my 430 is killing batteries

this has got me perplexed ,, 4th one this yr. The 430 diesel killed the 1st one this spring ,i would swap a battery into it that has some age from something else ,, today it kilt the 4th one ,and I am wondering if the starter solenoid is causing it? ,,1st time it happened the battery was being overcharged by the delco remy alternater ,,overcharged so much it was about to explode , , got hot too ,,and would crank the tractor all the way home you would think ,, BUT was stone dead the next day. and it would not take a charge .. put battery 2 on the 430 and it was trouble free for ABOUT 30 DAYS ,then that battery was junk like the 1st ,,,my charger worx well on other batteries ok , guys ,,.battery 3 would not hold up over a week without needing charged . now I am thinkin the alternater has failed ,,didn't have time to run the alternater to shop . .so I swapped it to a better battery, ,,.and got along for a couple weeks .today the battery needed charged again , after 3 hours on the charger set on low ,. it began raining and hard , went out there after the rain, heard the starter solenoid cliking , never heard that before ,, and it was warm ,,the cables were warm , and so was the battery ,, btw ,, I most always charge my batteries from the starter solenoid ,,its easier than opening the battery hatch ...surely that is not the cause ??? maybe the alternater is now bad ,, and maybe the starter solenoid occasionally shorts out and grounds the battery out ,, I dunno ..gonna take both starter and solenoid , and alternater to the electric man and have him chek them out ...

I would think the alternator would be the place to start. If something is draining the battery I would disconnect it and go looking with an ohm meter.

If your alternator is overcharging the electrolyte will be boiled out of the battery and eventually overheat and short the plates. Alternator output should be 14 - 14.5 volts. 16 - 17 volts will boil a battery over a short period.

If you think something is draining the battery, connect a light in series with the neg post and ground. If there is current flow the light will light up. Disconnect suspected terminals first and leave each point disconnected as you proceed until the light goes out completely. Then touch the individual terminals to check for a light as there may very well be more than one short.

Joe

We had a similar problem with the 6V battery in a Huber Maintainer at work. It would eat batteries and it turned out that the problem was the (new) starter button. That machine does not have a muffler and the switch would stick after it would start. The starter would continue to spin while the engine was running, draining the battery, and we could not hear it. By the time we were done using it, the battery would be low and there wouldn't be enough power to turn the engine, but the starter and bendix would sometimes still be engaged. It did not happen every time, but it killed several batteries before we found the problem.

sorry double post

If it has the manifold heater, did you try unhooking that? We had a 430 diesel and if I got off the tractor in a hurry I would sometimes hit the key with my foot and in about 5 minutes had a dead battery. Suppose they could go bad, more likely the ignition switch, and raise heck with a battery.

Tim