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kornfused 09-16-2012 14:56:59 70.240.148.194 Report to Moderator	I have gone through two new Alt's in 5 mos. And since I out the seond one in back in May and the drought and all, I have not used the tractor much at all. Did some brushhoggin today for about an hour. Had to stop to run daughter to work. Get back and battery is dead. Took battery and alt to O'reilys and battery is good, alt fails test. Folks at O'reilly's admit that cheap alt fails a lot and gave me one with a lifetime warranty (everything about the alt looks the same including box and part number). My question is, Could I have a problem with my Tractor burning up the alternators? 2N with 12 Volt conversion. Ammeter does not work (suspect the conversion). Conversion was done before I got it. [Reply]   [No Email]
Hobo,NC 09-17-2012 05:26:55 75.117.116.145 Report to Moderator	Re: Alternator ? in reply to Britcheflee, 09-16-2012 14:56:59   13.2 would throw up a flag to me (alt, belt, battery)... Anything less than 13.8 I go look'n hard for the reason.... These guys have no way to load the system are check amp out put other than a 30 amp P.O.S. dash mounted amp gauge.... With out the equipment its hard to give a suitable answer... Me if all I had was a P.O.S. dash mounted gauge and a volt meter I would crank it for 15 sec. start it up run at full throttle and expect to see the amp gauged pegged for a min. then after it settled down be concerned if it was less than 13.8..... Bout the only thing I see that runs in the 13.2/13.5 range is a foreign car once in a blue moon.... A notable member sent me a email he had installed a new battery (bat)... He had normal voltage till he hooked the bat up the voltage fell to 10V's... Its hard to get all the info thru email so it took a few to ciffer out what he was experiencing.... My reply... 30 years of sell'in interstates I have had 2 bad off the shelf,,, yes its possible.... I don't own a hydrometer but have some test equipment that will bring a battery to it knees rite fast if its bad.... All I need is a Voltmeter, load tester (500 amp) and a amp clamp to check alt output and starter draw... Once in a blue moon you will run across a bat that's a dynamo it will not die BUT will drive a charging system crazy.... The tip off is the charging system amps is maxed out all the time... If you drove up I would check the charging voltage if it looked good shut the engine off and load test the bat if it checked bad quick charge it with a 400 amp charger,,, I can normally look at the charge amps and see were we are headed good are bad bat,,, if I get a odor from the bat games over you need a bat... once I charged it nail the bat at 150/200 amps for 15 sec. if it does not fall below 9V I move on to the charging system and connections... I want to see high 9's if a low 9 I am looking at a border line bat.... Next move on to the charging system if the bat is a pass... I want to see what it charges at no loads if I see normal like 30 amps at all speeds then load it with my load tester to see if the alt can output max amps with in 10% of max rating... if its a 65 amp alt I want to load it till I see 60/65 amps... If all looks good then I question the customer as to how much they have to crank on it to get it started... Fuel injection can loose its prime and take a lone time to start it may be a bad pump are check valve and they are crak'n it till the bat gives up... Mopars are bad for this wink wink Even then loose belts and such can throw you a curve... I left out the voltage can fall below a threshold and the computer shuts down.... He felt their was a draw pulling it down to 10V... my reply “It would take around 200 amps to pull the bat to 10V you would get one hell of a spark installing the cables...” The fix "As you said, if it was drawing 2 volts, it would spark like hell. It was only producing 10 volts. Except when the dead cell would come briefly alive. Hydrometer said it was dead. Took it in; they checked it & gave me a new one. Most all of these questions here end up being a circus That's why I normally stay out of electrical problems here... Its run here run their have the parts store check it as if they really know what they are doing... The tractor is the best test bench check it their.... If you have anything to add/change gofer it I always enjoy what you have to say for are again.... [Reply]  [No Email]
soundguy 09-17-2012 05:04:56 173.105.207.29 Report to Moderator	Re: Alternator ? in reply to kornfused, 09-16-2012 14:56:59   2 alts in 5months? that's either real bad luck.. or real bad wireing.. ez to check wireing.. ez to replace wireing... [Reply]  [No Email]
Hobo,NC 09-16-2012 17:56:06 71.30.80.190 Report to Moderator	Re: Alternator ? in reply to soundguy, 09-16-2012 14:56:59   Quoting Removed, click Modern View to see Same pulley don't mean chit to me.... it can ware are be wrong along with the belt... BTDT got the T-shirt... Simple test :wink: push the fan on the alt with your hand all you got big boy if you can spin it make it slip the belt are pulley are wrong are worn out.... The crank pulley can also be worn out how EZ is it to spin the fan with out turn'n the engine over... [Reply]  [No Email]
old 09-16-2012 15:47:32 209.86.226.32 Report to Moderator	Re: Alternator ? in reply to kornfused, 09-16-2012 14:56:59   Now days not uncommon to get a bad alternator right out of the box. When I buy an alternator for a tractor I always get the life time warranty ones and that way I know I will never buy another one for that tractor. About the only way you could have something burning them up is if you have a dead short some place and then your battery would also drain fast or you hook up the battery back ward at some point and that will fry an alternator the moment you touch the battery cables to the battery [Reply]  [No Email]
Royse 09-16-2012 15:43:28 69.36.49.151 Report to Moderator	Re: Alternator ? in reply to mgriff543, 09-16-2012 14:56:59   Its very possible to get bad parts these days. I agree with Hobo about putting a meter on it. To me, either an ammeter or a voltmeter would be better than no meter. Voltmeter is gedunk to wire, just connect it between ground and +. [Reply]  [No Email]
Hobo,NC 09-16-2012 15:23:31 71.30.80.190 Report to Moderator	Re: Alternator ? in reply to lha, 09-16-2012 14:56:59   Quoting Removed, click Modern View to see You need to learn how to diagnosis the alt yourself Its EZ... I would put a voltmeter on it its EZ Do you have the correct pulley on the alt... As far as a amp meter after you install a voltmeter you can use the amp meter to help diagnosis the charging system by taking it from your tool box and wire in in series tween the alt and battery wire going to the alt at the alt.... Its not of much use for anything else..... Leave it in your tool box till needed.... I don't trust a auto parts store to properly diagnosis a bat are a alt.... 2 bad alts,,, its possible rebuilt starters and alts are junk these days... [Reply]  [No Email]
Kornfused 09-16-2012 17:38:42 70.240.148.194 Report to Moderator	Re: Alternator ? in reply to Hobo,NC, 09-16-2012 15:23:31   Same pulley as has been on it since I got the tractor in 2003. Twas the same alt until April of this year when battery going dead issues started. Have checked it out with volt/ohm meter - no drain. [Reply]  [No Email]
ASEguy 09-17-2012 04:27:05 68.186.162.134 Report to Moderator	Re: Alternator ? in reply to Kornfused, 09-16-2012 17:38:42   Probably a bad alt. If you don't have a drain, put the voltmeter leads on the battery and start up the tractor. On a 12 volt system you need to see between 13.2 and 14.8 volts to properly charge. If you do raise the RPM's up to 1500 or 2000 and look at voltage. If you suspect too much voltage, that should tell you. Usually too much voltage over time makes a battery start to smell like rotten eggs. Hope this helps. Gerard [Reply]  [No Email]