Paper thin battery case

fixerupper · May 29, 2013

Bought a new Everstart battery from Wallyworld yesterday and set it down in the battery box of one of my two banger Deeres. Today there was water dripping out of the bottom of the battery box and slowly seeping across the floor. Pulled the battery this eve and one cell was empty. Cleaned up the bottom of the battery and there was a small scratch with a drip coming out of it under that cell. Looked in the battery box and it was clean except for a little short length of what looked like 3/32" welding rod or wire. There was a rough end on the wire and that rough end had made the scratch in the bottom of the battery. The tractor had not been driven and was only run for five minutes or so. I was real surprised at how thin the bottom of that battery is. I have to swallow the cost of this one but I'm hesitant to get another one from Wally World for use in a tractor if the bottom is that thin. What do you guys say? Are they all that thin today? Jim

rabbit-1 · May 29, 2013

I"d take it back and feed it to them. Sounds like a manufacturer"s defect to me.

G1355 · May 29, 2013

Yeah I agree, should be o different when they don't take a charge on warranty, they should give you a refund.

Dalex · May 29, 2013

My store wouldn't warranty a "Damaged " battery ,
only electrical problems, and it's even worse that
they didn't install it ....Good Luck !! Patch that
hole with JB weld and refill the acid ..I've had
several work like that .

Bob · May 29, 2013

HE stabbed the battery to death and YOU say get warranty????

I had a similar thing happen about six months ago when I carelessly dropped a battery into a 4020 DEERE battery box, and jabbed it against the tab where the spring goes to hold down the lid. I didn't WHINE, just sucked it up and bought another battery.

36 Coupe · May 30, 2013

Batteries have very thin plastic cases.Son and I did a scrap clean up.Found a battery with the case desintergrated.The old hard rubber cases were much better.The sun will wreck plastic cases.Cheating on warranty is common but I dont do it.Those who do it would be real upset if it were done to them.

John B. · May 30, 2013

The bottoms are meant to blow out in the case it would explode. This is a built in safety rather than have the top explode in someone's face.

Texasmark1 · May 30, 2013

Well back when I had to watch every penny, I bought a new
battery and got it home. Had a plastic strap with a metal catch
thing on each end that fit over the terminals and the lifting
pressure was supposed to make it bite in and hold.

It didn't. I was taking it out of the bed, fixing to close the
tailgate and take it into the shop and the hootus slipped off one
terminal which made the other one fail too. One corner hit the
concrete and that was the end of that. It was a sad day.

Mark

G1355 · May 30, 2013

When it cracks the first day, and no use on it, and he didn't stab it or drop it on anything he should get a new one. I buy interstate batteries, and have had very good luck with them

fixerupper · May 30, 2013

When it's my fault I accept the blame and suck it up! I should have seen the piece of wire in the bottom of the battery box before I put the battery in there even though I didn't realize something that small and thin would go through the bottom of a battery.

The question I had was NOT 'how do I get out of this on someone else's dime'. What I want to know is who has a battery with a tougher bottom that will stand up to riding in a tractor battery box for hopefully 3 or 4 years. Jim

J.Wondergem · May 30, 2013

Wonder if a dry cell would work better? Anyone tried one of those in a tractor?

Jon Hagen · May 30, 2013

Dry cell ? You mean an AGM battery like an Optima or an Exide orbital ? I have a bunch of them in cars, trucks, tractors and other farm equippment. I would only do it if the tractor has a modern alternator with an accurate solid state regulator. The one weakness of an AGM battery is that they can not stand overcharging, it drys them out, so a cutout system or even a mechanical regulator is death to them.
On my stuff with good SS regulated alternators, the AGM batteries run for 10-15+ years and no terminal or battery box corrosion.

Jon Hagen · May 30, 2013

Your an honest man.
That may well have been an extra thin battery case, a bad molding. I would tell them what happened and let them decide if it was 100% operator error, or a bad battery case. That battery case can be repaired, needs to drain out the electrolyte, clean it up and plastic weld the puncture. not a very difficult job. It may well pay to install one of the hard plastic battery trays under any new battery and the battery boxes.

pete 23 · May 30, 2013

Battery cases are thin, plates are many, many and
thin. It is a lot about getting those high
cranking amps out of a small battery. Fifty years
ago a battery that size would only have half the
cranking power. Not staying power, cranking power
for a short time. A thin plate and lots of them
gives you a lot more exposure to work with. I
never heard of the thin bottom for explosion
protection but that makes sense also. I would tell
the store what happened and let them decide.
Honesty is always the best policy and maybe they
need to know it is really thin .

Paper thin battery case

fixerupper

Well-known Member

rabbit-1

Member

G1355

Well-known Member

Dalex

Well-known Member

Bob

Well-known Member

36 Coupe

Well-known Member

John B.

Well-known Member

Texasmark1

Well-known Member

G1355

Well-known Member

fixerupper

Well-known Member

J.Wondergem

Well-known Member

Jon Hagen

Well-known Member

Jon Hagen

Well-known Member

pete 23

Well-known Member

Similar threads