is dead, and the battery has failed. If the battery had more space above the bottom, the plates wouldn't short out, it would last until the plates failed, which is not as predictable.

More months = more space for lead flakes. Sometimes batteries "revive" and I suspect this is because you take it out of the vehicle, handle it a little roughly, and cause whatever was shorting out that cell to dislodge. For example bumping it around on the concrete floor and re-settleing the pile of flakes that shorted that cell. Then you recharge it with some fancy charger and you think the charger healed it. Wrong, physical action 'failed' the engineered obsolescence (temporarily). Just my opinion.

You cant dump a old battery upside-down because the acid would dump out, and the flakes wouldn't come out. And they would short out more cells. If you could get under the plates and vacuum off the lead flakes then you could get more life out of your battery. If there was a battery life extender that worked, then I bet that company was bought out by a battery industry group (and scuttled).

Diamondpilot · May 8, 2014

I'm on my 3rd battery on my 2003 Jinma 284. I got 5 years out of the oem, 5 years out of the replacement, and hope to get 5 out of the one in it now.

Chris