cod 112 #1 Posted June 11, 2017 Replaced the battery on my 418 last week and while the old one was only 3 years old, I was puzzled as to what caused it to die over a 7 day period. It worked fine all through last winter and for the first part of this mowing season but two weeks ago when I went to start it, nothing. In fact it even when I tried to charge it, the voltage would rapidly decrease as soon as I took it off of the charger. That said I have another battery now and while the beast was running yesterday I measured the voltage going to the battery at low idle ( 12.9 ), mid idle ( 13.4 ) and high idle ( 14.1 ). Is it possible that at high idle I'm cooking the battery? Have any of you looked into a additional regulator that would keep the charging voltage at a level that charges the battery but never gets high enough to over charge it? I believe the existing regulator is working but anything over 14v seems like you may be damaging the battery if your mowing for 2 or 3 hours. Thanks in advance - Cod 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
squonk 38,563 #2 Posted June 11, 2017 14.1 is perfect for a running tractor. I have seen perfectly good batteries suddenly die within hours or a few days. I would make sure there isn't a parasitic draw on the battery. Grass clippings across a fuse is one way it can happen. To me it sounds like a plate in your old battery broke and shorted. Make sure your battery hold down is good. 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
953 nut 51,014 #4 Posted June 11, 2017 5 hours ago, cod said: battery on my 418 last week and while the old one was only 3 years old, If you got three years out of a battery I would say you did well. As Mike said, 14 +/- volts is fine, I have had them be fine in the morning and wouldn't do a thing the same afternoon. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites