Put in a new Battery, got nothin' - I am not dumb, but maybe I'm not bright?

BigBlue1 · Nov 12, 2025

Avenger said:
Absolutely! This will work. And if you have a second person to help turn the key, will work just fine. It has been my experience that the leads on multimeters are not long enough to reach from the battery to the cab. Or from under the hood to the cab of pickups, cars, boats, etc. I've made longer leads to get me by in a pinch, and is possible, but is the readings accurate at that point?

I'd say that extending multimeter leads from their 2-3' standard length to the distance needed on a vehicle from battery to operator station/seat (10'?) would be zero impact on accuracy to the 10th of a volt as used for this type of test. Assuming the gauge of the wire is consistent with OEM. It would take a significantly longer lead to introduce noticeable inaccuracy in that situation.

SPYDERLK · Nov 12, 2025

BigBlue1 said:
I'd say that extending multimeter leads from their 2-3' standard length to the distance needed on a vehicle from battery to operator station/seat (10'?) would be zero impact on accuracy to the 10th of a volt as used for this type of test. Assuming the gauge of the wire is consistent with OEM. It would take a significantly longer lead to introduce noticeable inaccuracy in that situation.

Yes. The Volt function is extremely sensitive. The current drawn from the circuit it is measuring is so low (microamps) that the resistance of the leads has negligible effect on the reading.

JasperFrank · Nov 12, 2025

Known Good. I have bought several a batteries new, that I assumed were new good. And they were not. This can really mess with your strategy. Maybe I'm unlucky and just get the bad battery all the time. I return them, get another that is also bad. Then I also have a known good. And this works. So the second one gets returned. I think this this is an issue with parts these days. The first part bought doesn't work. And that's another whole 1/2 day to replace because the unit you got, didn't work. And then I'm the bad guy, because I'm upside down here, and the work, is still the work.

fustsgt · Nov 12, 2025

FreddyFlynn said:
Thank you, I am about to head back out there to check the fuses. The ground is where LS put it and it makes sense, bottom plate.

No that does not make good sense. Your plate is rusted out, and I doubt that it is soundly connected to the engine block to provide a low resistance path to the starter. Many problems like this are solved by cleaning the ground cable connection point to the frame or engine block.

4570Man · Nov 12, 2025

Avenger said:
Absolutely! This will work. And if you have a second person to help turn the key, will work just fine. It has been my experience that the leads on multimeters are not long enough to reach from the battery to the cab. Or from under the hood to the cab of pickups, cars, boats, etc. I've made longer leads to get me by in a pinch, and is possible, but is the readings accurate at that point?

Alternatively, you could spend less than $40 for a little digital load tester from Amazon (link) that you can use yourself without ever needing to turn the key. The one I linked is the one I use. I keep it with my electrical testing equipment, and if I ever suspect a battery, its simple to grab and use.

Just a thought while we wait to see what happened to this particular tractor.

Considering the extremely low amperage that the volt meter is going to pull I would feel pretty confident the alligator clip idea is reading correctly. I would trust my suggested idea more than I would trust a $40 load tester. Plus if you find the battery is good you still need to put the volt meter on the starter terminal to see what voltage you’re getting there while it’s attempting to crank. The volt meter you linked had clips way too small to sufficiently load a battery so I’m giving that tool a vote of no confidence.

Fuddyduddy1952 · Nov 12, 2025

Electrical problems I bet are number one most frustrating and like everything boils down to comfort level. I'm an electronic technician and had a company that all we did was troubleshoot consumer electronic equipment for 43 years so I had to be creative fabricating lots of odd things to speed up work time finding problems.
I bought a 1969 car at auction last year in beautiful original condition that started & ran but nothing electrical worked. To me it was easy and a pleasure removing dash and fixing every single problem so now 100% everything works.
It's always something simple. When it's 2 or more problems at once it can be tough...but to
me it's easy. I hate to see anything jerry-rigged. Like this 57 y.o. car it's all original even repaired the A.M. radio.
The car, truck, tractor, mower, etc. was designed & manufactured a certain way.
It worked. (VERY IMPORTANT!)
It was fine. Then one day something happened. The fix is simple!

4570Man · Nov 12, 2025

JasperFrank said:
Known Good. I have bought several a batteries new, that I assumed were new good. And they were not. This can really mess with your strategy. Maybe I'm unlucky and just get the bad battery all the time. I return them, get another that is also bad. Then I also have a known good. And this works. So the second one gets returned. I think this this is an issue with parts these days. The first part bought doesn't work. And that's another whole 1/2 day to replace because the unit you got, didn't work. And then I'm the bad guy, because I'm upside down here, and the work, is still the work.

I’ve started taking a volt meter shopping and checking them before I leave the store.

GS650GL · Nov 12, 2025

4 days later and 86 replies and we still don't know if the guy got this simple problem figured out that should have taken 10 minutes. I think I'm gonna stop following this thread.

SPYDERLK · Nov 12, 2025

4570Man said:
I’ve started taking a volt meter shopping and checking them before I leave the store.

Yeah, but to be sure, jig a setup with a 10 Ohm load across the leads.

redfin00 · Nov 13, 2025

I have a 2005 jd 5103,positive battery cable was bad,copper was corroded inside insulation.It has a main fuse,wire from positive battery terminal goes to one side of fuse,then to the starter.Like guy said start at battery,then to fuse.

VtDonNewell · Nov 13, 2025

FreddyFlynn said:
I bought a LS tractor knowing diddle squat about tractors, but man do I love it now. I put in a new battery for the winter, I got nothing. I checked the terminals, clean. I checked to make sure I didn't put it in backwards. I tightened it down with a torque wrench. I swore at it a lot. I am not getting lights, dashboard activity, not a sign of life. I know nothing of tractors but I am ok with cars. Does this have a starter solenoid? Is there some sort of reset button when you change the battery that I cannot find? Anyone have any ideas apart from taking it to a shop 200 miles away?

I thought the battery was shot on my Kioti tractor but decided to throw a charger on it, I plugged it in and the charger showed full charge. Turned out the positive battery cable was corroded about 3" away from the terminal connector inside the cable jacket and showed no signs of corrosion. Replaced the cable, it preheats and turns over much quicker now.

kneedeep · Nov 13, 2025

He figured it out and is done with us .

gshell · Nov 13, 2025

FreddyFlynn said:
I bought a LS tractor knowing diddle squat about tractors, but man do I love it now. I put in a new battery for the winter, I got nothing. I checked the terminals, clean. I checked to make sure I didn't put it in backwards. I tightened it down with a torque wrench. I swore at it a lot. I am not getting lights, dashboard activity, not a sign of life. I know nothing of tractors but I am ok with cars. Does this have a starter solenoid? Is there some sort of reset button when you change the battery that I cannot find? Anyone have any ideas apart from taking it to a shop 200 miles away?

Was wondering if you have actually cleaned the terminals....that happened to me , the terminals looked good being a new battery, but I had to physically clean them and the it worked great.

MARK FROM LI · Nov 13, 2025

Check the end of the black cable from the battery....trace it to where it attaches to the chassis...remove it and clean the end and the contact point on the chassis ...reconnect and see what you have at that point

ttener · Nov 13, 2025

Man, there is truly some Gold here in these replies for troubleshooting a12v system. I guarantee the solution is in here already.

I had a boss once that always began his checklist with - is it plugged in? You would be amazed at the number of times he nailed it and something wasn’t plugged in correctly. Ever since then, I check the plug power 1st and then jump to - what changed?

In this case, it’s the battery. Start there and then trace and test the wires leading out of the battery box to see if you have voltage/continuity. It’s gotta be a bad ground or an air gap in a cable somewhere.

At this point though, with all the great advice ppl have offered, my moneys on operator error, lol

D&D · Nov 13, 2025

Avenger said:
Absolutely! This will work. And if you have a second person to help turn the key, will work just fine. It has been my experience that the leads on multimeters are not long enough to reach from the battery to the cab. Or from under the hood to the cab of pickups, cars, boats, etc. I've made longer leads to get me by in a pinch, and is possible, but is the readings accurate at that point?

Alternatively, you could spend less than $40 for a little digital load tester from Amazon (link) that you can use yourself without ever needing to turn the key. The one I linked is the one I use. I keep it with my electrical testing equipment, and if I ever suspect a battery, its simple to grab and use.

Just a thought while we wait to see what happened to this particular tractor.

Accuracy would depend on what you're actually looking for. 12.63 at battery, ~12.4 at key, probably close enough unless/until you have to break down the circuit.