Best Tractor Battery / charging system issues ?

[Coyote machine]

Several batteries over a number of years can't all have problems; therefore your charging system is most suspect, including grounding issues mentioned earlier. A battery tender can cause issues, though rare, it can happen. Best to not leave a battery tender plugged in all the time, especially if charging problems are present. This is stated in most directions for the chargers.

Regardless of the above, there are only so many things that can cause the amount of overcharging present at your battery. Bad grounding, defective alternator, and or internal or external voltage regulator, or cables to from battery, alternator, ignition or fuse box.
You need someone to do a diagnostic troubleshooting process on the charging system to find out the cause/effect. Then, and only then should you decide what battery type to use going forward.:thumbsup:

 

[John_Mc]

Several batteries over a number of years can't all have problems; therefore your charging system is most suspect, including grounding issues mentioned earlier. ... there are only so many things that can cause the amount of overcharging present at your battery. Bad grounding, defective alternator, and or internal or external voltage regulator, or cables to from battery, alternator, ignition or fuse box.
You need someone to do a diagnostic troubleshooting process on the charging system to find out the cause/effect. Then, and only then should you decide what battery type to use going forward.

Agreed

A battery tender can cause issues, though rare, it can happen. Best to not leave a battery tender plugged in all the time, especially if charging problems are present. This is stated in most directions for the chargers.

That's true for some trickle chargers which keep pushing a trickle of current, and try to charge after the battery is full. This can overcharge and boil off electrolyte. The BatteryMinder models are designed to monitor the condition of the battery, and only charge as needed. Their directions state that it is OK to leave connected long-term. Between the constant monitoring of battery condition, the temperature compensation of the charging profile, and the fact that it will shut down if the battery parameters are out of an acceptable range, it should not be an issue with these chargers.

 

[Oldpath05]

Battery problems, good subject, everything everyone needs a battery, but which one, don't want to go down under to buy a $400.00 battery, rather stay over under and below $200.00 for Jeep Liberty, if that's possible.

I thought the motor was the only thing I like about my L3400, after reading the OP story, I'll add my charging system and Original battery to the list. Tractor was bought new in (07), now has 850 hrs.=about 47,000 mi. I looked at my battery post this morning out of curiosity, didn't see any corrosion, it's all covered with dirt and dust, cant even see the name or brand, assuming it's a Kubota battery, I never cleaned it, battery still cranks the motor over like day one, so what's all this battery maintenance about, like adding felt washers, paint, grease, mumbo jumbo gumbo for battery terminals.

 

[DK35vince]

I thought the motor was the only thing I like about my L3400, after reading the OP story, I'll add my charging system and Original battery to the list. Tractor was bought new in (07), now has 850 hrs.=about 47,000 mi. I looked at my battery post this morning out of curiosity, didn't see any corrosion, it's all covered with dirt and dust, cant even see the name or brand, assuming it's a Kubota battery, I never cleaned it, battery still cranks the motor over like day one, so what's all this battery maintenance about, like adding felt washers, paint, grease, mumbo jumbo gumbo for battery terminals.

I do grease or add some type of protective spray on my terminals.
But I've never had any issues with my tractor batteries.
My original battery lasted 11 years and never had a maintainer on it.

 

[Coyote machine]

Battery problems, good subject, everything everyone needs a battery, but which one, don't want to go down under to buy a $400.00 battery, rather stay over under and below $200.00 for Jeep Liberty, if that's possible.

I thought the motor was the only thing I like about my L3400, after reading the OP story, I'll add my charging system and Original battery to the list. Tractor was bought new in (07), now has 850 hrs.=about 47,000 mi. I looked at my battery post this morning out of curiosity, didn't see any corrosion, it's all covered with dirt and dust, cant even see the name or brand, assuming it's a Kubota battery, I never cleaned it, battery still cranks the motor over like day one, so what's all this battery maintenance about, like adding felt washers, paint, grease, mumbo jumbo gumbo for battery terminals.

Consider yourself lucky. Sometimes use of the machine on a regular basis determines the life of the battery.

 

[DK35vince]

I've still never been convinced battery maintainers help battery life.
My last pickup truck battery lasted 10 years, current battery is over 10 years old and still going strong.
My tractors original battery lasted 11 years.
My 2007 dual sport motorcycle and 2009 street bike are still running the original battery's. They sit all winter.
None have ever had a battery maintainer on them.

 

[dickfoster]

I've still never been convinced battery maintainers help battery life.
My last pickup truck battery lasted 10 years, current battery is over 10 years old and still going strong.
My tractors original battery lasted 11 years.
My 2007 dual sport motorcycle and 2009 street bike are still running the original battery's. They sit all winter.
None have ever had a battery maintainer on them.

It depends on how the battery is used and what type of battery it is. If it's used infrequently so the charge level drops and it isn't recharged completely, that leads to sulphation which is the leading cause of early battery demise. However if it's used frequently and you drive enough to recharge then you don't really need a maintenance charger. AGMs will hold a charge in storage, not being used longer than regular wet cell types which will self discharge much faster.

I used to let my 4X4 sit out in the driveway for weeks at a time without being driven or I'd drive it maybe a few blocks to pick something up at a local store. Not long enough to recharge. After a while both batteries went bad due to sulfation from the abuse and wouldn't hold a charge for squat. They were expensive AGM types so I made it a point to find out all about batteries, what makes them fail, how to sometimes recover them and what to do to keep them from failing or going south early.

Although I replaced them, I did manage to recover both bad batteries and still have them. They are at full charge today and I normally have them on small little homemade float chargers so when I need them for something they are ready to go.

You choose, if you let it sit then I think the 20-30 bucks it'll cost you for a maintenance charger pays for itself several times over by saving only one battery. A regular wet cell Interstate car battery costs something like a hundred bucks and AGM types cost much more.

If you're gonna let them sit, then at least disconnect them, especially if the vehicle is a modern EFI type which draws a small amount of current all the time. If it gets really cold then it's best to bring them inside too.

 

[DK35vince]

It depends on how the battery is used and what type of battery it is. If it's used infrequently so the charge level drops and it isn't recharged completely, that leads to sulphation which is the leading cause of early battery demise. However if it's used frequently and you drive enough to recharge then you don't really need a maintenance charger. AGMs will hold a charge in storage, not being used longer than regular wet cell types which will self discharge much faster.

I used to let my 4X4 sit out in the driveway for weeks at a time without being driven or I'd drive it maybe a few blocks to pick something up at a local store. Not long enough to recharge. After a while both batteries went bad due to sulfation from the abuse and wouldn't hold a charge for squat. They were expensive AGM types so I made it a point to find out all about batteries, what makes them fail, how to sometimes recover them and what to do to keep them from failing or going south early.

Although I replaced them, I did manage to recover both bad batteries and still have them. They are at full charge today and I normally have them on small little homemade float chargers so when I need them for something they are ready to go.


You choose, if you let it sit then I think the 20-30 bucks it'll cost you for a maintenance charger pays for itself several times over by saving only one battery. A regular wet cell Interstate car battery costs something like a hundred bucks and AGM types cost much more.

If you're gonna let them sit, then at least disconnect them, especially if the vehicle is a modern EFI type which draws a small amount of current all the time. If it gets really cold then it's best to bring them inside too.

Just seems I read a lot on different sites how maintainers extend battery life, yet I very rarely ever read where they are getting any better or even as good life from their batteries than I do, and I never use one.
If I saw many getting consistanly longer life from batteries that are using the maintainers being reported than I'm getting now I'll start believing it. But so far I haven't

 

[Oldpath05]

My 5000 watt generator gets started two or three time's a year, is that considered regular-ish? Been about 15 years, 8hrs. per year=6,800 miles on this battery, no maintainer added and or needed, although one came with it. My thinking is, good battery+good charging system=long lasting battery.

 

[Ford850]

Just seems I read a lot on different sites how maintainers extend battery life, yet I very rarely ever read where they are getting any better or even as good life from their batteries than I do, and I never use one.
If I saw many getting consistanly longer life from batteries that are using the maintainers being reported than I'm getting now I'll start believing it. But so far I haven't

I think that was his point. You'll see all sorts of battery stories (good and bad), but what really determines the life of a battery is how it's used and stored. I fall somewhere in the middle of all of the stories. I had issues with some equipment batteries for years (dead annually, corrosion, etc), but other equipment had good batteries for 7, 10, or more years. I went through the steps to clean all connections and grounds, which corrected some, but still had most of the same issues. So I read up on batteries and charging some more, and realized the common denominator of my problem equipment. It was occasionally moved out of the way or rearranged in my barn, briefly started and ran for less than a minute, and then parked again for weeks. I bought the BatteryMinder and now anything that gets a short run cycle gets plugged in immediately to top it off. And everything gets a top off from that Minder probably every couple weeks or so. I have one Minder with an extension cord on it, and easy plugin pigtails permanently connected to all batteries. It's been 2 years now using this system or process and I've had to replace one battery that was 7 years old. It was on one of my Grasshoppers and probably the hardest used of anything I own. I don't think everyone needs to use one, but I'm a believer that the minders or tenders will improve battery life for some people (like me).