stratostar250 919 #1 Posted August 30, 2015 Hey guys. I am not a guru with the electrical systems on the tractors, so I will appreciate any help I can get. Here is what happens; On my Charger 12, the tractor seems to run okay (other than a large lack of power, but I think that's mechanical which I can deal with later, unless the charging system can cause such a loss in power, but I'd like to get it running stable first) but after some time the tractor will die, just like the key has been turned off and will not restart unless I jump it, and if I do this, it will die once I disconnect the cables, or will die within about 10 seconds. So I am assuming it isn't charging well enough, and once the battery drops under an unacceptable voltage, it loses spark, and dies. Where do I start guys? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gwest_ca-(File Mod) 10,503 #2 Posted August 30, 2015 Swap in a good known battery and see what voltage you have before you start it and after it is running.Garry 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
stratostar250 919 #3 Posted August 30, 2015 Swap in a good known battery and see what voltage you have before you start it and after it is running.Garry I'm so upset because I put a brand new battery in the tractor and used it off and on for about a month, and I just thought that it was the old battery not being able to hold a charge, but i was wrong. I have one of those things that you put into your 12V outlet in your car and it give you a digital readout of the voltage, and I did stick it in the lighter on the tractor twice and it read close to 12 volts if I remember right, but it was like 2 months ago. I have to put in another battery and try what you said and then report back. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
953 nut 51,769 #4 Posted August 30, 2015 You should be seeing 12 + volts at rest and 14 +/- while running. Cleaning all of the battery cable terminals before changing the battery could pay big dividends too. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AMC RULES 36,945 #5 Posted August 30, 2015 Go ahead, spend the $20 at Wally world Tom......will save you a lot of time. 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wheel-N-It 2,967 #6 Posted August 31, 2015 Funny how having a known good battery is crucial to examining a charging system. When I bought the 414-8 listed below the first thing I checked after bringing it home and going over the basic tractor was the charging system. At WOT it was charging 16VDC. I thought "Great, now there something else I gotta fix".So after doing my research here at RS I discovered that a faulty battery will make a good charging system do wacky things. At once I went to the Auto parts store and bought a new LAGT battery. After getting home and installing the battery the charging system went to normal and it has worked just fine ever since. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pfrederi 17,147 #7 Posted August 31, 2015 With that many tracgtors you need to take a trip to Harbor Freight and buy a multimeter and a battery load tester. You can get both for less than the cost of a decent battery. They aren't the best items in the world but they will work well enough for our kind of needs. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
WNYPCRepair 1,875 #8 Posted August 31, 2015 HF has a "good enough" multimeter for about $5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
stratostar250 919 #9 Posted August 31, 2015 Guys....dont worry, I have a decent multimeter. Ill throw a known decent battery in it tomorrow and see where the voltages are and report back. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
squonk 38,952 #10 Posted September 1, 2015 Make sure that " known good battery has at least 12.5 volts in it. If it's less you're already half way to the poor house! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
stratostar250 919 #11 Posted September 1, 2015 Well, Sorry squonk, I didn't see your post until now, so I hope everything I just did was worth it, because the battery only read 12.2 at rest, but I went out, took a good "known" battery, and the voltage at rest was 12.22, While the machine was running a full throttle, I got a jumpy reading between 12.5 and 13.1, and after running it for about 5 minutes, I shut the tractor off, and the voltage then read 12.08. So there are my results guys. It sounds like it is not charging correctly. Although, I think I have a bigger problem now. While I had the battery connected, I accidentally shorted the positive on the frame of the tractor, and the tractor shut off and wouldn't re-start, so I think I blew something. and I cannot visually find a fuse. And the electrical system isn't original either, someone put in a run/kill switch, I probably should've mentioned this earlier. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
953 nut 51,769 #12 Posted September 1, 2015 Did cleaning all of the battery cables make any difference at all? There may be a bad cable that gave up the ghost when you shorted to ground, charge up the battery and hold it in start and look for hot spots, those will be potential weak points. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
squonk 38,952 #13 Posted September 1, 2015 (edited) If you have a battery charger around get a battery charged up and THEN try it and take some readings. If I had a dollar for every time someone called me after I sold them an alternator saying my alternator was junk only to find out the battery was so low the alternator wouldn't activate I'd have a happy meal. Now I know I'm using a car example but 12 volts is 12 volts. Charging systems are not designed to "Charge" low or dead batteries. They are designed to put back what the starter, lights, shaver, and microwave take out. If you have a battery that's low and won't recharge fully the charging system will fail prematurely if it works at all. You got a jumpy reading and 13 volts. That tells me the system is at least trying to work. Edited September 1, 2015 by squonk 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
stratostar250 919 #14 Posted February 27, 2016 Well guys, I'm Back! I've done a bunch of work to the tractor, after a lot of observation, and time and a place to work on the tractor, I dove in. I figured out the low power issue, it needed a valve adjustment VERY badly, I also adjusted the points, and got a new head gasket (for a rather embarassing reason involving a compression tester and not knowing about the automatic compression release) butttt, now, since most is well with the tractor, I'm back to the charging issue. I'll try to get a good, charged, battery into the tractor and take some readings. But so far, I have had 3 different batteries in the tractor, and they've all done the same thing, worked for quite a while, and then the tractor would die (because of too low voltage) which I've had two of these batteries in other tractors, with no issue. I'll report back soon! I still really appreciate all your help and tips, everyone! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pfrederi 17,147 #15 Posted February 27, 2016 Assuming the battery is in reasonable shape you should get 13.5 to 14 volts running. let us know Share this post Link to post Share on other sites