BX23 parasitic battery drain

[Tollster]

I wash my tractor this thursday, cleaning under hood and battery compartment as well. I used the gardenhose. This morning when I went out to do some chores before changing the oil, the battery was dead.
I used a start now jumper box, and ran it most of the day, then I put it away and put a trickle charger on it. Its still charging after 6 hours.
I cycled the switches and have it in a heated garage. What could I have gotten wet?
Thanks
Tollie Perry

 

[ccsial]

I can't imagine. I've been washing my tractors for 30 years. I spray down the engines with Gunk, then flush a lot of water. I then run them until they are warm to dry everyting out. Never had a problem.

Maybe some elctronic circuit got wet and left a relay on or something. Maybe the battery was almost bad anyway.

 

[SnowRidge]

Take the battery out of the tractor, and then trickle charge it overnight. Assuming you don't have a load tester, put it back in the tractor and see if it will start. If not, you have a bad battery, and it was a coincidence.

 

[bigdad]

How old is you battery? My experience with batteries is that they usually fail when it gets cool. As I'm sure you can attest, it's gotten a little cooler lately here in the "Land of Lincoln".

 

[rdsaustintx]

test your alternator (at the battery terminals)

 

[Volfandt]

I wash my tractor this thursday, cleaning under hood and battery compartment as well. I used the gardenhose. This morning when I went out to do some chores before changing the oil, the battery was dead.

Had a similar situation after I did the 1st thorough washing of my then new BX23.
Seems the switches aren't water tight and once water collects in them, this is especially true for the flashers, the lights will turn on and off randomly until the battery drains or you happen to catch it like I did and dry out the switches.

It was funny at 1st, I'd be in the shop doing somthing or other and catch a flash or two out of the corner of my eye. I'd turn to look and wouldn't see anything. It played with me for awhile longer until I eventually caught it. The flashers would turn on then off all by their selves

I popped the emergency switch up & out, unhooked it, shook it out then used a blow dryer to dry it out. This cleared the problem for me.

I've since washed the BX23 more times than I can count and when I do I avoid putting water under pressure directly on the dash and haven't had this problem since.

I'd say your is similar, good luck

 

[Tollster]

They Battery is a sealed stock unit, its kept in a heated garage, i want to say it was manufactured in 04. I have 200 hrs on the tractor.
I have also had some issues with the light switches while moving snow in the winter, the 4 ways would not shut off.
Anyhow, I removed the positive terminal and trickle charged the battery to full capicity. I moved the switch harness around some from underneath, based on previous experiences.
I will remove the switch plug assembly tonight, dry, and lube them. And hook the battery up.
Is there a way I can monitor for amperage draw? Or should I just check the battery voltage before I install, than after installation, say and hour or 2 later and see if I detect any loss? Would there be a nominal amount of loss to be expected over about 2 hours?

 

[Volfandt]

Is there a way I can monitor for amperage draw?

I use a home made current tester to check for battery drain and other amp drainage issues. Course a multimeter would work too but I prefer the following method.

Solder a couple leads onto a std 1156 automotive bulb. One on the case and the other on the large solder connection in the moddle of the bottom of the bulb. Use at least 10" of wire per connection and solder/screw on an alligator clip on the end of each wire. To test the tester, place one wire on the battery + and the other on battery - and the lamp should light.

Now, disconnect the battery + terminal connector from the battery and connect one of the testers leads to it and hang it to where it doesn't touch anything else. Connect the other tester lead to the battery's + terminal. (you can do the same with a multimeter setup to read amps). Basically you have connected the tester in series with the battery and load (tractor).
With the key off the lamp should not glow. Not even barely. If the lamps glows you have a current drain large enough to drain your battery. (The charging circuit will have a very minimal drain but this is not enough to light the lamp).
To determine what device is draining the battery, disconnect one fuse at a time until the lamp goes out. If find it this way trouble shoot the effected circuit accordingly. If this doesn't isolate it, you will then need to check the non fused devices by disconnecting the "hot" wire from them one at a time. These are the starter and charging circuit and/or any circuits you may have added that connect directly to the battery.

I've found bad regulators, oil sender units and a shorted hot wire in this manner.
By the freq of you battery discharging, this may not take you long to find.
Good luck

 

[Tollster]

I use a home made current tester to check for battery drain and other amp drainage issues. Course a multimeter would work too but I prefer the following method.

Solder a couple leads onto a std 1156 automotive bulb. One on the case and the other on the large solder connection in the moddle of the bottom of the bulb. Use at least 10" of wire per connection and solder/screw on an alligator clip on the end of each wire. To test the tester, place one wire on the battery + and the other on battery - and the lamp should light.

Now, disconnect the battery + terminal connector from the battery and connect one of the testers leads to it and hang it to where it doesn't touch anything else. Connect the other tester lead to the battery's + terminal. (you can do the same with a multimeter setup to read amps). Basically you have connected the tester in series with the battery and load (tractor).
With the key off the lamp should not glow. Not even barely. If the lamps glows you have a current drain large enough to drain your battery. (The charging circuit will have a very minimal drain but this is not enough to light the lamp).
To determine what device is draining the battery, disconnect one fuse at a time until the lamp goes out. If find it this way trouble shoot the effected circuit accordingly. If this doesn't isolate it, you will then need to check the non fused devices by disconnecting the "hot" wire from them one at a time. These are the starter and charging circuit and/or any circuits you may have added that connect directly to the battery.

I've found bad regulators, oil sender units and a shorted hot wire in this manner.
By the freq of you battery discharging, this may not take you long to find.
Good luck

I have a test light at the house and I think what your saying is, place the test light between the positive terminal, and the tractors positive battery terminal, then hook up the negitive terminal as usual.
If the light comes on with key off, perform the trouble shooting until I find the source of the draw...correct?

 

[ccsial]

I have a test light at the house and I think what your saying is, place the test light between the positive terminal, and the tractors positive battery terminal, then hook up the negitive terminal as usual.
If the light comes on with key off, perform the trouble shooting until I find the source of the draw...correct?

If you talking about an AC test light a lot of those are neon lamps. They will draw no current on a DC battery.

Multimeters are real cheap these days. Harbor Freight has a nice one $19. They are handy for a lot of things.

 

[Tollster]

When I got home, I checked the trickle charger light, it was green, which meant the battery was fully charged. I then bridged the tractor positive cable with a voltmeter to the positive post while the negitive post was hooked up to the tractor. I saw 12.3 volts when bridged. I then hooked up the positive cable to the battery post and saw the trickle charger light turn red, all with the key removed and 4 ways in off position.
I removed each fuse and saw no change, then the strangest thing occured. I removed each switch on the left side of the dash and used dielectric grease on all the post. Low and behold, the charger light turned back to green and no more discharge.
Not sure if I went about it the correct way as I have never been very good with a meter, more of a mechanical guy. Anyway thanks for your help.
Toll

 

[ccsial]

Hard to say if the dielectrric grease or removing the switch helped. Maybe water in the switch which moved around when you took it out. This is a strange one. I hope it does not recur. Keep an eye on it for a while.

 

[Ob1kubota]

Tollster you have some good advise but no one has yet to fully troubleshoot your problem. Let's say you do have a parasitic battery drain! The question is from what????? Get yourself a good multi-meter that will read milliamps (mA)
Do not operate anything on your BX , check that every possible electrical circuit is at rest or neutral position in respect to switches, functions, and safety interlocks common to Kubota. Get your hands on the electrical one line diagram for your specific serial number or as built electrical schematic and locate all circuits fused in the panel under the steering column. Now after you have located all the above, remove the negative battery terminal lug from the battery post, notice if it archs a soft yellow spark. This is the physical
phenomenon of electron flow from negative to positive when you have a small milliamp draw. ( I discovered this in a dark area many years ago and experimented to prove it with an BSEE who will provide several written documents to support this occurrence ) Next, after setting your meter and leads to read mA, place your common lead (-) black to the negative battery post. Place your red or (+) lead on the disconnected negative battery terminal. Record the initial reading, then, one by one remove one fuse at a time noting the circuit information on the fuse box terminal cover and verifing it on your schematic or electrical diagram. Record the drop with each fuse you remove until you see less than a 25 mA draw on the meter LED. This is a base line for normal electron activity with a 12 VDC system at rest. The fuse that you saw the largest mA drop on when pulled, is the feeder circuit to suspect a chaffed wire, faulty switch, or combination load causing this unwanted electron flow that drains your battery off during inactivity where a functional regulated alternator would replunish it under a running condition. Using the above method should render positive results and save you dollars at a Dealership you would otherwise have to spend.