Battery life?

wiggy123

Quick question: tractor battery--for a ford 6610 bought 3 years ago, for €150..
seems to be ****ed, jump starting it this last 2 weeks... thought was fuses--all ok! alternator playing up--got it done the other day,fixed.. well he charged me for mending it... yesterday morning--still wouldn't start...
new battery needed maybe...
how long should it last-re a battery!
Say tractor driven on average 2 hours a week(when totalled up), over the year, when worked out..not worked much

dh1985

wiggy123 wrote: »

Quick question: tractor battery--for a ford 6610 bought 3 years ago, for €150..
seems to be ****ed, jump starting it this last 2 weeks... thought was fuses--all ok! alternator playing up--got it done the other day,fixed.. well he charged me for mending it... yesterday morning--still wouldn't start...
new battery needed maybe...
how long should it last-re a battery!
Say tractor driven on average 2 hours a week(when totalled up), over the year, when worked out..not worked much

A battery can fail at any time. Cold weather and frost tend to affect them. if the battery is only three years old it may be still under warranty. It will be stamped with a date code so where ever you bought it will tell you how long the warranty for it lasts. It may even be labelled on the battery.

wiggy123

cheers.. will get in to tomorrow...

cj maxx

Tortured with batteries not starting, so recently bought a ctek battery charger and plan to keep them maintained and looked after ,

Farmer Pudsey

Battery's tend not to last as long as twenty years ago. However it is important to check everything when tractors fail to start. I am won over by hi-speed starters in the case of tractors they seem to take pressure off battery's.

You need to be able to check alternator o/p to see if it is charging it needs to be at least at 13.5V. If it si not starting you need to also check battery voltage this needs to be above 12.5. If voltage is very low you should charge battery this should start a tractor 6+ times even if there is an alternator issue.

You should check all leads and connection points it a good idea to remove and clean if you have access to a silicone base grease you can cover all terminals and connection points this prevents corrosion.

Generally if it is a battery issue it will fail fast after charging with a battery charger and if alternator it will last a fair few stars before failing if alternator. All you need to test is a voltmeter can now be bought for 10-15 euro's ( watch Lidl/Aldi) and a battery charger ( i bought a heavy duty one cost 80ish euro I think)

cj maxx

Regarding the silicone bases grease ( and not wanting to hijack the thread) , would vasaline or similiar do the same job ?

Buford T. Justice XIX

wiggy123 wrote: »

Quick question: tractor battery--for a ford 6610 bought 3 years ago, for €150..
seems to be ****ed, jump starting it this last 2 weeks... thought was fuses--all ok! alternator playing up--got it done the other day,fixed.. well he charged me for mending it... yesterday morning--still wouldn't start...
new battery needed maybe...
how long should it last-re a battery!
Say tractor driven on average 2 hours a week(when totalled up), over the year, when worked out..not worked much

What we have done here over the last few years is to drop a gear or two and up the revs on the yard tractor to keep the battery topped up.

We do this with the main tractor when feeding as well as feeding wouldn't take an hour each day, especially when cold weather is forecast. It might be something to keep in mind to minimise battery problems.

CJhaughey

2 hrs PW total may not be enough to keep the battery charged after starting.
Diesels take a lot of juice to start and afterwards need to be recharged by the alternator.
If your alternator is bad or you may have a parasitic draw on the battery it can kill it pretty quickly.
Best thing for lead acid batteries is to always keep them fully charged.
If it takes a trickle charger or a smart charger then thats what is required.
Having a partially charged battery lying around in cold weather will qucikly kill it off.

blue5000

OP is there a deadman switch on the tractor? If a wire is earthing somewhere it will run down the battery. There should also be a heater plug on the air intake, this might not be working, making it harder to start. There is probably a cold start button on the pump, depends which one you have.

cj maxx

blue5000 wrote: »

OP is there a deadman switch on the tractor? If a wire is earthing somewhere it will run down the battery. There should also be a heater plug on the air intake, this might not be working, making it harder to start. There is probably a cold start button on the pump, depends which one you have.

2nd that on the heater plug, check the spades connecting it are tight

Farmer Pudsey

cjmc wrote: »

Regarding the silicone bases grease ( and not wanting to hijack the thread) , would vasaline or similiar do the same job ?

No other types of grease and vaseline have not got same protection and will attack insulation etc.

ford 5600

Farmer Pudsey wrote: »

No other types of grease and vaseline have not got same protection and will attack insulation etc.

I don't know anything about silicon grease. I always heard copper grease was what you should use for that purpose, and yes Vaseline as well, but both may have been superseded by newer products.

wiggy123

new battery got today, €150.. it was out of guarantee, only had 2 yrs on it....mine was 3.. disaster!!
unsure what to do with old battery. how I knw its ****ed...

dh1985

wiggy123 wrote: »

new battery got today, €150.. it was out of guarantee, only had 2 yrs on it....mine was 3.. disaster!!
unsure what to do with old battery. how I knw its ****ed...

They should be able to test it for you. Most places have a way of testing it.

Viewtodiefor

wiggy123 wrote: »

Quick question: tractor battery--for a ford 6610 bought 3 years ago, for €150..
seems to be ****ed, jump starting it this last 2 weeks... thought was fuses--all ok! alternator playing up--got it done the other day,fixed.. well he charged me for mending it... yesterday morning--still wouldn't start...
new battery needed maybe...
how long should it last-re a battery!
Say tractor driven on average 2 hours a week(when totalled up), over the year, when worked out..not worked much

3yrs for your avg battery isn't too bad when worked that kinda hours