Battery keeps dying.

Dusty8ball

New User
Hi guys and dolls,

I just replaced my 6v battery with a new one, and keeped the battery terminals connected for an hour with out running and ignition was in the off position and it was out of gear as well and just like that my battery was dead again. Is there something I can do when I park it to stop the battery from dying without disconnecting the terminals?
 
Dusty.........what year and model of tractor you are asking about? I flunked mind reading, just ask my ex-wife of 32-yrs. ........respectfully, Dell
 
Dusty........8N's have a starter mounted solenoid (2-screws) and it can be incorrectly mounted such that the battery can be drained just as you complain. Make certain that the little middle screw is facing the engine and is hard to gitt-too. Many shadetree mechanics mount it so the little middle screw is eazy to diddle with. This causes the solenoid to DISCHARGE the battery thru the starter motor. .......HTH, electrical Dell
 
My 12 volt was discharging--determined it was through the alternator-had already done the
diode thing and it did nothing-alternator was working fine otherwise so I installed a no
tools needed disconnect on one battery cable. When I park it I disconnect it for the night
or week or months--problem solved..
 
I put a master cutoff switch on my 52 8N in the ground cable. Mine is right there on the dash just below the ammeter. All old tractors with batteries should have one to save batteries and prevent wire fires in my opinion.
Richard in NW SC
 
Richard - can you give us any details on this switch? Presumably fairly beefy as it'll carry heavy amps during startup? Do you still use the braided ground strap or is that replaced?

Currently (no pun intended) I use a quick release connector on the battery ground side and disconnect ground strap after each use - but it would be easier/nicer to have a switch on the dash.

Thanks
Angus
 

A brand new battery drains in 1 hour???
No small current drain will drain that battery in 1 hour.

Any large current drains draining that battery in 1 hour will be noticed pretty quickly. I.e a very hot stuck starter, arcing to ground somewhere or smoked wires-which would stop the current drain pretty quick.
 
As Dell has said or you may have a bad new battery. Seen it too many times you buy a new battery and it will not hold a charge or some will not even charge up and yes new. A number of years ago I bought a Farmall B with out a battery. Went to toen and got a new battery set it in and it would not even spin the engine over one time. I had to get it started to drive it home so jump started it and made the wife follow me home in the truck which she has a very hard time driving
 
(quoted from post at 04:51:00 04/01/15) Dusty........8N's have a starter mounted solenoid (2-screws) and it can be incorrectly mounted such that the battery can be drained just as you complain. Make certain that the little middle screw is facing the engine and is hard to gitt-too. Many shadetree mechanics mount it so the little middle screw is eazy to diddle with. This causes the solenoid to DISCHARGE the battery thru the starter motor. .......HTH, electrical Dell

Dell, Old,
With the solenoid installed in flip mode, would it be shorting to ground and therefore heating up?
Guess I cant get my head wrapped around it since I am no where near a machine. I know I am missing something.
 
Wolfie.......in the "flipped" mode, the solenoid contacts provide battery volts to the starter motor which slowly drains the battery thru the hi-resistance field. In the correct mode, the solenoid only gitts battery volts thru the BIG starter push-button by the tranny shifter. ........HTH. electrical Dell
 
correct wireing prevents wire fires.

cuto off switches are bandaids for use if you won't or can't troubleshoot a couple feet of wire..
 
My wiring is fine. I am one of those folks that likes to be super safe.
I know of barns burned because of animals chewing on wires and snow collapsing barns on tractors.
Richard
 
I use this simple battery disconnect available at Harbor Freight. I really don't have a problem with my battery but I like being able to disconnect it when it's going to sit for anywhere from 2 to 6 months.

image_12541.jpg
 
With everything off and you disconnect either main battery terminal and see a spark, you have a draw/drain---somewhere.
With it draining in an hour, it would probably be a hefty spark.
Isolate wiring one thing at a time until the sparks goes away and go from there.
Good luck!!
 
(quoted from post at 06:52:58 04/02/15) With everything off and you disconnect either main battery terminal and see a spark, you have a draw/drain---somewhere.
With it draining in an hour, it would probably be a hefty spark.
Isolate wiring one thing at a time until the sparks goes away and go from there.
Good luck!!

Ever heard of a battery blowing up from one of those sparks? It happened to my nephew. I was in his back yard at the time and I heard it. It sounded like a gun shot and blew a baseball size chunk out of the battery. Be careful when messing around with batteries.

Even when hooking up battery cables on a new battery, I always turn my face away from the posts when putting the cables on. I can't forget that hole blown out of that battery.
 
(quoted from post at 17:56:37 04/01/15) Thank you. Its the resistance field I wasn't taking into acct. I was expecting sparkies!
ey, Wolf, don't believe everything you read..........that just plain makes no sense at all!
 
I had one blow up next to me and I had just taken it off trickle charge. That is an ugly situation to have. Nothing was connected to the battery at the time and the battery was relatively new. I took the pieces back to Advance auto and got a free replacement.

I was so dumbfounded by the blow up, I researched it to find out how it happened. This battery had been on trickle charge for about a week. I found out when it's being charged, it creates "hydrogen gas", yep, the US built bombs with that stuff. Apparently just sitting on the table, the battery had an internal spark for some reason, ignited the hydrogen gas and it blew up! It blew the entire top off the battery and sprayed my left side with acid. Obviously I was stunned, stumbled out of the garage, got my wits about me and went back in to see what happened. The acid started burning, so I had to hop in the shower and rinse quickly. I forgot to wash my jeans right away, so now, I have a very interesting pattern of acid holes only on the left areas of the jeans! LOL.
 
(quoted from post at 09:39:43 04/02/15) I had one blow up next to me and I had just taken it off trickle charge. That is an ugly situation to have. Nothing was connected to the battery at the time and the battery was relatively new. I took the pieces back to Advance auto and got a free replacement.

I was so dumbfounded by the blow up, I researched it to find out how it happened. This battery had been on trickle charge for about a week. I found out when it's being charged, it creates "hydrogen gas", yep, the US built bombs with that stuff. Apparently just sitting on the table, the battery had an internal spark for some reason, ignited the hydrogen gas and it blew up! It blew the entire top off the battery and sprayed my left side with acid. Obviously I was stunned, stumbled out of the garage, got my wits about me and went back in to see what happened. The acid started burning, so I had to hop in the shower and rinse quickly. I forgot to wash my jeans right away, so now, I have a very interesting pattern of acid holes only on the left areas of the jeans! LOL.

Kind of makes you very leery of messing with batteries doesn't it? :shock: I think what my nephew was doing at the time was trying to jump start it, or hooking up a charger, one or the other.
 

Not following.
No resistance is similar to a dead short. High resistance is limiting current flow similar to a slow leak.
 
(quoted from post at 12:39:43 04/02/15) I had one blow up next to me and I had just taken it off trickle charge. That is an ugly situation to have. Nothing was connected to the battery at the time and the battery was relatively new. I took the pieces back to Advance auto and got a free replacement.

I was so dumbfounded by the blow up, I researched it to find out how it happened. This battery had been on trickle charge for about a week. I found out when it's being charged, it creates "hydrogen gas", yep, the US built bombs with that stuff. Apparently just sitting on the table, the battery had an internal spark for some reason, ignited the hydrogen gas and it blew up! It blew the entire top off the battery and sprayed my left side with acid. Obviously I was stunned, stumbled out of the garage, got my wits about me and went back in to see what happened. The acid started burning, so I had to hop in the shower and rinse quickly. I forgot to wash my jeans right away, so now, I have a very interesting pattern of acid holes only on the left areas of the jeans! LOL.

This is why you never charge a battery in a confined space. Hydrogen gas is lethal and volatile as well as fun if used correctly.

For you folks that do home electrolysis parts cleaning which I think works great. Dont do this in a confined space. After it has run for a while and you disconnect the battery or power source, a spark can occur.
Wanna guess what happens next??? :?:
 
Hi Guy,

I put the voltmeter over the electrical system and found that with the ignition in the on and off position I had a draw on the relay and the generator. It wont start in the off position but the engine will crank. do I need to replace the relay?
 
(quoted from post at 22:10:53 04/03/15) Hi Guy,

I put the voltmeter over the electrical system and found that with the ignition in the on and off position I had a draw on the relay and the generator. It wont start in the off position but the engine will crank. do I need to replace the relay?
hat "relay"? You probably mean voltage regulator. Sounds like voltage regulator's cut out contacts are stuck closed & should be open.
 

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