Possible John T can help with electrical question

Mind you this in NOT my rig. Here goes. IH 1066 has a power drain of 2 volts in 24 hours and a no start in a few days. Replaced the alternator and charges at 14.7 volts and hold it own with lights on and electic spray motor working. Fuses holding up with this problem. Way to load test for the power drain? My suggestion was to disconnect all the add on such radio and extra lights as a start. Any reader can give their 2 cents.

With the tractor not running/ignition switch and all known accesories turned off disconnect either the positive or ground cable from the battery and install an ammeter(mutli-meter) in series with the cable you unhooked and the post on the battery............if you have a draw you will have a reading ex. .7 - 1.3 amps...........

Leaving the ammeter connected, start disconnecting electrical accesories one at a time until you find the source of the drain, the ammeter should read 0 or close to it(the clock in the radio will draw some/minimal amperage - in the mA range)............

Another less sophisticated tool that can be used in place of the multi-meter is the spark/arc-meter........to use simply disconnect either the ground or positive cable from the battery and observe........if a spark/arc is present, there is a draw, the stronger the spark/arc, the higher the draw..............

A dash lamp bulb in place of the ammeter is a sensitive and rugged indicator.

Gerald J.

Glen Anderson nailed it.

You might check for clocks and other 'keep alive' features in communications (and other)equipment drawing current when the ignition is off.

My friend John would say both answers below are on target. If the alternator is a "one wire" style, it may be best to change it (or its regulator) to a three wire style. look up 10SI in the search for box on the FarmallIH forum. JimN

Not quite sure what you mean by '2 volts drain' and 'hold it own'.

You could try simply disconnecting the 'fully charged' battery for a couple of days and so checking for internal 'self' discharge as well as other suggestions below.

I am intrigued as to why the alternator was changed. If it was not working properly the battery could be toast.

Regards, RAB

It could be a bad cell. A 12V battery comprises six cells which are nominally 2.0V each. If a cell has a partial internal short, it can self-discharge in a few hours. If this gets worse, the cell can act like a dead short-circuit, effectively making the battery into a 10V battery. Although the alternator will force it to the normal charge voltage of 14.4V, this is at the cost of generating large amounts of hydrogen which can cause an explosion if ignited. This can spray acid all over the place so is not to be recommended!

I've seen shorted cells on a couple of batteries in the past two months. Here's what I'd do. Disconnect the earth lead, so the battery has no load on it, and charge the battery fully using a charger. When full it should float at around 14.4V while drawing very little current. If there's still a lot of current or the voltage never reaches this level, you have a dead short. But if the battery seems to have charged, leave it to stand off-charge for 24 hours and measure the voltage. I would expect to see around 12.5V or higher. If it's 11V or less you probably have a shorted cell and the battery should be replaced, as it's a danger.

David

Battery has been baked to death with too high voltage.
Depending on air temperature around the battery and the type of battery. 13.8V is max in summer and 14.4V in winter.

If all you are losing is 2 volts I agree with the bad cell analysys. the other way to check is unhook the batterie and put in a ammeter between the bat and cable. Might have to use the 10A feature on a good volt Ohm meter

jt

Sorry re read the post. put a VO meter inbetween the bat and cable on the AMP function if you get a reading you have a parasitic short somewhere.

A bad cell or battery can cause your symptom also though.

You don't get a "drain" of 2 volts. Any drain will be from a flow - measured in amperes. You get a drop in volts when demand-flow exceeds what can be supplied.

If flow drains the battery, the voltage drops.

If a flow exceeds the limits of the wire and/or connections being used, voltage at the draw can drop in volts.

Also, maybe your battery is NG and the proper voltage does not exist to start with.

Check the battery no load. Then under load. Then if all checks OK - put an amp-meter between the battery and main feed wire and see if there is any current flow when nothing is being used.