Returning batteries for warranty claim

[Maineuropa]

I would definitely check your battery ground. You don’t say where you are jumping your battery( connections). My Deere 955 group is consistently having problems there with 30 plus year old tractors. Does the starter crank well with a jump?

 

[DarkBlack]

My 2008 tractor still runs on the original battery ( 16 years).
Never once been on a charger

 

[jjeff]

Shouldn't napa test the battery with a conductance tester? 15 yrs ago bought a small hand held midtronics brand conductance tester, prices have went down since then and there's more brands on the market. Anyways it lets you know if the plates/cells are ok and gives you CCA among other things. I test new batteries before I install them. Most of my battery issues have dissipated since I started using battery trickle chargers/maintainers especially for longer term storage.

 

[Handloader109]

You have a bad battery. If they don't want to replace, yep, take it home and kill it. Oops, key left on overnight. Or lights on for a few hours. If you are putting out 13v or more, your charging system is at least good. If battery voltage is 12v at rest, the battery is bad or is going bad. I bought autozone 84 month, beet for my f150. First one made it 26 months, second one 13 months and we'll see about the one I got in February. I think I've got till roughly end of the year for free replacement... garbage. Daughter had one last a month over the warranty. Oh well

 

[Hay Dude]

@jjeff,
I’ve said probably 4-5 times in the thread they were slow charged and tested and I was given printouts on the health of the batteries.
I’m leaving the thread for a bit, before I start tearing out what little hair I have left
LOL

 

[Hodado]

I had a Walmart battery last an unbelievable 18 years in my Ford 8N, when it finally failed I replaced it with another Walmart battery and so far it’s also working fine.

I had a battery in my John Deere that lasted for nine years so when it died I payed up for another the replacement John Deere battery only lasted one season doa
I’ve been buying the cheapest battery from the farm store and normally get three or four years

 

[boatmoter]

900CCA NAPA “Legend” Batteries dated 11/23 are at 12V and 700 CCA.

In 50* temps, they don’t have enough a$$ left to turn tractor over, so I took them back to NAPA.
NAPA dealer says “leave them overnight and we will test CCA tomorrow after long charge”.

They hook a NAPA tester up to it now and it says 12V 702CCA on one and 12V and 698CCA on the other.

I’m sure an overnight charge will bring them back to life, but will it last?

I’ve had to jump them a couple times and after tractor is running, makes about 13+ on the voltmeter and theres no electrical system light on.

I do an overkill and use 1000 CCA battery in my tractor. plenty of juice

 

[Hay Dude]

I do an overkill and use 1000 CCA battery in my tractor. plenty of juice

Yeah I'm surprised mine doesn't have 3 batteries. It's an 8.4L diesel. When it's cold, it's a tough crank

 

[Walter Clark]

A fully charged flooded cell lead acid battery should read 12.7 (12.64) and a 100% discharged should read 12.07. In both cases this is with no load. The voltage of a fully charged battery should only be read a few hours after the charge is complete, or has been "rested". Same for a load test. Doing either right after a charge will give false higher readings.

These batteries will charge with anything over 2.15V per cell (12.9V for a 6 cell 12V battery) applied however the time needed to reach full charge at 12.9V is enormous. Typical charge voltages from most constant voltage alternators is more like 2.3-2.35V per cell (13.8-14.1V for a 12V battery) as this will get a battery somewhat discharged from starting back to a reasonable state in a couple hours without risking boiling the electrolyte from overcharging. That said, I have encountered a few charging systems where it appears that battery life wasnt really considered and the output voltage was low (as in 13V) but adequate for the implement to operate. My Kubota is like this. Smart battery chargers will usually monitor charge voltage and/or current and apply more than the 14.1 early in the cycle and ramp that down over time as the battery charge state increases so as to shorten charge time but avoid the boiling problem encountered with electrolyte heating from excess current.

What does this have to do with your problem.

Your 13V output alternator most likely isnt really charging the battery to anywhere near 100% in the time you have the tractor running. It might not even be putting back as much as you used to start it up. This means that over time and multiple startup-operate-shutdown cycles your battery average charge state keeps getting lower and lower. Eventually this may lead to a battery that is at the 0% charge level (12.05V) and it wont start the tractor. Over time lead acid batteries (flooded or AGM) left at anything below 100% charge will sulfate which reduced their ability to function, and the battery usually needs to be replaced. So, in your case, assuming you cannot raise the alternators operating voltage to the 13.8-14.1 voltage, You need to plan to put it on a smart charger between uses. Even with 13.8-14.1 alternator output, if the tractor sits for long periods, a maintenance charger is going to be a good idea.

My Kubota battery lives on a charger between uses and over the last 30 years I have only had to replace the battery twice.

 

[sixdogs]

Don’t know but I have heard battery lead now is mostly reprocessed and inferior to virgin?

I wonder about that. It seems all of a sudden batteries went to cr@p