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

[VtDonNewell]

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]

He figured it out and is done with us .

 

[gshell]

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]

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]

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]

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.

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[D&D]

He figured it out and is done with us .

Yep, happens all the time here

 

[olenjohn]

 

[T_HedMF1533]

Uhhh I think you forgot to skinner back there fella.^^^^

 

[P113565]

View attachment 4408608

What a nice clean install. Looks like the battery is completely isolated from any parasitic or other draw. Great job.