# Battery question



## msheron (Nov 24, 2013)

Here is my question...........I have a shop and a sloping shed built off the shop to house my tractor. 3 sides are open to air. I have a battery tender hooked into the tractor due to exposure to air and wondered if anyone else thinks this is overkill or a waste of time?

I lost two batteries a few years ago prematurely on a Kubota and a generator for not having a battery tender I believe was the cause. Now they were both in a garage however. So I feel like this will assist with maintaining the optimal charge on the battery due to being open.

Your thoughts???


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## Fredneck (May 25, 2012)

i'm surprised to hear you're having this problem. i generally think of cold as being the culprit in these cases. does it frequently get below freezing where u are?

i can't think of any harm you'd be doing by this. as long as the tender isn't drawing ridiculous amounts of current (and there's no reason it should), i don't really see a downside here. if you're losing batteries because of them freezing, this is a good way to avoid that. a properly charged battery shouldn't freeze.


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## msheron (Nov 24, 2013)

Well when I lost the other two batteries what I thought was premature I lived in western NC in the mountains and it would get cold for periods of time. Where I live now it is a bit milder but to me the cold air drains a battery so having my tractor exposed to air flow and now it coming into winter in a month I wondered if the tender would be a necessity.


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## tcreeley (Jan 2, 2012)

I'd wonder if you have a very mild short somewhere in your tractor that is killing the battery. I had one in my truck that was killing my battery on the cold days. It was an old unused electric snow plow winch switch hookup. It would fill with water from condensation and short out. I found it last winter when I decided to take it out and my battery was dead. When I lifted it out water dripped out (5F outside). The short was heating and condensation turned into a puddle. Summertime was not a problem because there was no condensation to speak of.

If the battery tender works- use it, but I would look for another cause that is draining the battery, I just replaced my battery- original in my 2003 tractor, a Nippon Denchi (Japan special!). Batteries should last some years, more if you use your tractor.

Good luck


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## oldguychuck (Oct 12, 2012)

Hi All

Many years ago I put a water heater on my 574 International for a couple of hours so it wud be an easy start in the AM at + 10 C or colder. Without it, my battery was often going dead and sometimes cud not be recharged.

At really cold temps, if I think I will need it in the AM, I will plug it in the night before.

A very few times, at, say -20 C, I often use a small squirt of ether into the air intake on the motor. It works, but don't get carried away with squirting too much or too often.

Plan B is to move to Hawaii for the winter.....

oldguychcuk


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## jhngardner367 (Apr 5, 2011)

If you have room for it,you can also use a battery wrap,like the truckers use.
It definitely helps !


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## msheron (Nov 24, 2013)

I have the permanent lead connect on the batteries of the New Holland and my JD lawn tractor. I just plug the tenders in at the shop when I park them when done using them. So far so good. The NH is a new tractor I bought this past spring so the battery is new. I just wonder for the next years to come if having it hooked up to the battery tender will get maximum use out of the battery as compared to nothing on it.


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## jhngardner367 (Apr 5, 2011)

It will definitely help!
By "cycling" the charge,the tenders help prevent sulfating of the plates,so the battery lasts longer.


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## mooose (Jun 19, 2015)

I use battery tenders on several different seldom used engines. Generators, lawn tractor in winter and my Polaris ranger.


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## pogobill (Jan 31, 2012)

I got a Schumacher Battery charger for my old car and my bike. It figures out if the battery is 6 or 12 volts, works great......so far. I picked up a couple of solar battery tenders a few years back, and mounted the darn things right on the tractor. I can't say as they work, but I haven't had a dead battery since. I did, however use my Honda Motorcycle charger that desulfates the batteries, and brings them up to a full charge before I installed the solar ones.


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