Batteries,Batteries and More Batteries

[Pollack Pete 2,273]

I'm sure this has been discussed here before,but here goes again.A lot of people here,like me,have several Wheel Horse tractors that are in use.Not parade tractors.Not trailer queens.Not just the once a month or so putt,putt ride around toy.Well,you get the idea.What does everyone do for batteries?I currently mow about 5 Acres and I have   six Horses with mower decks that I like to alternate mowing   with.In the last 2 weeks,I've bought 4 new batteries.Think I need another one today.Do you guys keep a battery in every tractor? Keep one new battery and keep moving it between tractors?Keep all tractors on a battery tender? The batteries still last only so long no matter how you take care of them.I like my tractors to start when I need them.And…….I know I don't NEED  6 tractors with mower decks,but we all know of the addiction.At 45 to 55 bucks per battery,it gets kinda pricey when it's time to replace them.Been buying NAPA batteries.Might try Tractor Supply today.Any thoughts??

[squonk 43,944]

I have 5 tractors. 4 of them sit and have tenders on them. My mowing tractor is run twice a week so no tender on it. I replace a battery when it reaches 3 yrs. old.. I put the new battery in the mowing tractor and the battery that was in that goes into the tractor the oldest battery came out of. This way I pretty much buy 1 battery a year. 

[littleredrider 409]

I've been lucky. Sorta. My mowing tractor (520-8) has the same battery as when I bought it over 3 years ago. But the diesel has had 3-4 since I got it running 2 years ago. The 520 is the one that gets used the most, so maybe that's why it stays charged. The diesel has a car battery, and while not even looking at it over the winter, it still had a charge. Not enough to start it, but now that it's running and use it now n then it charges and starts. I've had batteries that just don't hold a charge. Maybe this is where the saying "you get what you pay for" comes in....

[cschannuth 3,817]

33 minutes ago, Pollack Pete said:

I'm sure this has been discussed here before,but here goes again.A lot of people here,like me,have several Wheel Horse tractors that are in use.Not parade tractors.Not trailer queens.Not just the once a month or so putt,putt ride around toy.Well,you get the idea.What does everyone do for batteries?I currently mow about 5 Acres and I have   six Horses with mower decks that I like to alternate mowing   with.In the last 2 weeks,I've bought 4 new batteries.Think I need another one today.Do you guys keep a battery in every tractor? Keep one new battery and keep moving it between tractors?Keep all tractors on a battery tender? The batteries still last only so long no matter how you take care of them.I like my tractors to start when I need them.And…….I know I don't NEED  6 tractors with mower decks,but we all know of the addiction.At 45 to 55 bucks per battery,it gets kinda pricey when it's time to replace them.Been buying NAPA batteries.Might try Tractor Supply today.Any thoughts??

I have battery tenders on all of my tractors and they are always plugged in when I’m not using them. The batteries last for years by keeping them on a trickle charge.

[ebinmaine 73,008]

General consensus here on this site and everywhere I've ever read seems to be that a maintainer or trickle charger is your friend.

We don't use them here because we run our tractors enough all year round to keep them charged on their own.

 

 

We have two tractors that we use predominantly.

Cinnamon horse has a group 51r that I got out of the salvage yard for $25. I don't remember the CCA but it's 500 maybe?

IF you have the older larger style battery box I would HIGHLY recommend doing that. It starts easier in all temperatures.

 

The other one is Trina's 867.

That has a group u1 from our local Small engine repair place.

Low amperage. Nothing special.

We buy them from him specifically because I would rather give the business to a little company than a box store.

He is honest enough to tell you that it's going to last either two or three seasons if you don't put a maintainer on it. 4 or 5 if you do.

 

[Achto 29,433]

I buy the cheap $20-$25 batteries from Wal-Mart or Fleet Farm. I have multiple tractors, some get used weekly some only occasionally. I keep them on tenders in the winter so that they do not freeze. On average I get about 4 to 5yrs out of them, about the same life span as the last $50 battery that I had from Napa.

 

There are only 3 major automotive battery manufacturers in the US. Most Wal-Mart brand (EverStart) batteries are made by Exide, the same company that makes Interstate batteries and Traveler batteries for TSC. Napa batteries are made by East Penn.  Johnson Controls makes batteries such as DieHard and Optima. Each company rebrands more than what I have listed.

 

Edited May 28, 2020 by Achto

[JoeM 8,443]

Tenders help, cycling / using them once in a while, age matters. My friend's Dad had two tractors, one winter, one summer, one battery between the two! He would remove the summer machine battery in the fall and install it in the winter machine. I guess it worked for him. I'm not into that and I have batteries in all the machines.

I have two tenders and swap them around biweekly when the machines are not used. I also found out I only like the Deltran tenders, they seem to work the best but are the most costly. I have seen issues with the cheaper ones not working right or over charge. 

I make sure I have a date on the battery....time seems to slip by fast and it is surprising how long it has been installed. 

It can be a crap throw concerning price, I had expense batteries fail early, cheap ones last for years. Now I buy whats on sale. I have no proof but believe there are only a couple tow three battery manufactures. 

[kasey54 305]

Can a battery tender be used on more than one battery to a time?

[Achto 29,433]

34 minutes ago, kasey54 said:

Can a battery tender be used on more than one battery to a time?

 

Not really the best idea. Most tenders have protections built into them to monitor 1 battery. 2 batteries fed to one tender can cause false info.

 

They do make multi bank chargers. I have one installed in my boat, it is designed to charge and maintain 2 separate batteries.

[lynnmor 7,858]

41 minutes ago, kasey54 said:

Can a battery tender be used on more than one battery to a time?

 

Sure, just buy the $749.95 charger and do up to 10 at a time. 

 

As above, do one at a time with a Battery Tender designed for one.  I rotate my Battery Tender (I don't trust the cheap ones) and charge each battery for three days.  Just because the fully charged green lamp comes on does not mean it won't take additional charge.  You will get the best life keeping the batteries fully charged, discharging below 50% will reduce life considerably.   I get by just fine with a monthly three day charge rotating between seven batteries.  I use batteries manufactured by East Penn.

[cschannuth 3,817]

1 hour ago, kasey54 said:

Can a battery tender be used on more than one battery to a time?

it’s probably not a great idea but I have been doing it successfully for years. I maintain my batteries year round so they are never too low on charge. I suppose if you had the same tender on a battery with a full charge and on another battery with very little charge the battery that was fully charged could become overcharged until the other battery is charged which would shut off the charger. However, theoretically, if you’re using a 1.5 amp charger on two batteries you’re only feeding each battery with 3/4 of an amp and that probably won’t hurt a fully charged battery.  I use a splitter that plugs directly in to my charger.

 

Edited May 28, 2020 by cschannuth
Spelling

[kasey54 305]

 cschannuth Thank you for that

[oliver2-44 10,782]

As stated by many, a battery tender helps extend life

Hot Temperature also Shortens battery life. At the power plants the large industrial batteries were designed for a 77F ambient temp.and a 10Yr guaranteed life.  With average life being 15 years. We had 2 dams with un-air conditioned battery rooms. The manufacture shortened the warranty guarantee To 8 years due to our 100F summers

 

I fought any of us keep our tractors in air conditioned garages, parking them in a cooler spot is a good thing for battery life.  

[SylvanLakeWH 28,610]

Battery tenders on my two vanilla batteries... 4+ years and counting... Very satisfied...

 

Just an aside - Kept a solar trickle charger on my boat battery for years when I docked it at the lake. Went from 2-3 years average to 4-5 years with the solar charger... Keep it on a tender now that it lives in the garage...

 

[WHX?? 51,916]

I'm  with Dan on the $25 cheapies when you got as many horses to feed as I. I do have a slew of those chargers that Craig posted and I pull them and bring them in  the shop for the winter and rotate them on the chargers  so I get 5 years plus out of them. I put them back in the tractors in the spring and they sit in all summer. When I think of it I will hop on one that hasn't been started in awhile and cop some seat time. Always thought about a multi bank solar charger with some kind of drop cord set up when their in their stalls for the summer. 

[Achto 29,433]

Here is one more procedure that will help increase the life of a battery. When you buy a new battery, bring it home and put it on a trickle charger 2amp or less and leave it for several hours so that it can come to a complete charge, then install it. If the battery is not at a complete charge the first time that you put load on it, you can create a memory in the battery that will keep it from fully charging in the future.

[PeacemakerJack 10,743]

Great info in this thread already.  Batteries can be a never ending source of frustration on a machine that sits on a semi regular basis, especially in the north where temps can easily be below freezing for several months out of the calendar year.  I echo the sentiments of running a trickle charger on a battery through longer periods of dormancy.  Getting them off the tractor and in doors through cold weather is a must.  I can’t tell you the number of times I forgot to take one off a rarely used tractor for the winter only to find the case “pregnant” in the spring and the battery junk.  I only charge one battery at a time since that is what my charger is designed to do.  I’m enjoying the thoughts here though

[Skipper 1,789]

One source for batteries I like, is the scrap yard/auto recycler. Sometimes cars with good new batterie get bashed too. The smaller sices will fit nicely, and then you have a real battery, for very few $. My go to place sells them to me for 8$ a piece, and then I bring them the dead battery, so they still get their core refund. I get about 10-15 batteries a year this way, for some of the tractors that come thru my shop. My own included. That's a real money saver. 

[tom2p 2,394]

I'm lazy - have a battery tender (Battery Minder) - but rarely use it 

 

so I typically purchase the better batteries (higher CCA) and they've served me well ; the higher CCA batteries work better in extreme low temps and better tolerate extended sitting / high drain 

 

cars - trucks - motorcycles - tractors 

in the past I've gotten great service from DieHard batteries (Johnson) - and more recently when I could no longer get DieHard batteries started to use Duracell (East Penn/Deka)

 

[squonk 43,944]

I had a discussion about CCA vs battery longevity with a Deka rep years ago. He stated,when comparing the same group size battery, a higher CCA version would give less longevity. Stating the fact that more CCA means more plates and less room for the electrolyte.Also less electrolyte means higher temps. 

 

Personally, I sold hundreds off batteries and never noticed any difference. Some batteries last a month.Some last 10 years.

[ebinmaine 73,008]

1 hour ago, squonk said:

I had a discussion about CCA vs battery longevity with a Deka rep years ago. He stated,when comparing the same group size battery, a higher CCA version would give less longevity. Stating the fact that more CCA means more plates and less room for the electrolyte.Also less electrolyte means higher temps. 

 

Personally, I sold hundreds off batteries and never noticed any difference. Some batteries last a month.Some last 10 years.

I had had that same exact discussion with our AC Delco rep at one point. Of course they said the same thing. I understand the principle behind what they're getting at but my experience didn't prove anything one way or the other.

 

[tom2p 2,394]

1 hour ago, ebinmaine said:

I had had that same exact discussion with our AC Delco rep at one point. Of course they said the same thing. I understand the principle behind what they're getting at but my experience didn't prove anything one way or the other.

 

my experience has proven opposite 

 

the higher CCA batteries have not only provided more starting power - but they have also provided more service (life) ... 

 

I won't buy a cheap battery - just not worth the time for me ... if I get 5-8 years from a battery the extra $10-20 dollars might work

out to a couple bucks more per year

 

but if cheap batteries works for others that is great also 

Edited May 29, 2020 by tom2p

[Lee1977 7,224]

My  three tractors are stored in the basement temperature range from a low of 64 degrees to about 80 in the summer. Don't have battery maintainers. If i need the trailer I usually rotate tractors. I go for more CCA

on my batterys as I've had better luck with them. Buying Battery these day is like most every thing else:  The Luck of the Draw. I have had batterys last 9 or 10 years and some that didn't last 6 months. I don't think price, CCA, or who made it has anything to do with how long a battery last.

[tom2p 2,394]

not a tractor - but a good subject for battery discussion 

 

this particular car has a high parasitic draw - near the high point on the scale of  'acceptable'

 

we have two of them - one a 2005 and the other a 2006 - both sit outside and at times sit unused for extended periods 

 

car is basically useless with a 550 CCA battery - will be fortunate to get close to 3 years from the battery - and will almost certainly not start on a morning when temps are near zero 

 

but install a 650 CCA (min) or 700+ CCA battery and then life is good - will always start and many years of service 

 

Edited May 29, 2020 by tom2p

[squonk 43,944]

I used to like having to warranty a battery. The co. did not want them back and 90% of the time there wasn't a thing wrong with the battery. Usually it was a Ford with crappy cables or shot alternator. Got a lot of good batteries that way. Had to make the customer happy