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Is it time to check the health of your tractor batteries

Geo-TH,In

Geo-TH,In

Well-known Member
It's 10 degrees this morning.
6 out of 7 batteries in the pole barn are measuring 12.5 volts or slightly less than 12.45v. One battery measures 12.65v.

I think come spring I'll wait for RK to have a sale on batteries.

I've been rotating my 2 chargers hoping I won't have to buy 6 batteries.

Do you keep an eye on your batteries in the winter?
I use smart chargers to charge my batteries.
What do you use?
 
One of my chargers will tell me the voltage and then the percent of charge. The last 2 times I charged one battery it read less than 11 voltages and less than 5 percent. I think its not going to be of any value to me, except as a trade in.
 
Keeping batteries topped up is critical to their long life. A battery setting without load and testing 11 volts is 1/2 dead. This is not good especially in winter. If the electrolyte freezes it's game over.
 
I also use smart chargers - some are left on their batteries and some are rotated to other batteries. I charge the batteries without a dedicated maintainer on the first of every month. Right now Ive got 14 Im keeping charged.
 
I use harbor freight trickle chargers too. Wanted to pick up a couple more a few days ago, only to find they're discontinued. Apparently some of the wall-wart power supplies have self-destructed catastrophically.. BE FOREWARANED! I've got 7 in use right now, and a couple spares. I will be looking for alternative units.
 
George, those battery voltage readings sound pretty good for 10 Degrees. I don't have handy the full charged 12 volt battery voltages at 10 Degrees (voltage drops drop as temp decreases) but at 27 degrees the State of Charge versus the battery voltage AT REST AND STABILIZED IS:

SOC 100%,,,,,,,,Hydrometer reading 1.248,,,,,,,,,,,Unloaded Voltage 12.53

Likewise I prefer so called SMART 3 stage regulated battery chargers of which typical charge voltage stages are around 14+ for initial BULK charge, then they slow down to around 13.6 Volts for ABSORPTION charge, then settle in to around 13.2 Volts for FLOAT charge. Thats (Smart 3 stage regulated chargers) NOT the same thing as cheap low current battery maintainer trickle chargers.

ALSO as you well know some volt meters arent 100% accurate ????????

70 and 80 here in South Central Florida

John T
 
I've been having an inordinate number of apparent battery failures on stuff lately, starting before the cold weather and of things used regularly. Pretty annoying.

I got one of the "pulse repair" chargers and it seems to have recovered a couple batteries that my other charger couldn't charge. Other batteries it couldn't fix.
 
(quoted from post at 12:56:06 02/03/23) I've been having an inordinate number of apparent battery failures on stuff lately, starting before the cold weather and of things used regularly. Pretty annoying.

I got one of the "pulse repair" chargers and it seems to have recovered a couple batteries that my other charger couldn't charge. Other batteries it couldn't fix.
Click to expand...

How old are the batteries? If they're 5 years old or older that's when they start failing.

You have a slew of battery failures all at once because you had a slew of battery failures all at once about 5-7 years ago and replaced them all.

I replaced several batteries in 2022. I suspect that unless I start preemptively replacing batteries in 2026 I will have to replace them all again in 2028 or 2029.
 
This is my go to meter. It tells me everything I want to know.
The battery with 12.65 volts also measured the most CA.
cvphoto146659.jpg
 
How old are the batteries? I don't know.
I would have to remove the battery to read the date.
Good chance they are very old.
 
I have battery disconnects on all my equipment. Never
need a battery maintainer. Shut them off at the end of
the season, they are good to go in the spring. My
batteries average 10 years of life
 
Our tractors are in unheated sheds in N MN, -33F this morning! They seem to last just fine for 5 months that way, no charger or maintainer necessary. I had a JD Strongbox battery last over 12 years in the 4600 that way. The 6 volt in the Farmall C is about 7 years old, I might have to replace it this year. I do have a disconnect on it, it seemed there was a parasitic drain.
 
Here in balmy central MN, only -20F yesterday morning, I charge all the batteries when I put the tractors away for winter and once again about Christmas time. I just don't want them to freeze. Batteries last 3 to 10 years.

You can use your hydrometer on a sealed battery. Peel the sticker off the top and you will see there are caps under there. You will mess them up a little getting the caps out, but they will come out. You know about not burning yourself.

Even Maintenance Free batteries use water. Once the plates are exposed they are shot. The point is to get it to last just past the warranty period so they can sell you a new battery. A 3 or 4 year old battery does not have any warranty so it does not hurt anything to open them and add a little distilled water. That also gives you a chance to see if you have a cell that is going bad. If you do you can limp it along for a while by adding water (and get ready to buy a new battery).
 
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