My tractor spends more time cranking than running and the battery doesn't seem to get charged while running. The battery charger charges it and I will often leave the charger hooked up while starting the tractor. When I do have it running for close to an hour of use the battery doesn't seem to charge enough to crank crank crank to start again. (I'm working to reduce the crank crank crank...)
So I put the charger on and I am reading 6.45 volts. I bought hydrometer without any thermometer reading. Never used on before. All three cells had quite a bit of fluid and the liquid was clear. I tested each cell at about 75 degrees tonight. It was hard to read exactly, but the fluid line was right in the middle of 'fair' which looks like close to 1230. Give or take a line which looks like they are in units of 5. So I guess each cell was somewhere between 1225-1235. All the cells were very close to the same reading.
Does 6.45 volts with this specific gravity indicate a healthy battery or one with issues? Also, would this impact how the tractor runs? If the battery is fine then I will probably need to start looking into the charging system or does it just take a long time for the battery to charge during use?
thanks.
Rob
So I put the charger on and I am reading 6.45 volts. I bought hydrometer without any thermometer reading. Never used on before. All three cells had quite a bit of fluid and the liquid was clear. I tested each cell at about 75 degrees tonight. It was hard to read exactly, but the fluid line was right in the middle of 'fair' which looks like close to 1230. Give or take a line which looks like they are in units of 5. So I guess each cell was somewhere between 1225-1235. All the cells were very close to the same reading.
Does 6.45 volts with this specific gravity indicate a healthy battery or one with issues? Also, would this impact how the tractor runs? If the battery is fine then I will probably need to start looking into the charging system or does it just take a long time for the battery to charge during use?
thanks.
Rob