JD 650 Polarity Followup

[Soundguy]

Murph - by that do you mean I should reverse the current battery's connections and recharge it that way? We tried connecting the charger to the correct + and - terminals. That just produced a lot of sparks.

if you hooked you charger and the bat to ++ and -- and it sparked badly.. that should tell you something...

 

[Soundguy]

HI - So does that mean I could get it back to the correct negative ground by putting in a new battery charged to negative ground? why has it been operating fine for eight months without damaging the regulator, alternator, etc?

so far.. what you are telling us really has me thinking the batytery is charged backwards, and hooked up backwards.

which means it STILL is negative ground. reguardless of what the lil molded plastic polarity sign on the bat case says.

you of course need to verify this with a meter!

as to why it has not damaged a regulator.. is.. because it is CORRECT. ie. backwards battery and backwards hookup = correct polarity.

 

[murphy1244]

SG, Glad you kept this straight as he lost me. I bet he shows a - something volts on the meter.

 

[MikePA]

Dear Mike PA - It sure is a forum issue. I was the originator of the thread and I didn't receive any notification of posts after post #3. There were several more after that giving suggestions about my problem -- none of which I was notified about. I only became aware of them when Coyote Machine sent me a private message this morning wondering where I'd disappeared to. Also, someone closed the thread and it wasn't me.

1. Only moderators and admins can close threads.
2. One of the suggestions on the day you started the first thread on 12/21, and now in this thread, has been consistent, put a meter on the battery and post the results. Why haven't you done this?

 

[haveissues]

Is the tractor currently running/starting? If so a couple of seconds with a meter will give you your answer. The battery polarity being reversed seems to be the most likely answer.

 

[Tx Jim]

Safer(no spark) way to check for correct polarity of a battery would be a volt/ohm meter. If battery is in fact charged in reverse just drain it completely down with a 12 v headlamp and then charge it correctly.

 

[Zebrafive]

FYI: It IS possible to hook a battery charger backwards to a completely dead battery and reverse the polarity of the battery.
NOT very common but it has been done by mistake.

I see a lot of goofy stuff in the automotive trade.

Fred

Battery Myth | Can a Battery

AGREE!

Fred - I didn't hook up a charger to a dead battery. If you're suggesting someone else did that before I owned the machine, I guess that's possible, but the positive terminal of the battery is connected to the ground. So I guess that contradicts your theory. Doesn't it?

Battery may have been installed backwards, found to be dead then "reverse" charged. So his theory still holds.

HI - So does that mean I could get it back to the correct negative ground by putting in a new battery charged to negative ground? why has it been operating fine for eight months without damaging the regulator, alternator, etc?

Yes, and no damage if current battery was "reverse" charged, as in installed wrong, then charged reverse from a dead condition.

uh.. no.. it does NOT contradict the theory.

if the battery were charged backwards so that the post MARKED + was really (-) etc. then when you hooked it up to the tractor it would appear to have a + ground.. .. thus the comments to put a vom onthe battery and see what polarity it really is.

AGREED!

so far.. what you are telling us really has me thinking the batytery is charged backwards, and hooked up backwards.

which means it STILL is negative ground. reguardless of what the lil molded plastic polarity sign on the bat case says.

you of course need to verify this with a meter!

as to why it has not damaged a regulator.. is.. because it is CORRECT. ie. backwards battery and backwards hookup = correct polarity.

AGREED!

1. Only moderators and admins can close threads.
2. One of the suggestions on the day you started the first thread on 12/21, and now in this thread, has been consistent, put a meter on the battery and post the results. Why haven't you done this?

I'll bet the thread was closed when the headbutting started concerning charging instructions

Is the tractor currently running/starting? If so a couple of seconds with a meter will give you your answer. The battery polarity being reversed seems to be the most likely answer.

AGREED!

 

[MikePA]

I'll bet the thread was closed when the headbutting started concerning charging instructions

Hopefully, this time, the OP will actually try the advice in this thread and report back before this thread gets hijacked due to a common discussion forum malady. People who confuse their Point Of View (POV) with being right.

 

[Soundguy]

i'm shocked ( pun intended ) it has taken 2 threads worth of sugestions to put a meter on the battery...

 

[gurumanjohn]

OK GUYS Final Answer. I couldn't put a voltmeter on the battery until now because it was 10 below zero and snowing. I finally have and several of you have been right all along. The tractor and battery are still negative ground and ok. What apparently happened is that my lawn guy used the tractor while I was gone; it went completely dead, so he took the battery out to charge it and apparently put it back in backwards. Then when I came home and found the tractor wouldn't start I put a charger on it the way the posts were marked and got big sparks but no charge. That led to this wild two thread ride. Now the battery is back in the right way round and showing 12.4 volts on the voltmeter. Happy ending and lots of fun for everyone trying to help. Thanks to you all.