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Unhooking battery to prevent drain

A

Anonymous-0

Well-known Member
What do any of you to do when disconnecting a battery(ies) for a tractor your not going to run for an extended period of time? I disconnected the postive terminals only but the batteries were somewhat down (less than 50%). This was on an AC 7040 with 2 - 12 volt batteris. It is a 12 volt system. Should the negative terminals also be disconnected? The batteries were a little over 2 years old.
 
I always disconnect the ground cable. For the simple reason you won't get any sparks when you hook them back up. Maybe someone on here will give us a good reason to do it one way or another. Len
 
Sorry I can't give you a reason, but do know that whenever a machine is equipped with a master disconnect switch, it always breaks the ground connection.
 
As long as one terminal was disconnected I believe the circuit would be broken so no drain on battery.

Another Forum I'm on the guys were saying to get more out of a lawn tractor battery, any attachments like a snow plow/ blower, a moldboard plow and some mower decks that would have metal contact with ground, to insulate with a wooden block, if setting fo a period of time.

I'm not sure I agree with that because tires have carbon in them and that will conduct electricity as well.
 
I use master disconnect switches on all mine. Regardless, all you have to unhook is one lead and it makes no difference which.

Ringer mentioned switches always disconnecting the the ground lead? Evey OEM setup I've ever seen is the opposite and unhooks the positive. Deere crawlers come standard equipped with a master disconnect (on the positive). Crawlers tend to have rear-mounted batteries with a long cable run. The cable sometimes can start fires when insulation wears off; thus the standard disconnect.

Master switches on tractors with big or dual batteries need high-amp rated switches. New, they cost around $40-$50 if you shop around. Gas tractors or small diesels can get by with a small switch. I have them on all my cars and trucks also, that hook directly to the positive battery post.
 
I would disconnect the pos cable. If you had a hot wire shorting out it could still drain the battery if the hot cable is connected. JMHO.
 
the proper way is to disconnect the ground first as len mentioned. its a safety thing. heard of guys with a ring on and acidentally touched ground with the wrench while undoing the pos. and had the ring burn into their finger as it would get red hot. moral of the story dont wear a ring, but yes neg.or ground comes off first. if your just unhooking batt. for safety that is all you need to unhook.
 
Unhook the ground. That's all you need to unhook to open the circuit.
The reason for unhooking the ground is simply a safety issue... if you had a ring that came in contact with ground while you were unhooking the hot cable... or you dropped a wrench as I'm known to do sometimes. I've never had them land on anything serious..... but it could happen.

Master disconnects are also a great thing. I think every machine should have one (I need to get busy on that)... and every one I've ever seen, factory or added was on the ground, not the hot. You can generally get away with less switch on the ground I beleive...

Also keep in mind that a battery will still discharge at a rate of 1-3% a month (in theory) even if it's disconnected. Keep the top clean and dry and give it a little charge periodically to keep it up.

Rod
 
'Pears to me that either cable could/would spark when hooking them up, IF there was current flowing???? Just completing the circuit????
 
If theres a circuit/short/load causing battery current to flow, disconnecting or reconencting EITHER Pos or Neg terminal dont matter, you can still get a spark. That battery has voltage across its two terminals and dont really know or care which one happens to be attached to a huge hunk of iron that you happen to be using as a wire/circuit current return path.

I prefer to FIRST disconnect the NEG terminal (on Neg grounded vehicle) because if the wrench happens to touch the iron frame theres no sparks BUTTTTTTTT if you first put a wrench on the Pos post and it happens to touch the frame its SPARK CITY with possible high temps and arcing etc OUCH

Master disconencts can be good for safety and/or to prevent current drain butttttttt thats two more connections to go bad plus possible resistance/carbon in its contacts i.e. THERES NO FREE LUNCH

Thats my story n Ima stickin to it

Ol John T and all
 
Hello Indiana Tom,
You always disconnect the negative FIRST!
You always instal the negative cable LAST!
Think what would happen once the nagative cable is disconnected. No ground, no path to the battery, even if the positive cable is connected.
Take both cables off, then clean the top of the battery with a little baking soda and wash it down with water, then charge the battery.
Cleaning the top will eliminate battery surface discharge.
Guido.
 
John, you have good advice about the wrench touching the frame and arcing.

Years ago when I was fresh married and still wore the wedding band all the time, I was tightening a battery cable left handed and my wedding band touched the frame with the wrench against the wedding band. Wedding band gets hot immediately, branding my finger. No amount of hand shaking could stop the burning.

The silver band was turned brown and I had a baloney blister around the ring finger, then the skin peeled off and was pretty tender for awhile. OUCH wasn"t the word I was using. Jim
 
I quit wearing my wedding ring about 20 years ago, when I reached up to steady myself when jumping off a silage wagon, and on the way down, ring snagged on a bolt and darn near tore my finger off. Wife quit wearing hers, too, because arthritic joints interfered with installation/ removal. So now we're both footloose and fancy free, and sometimes run into each other at wife-swapping parties.
 
You can install a master switch in the ground leg of your battery. This will isolate the battery from ground. The military used this for years on their vehicles. Probably are still using it. Hal
5400_cat2.jpg
 
Lotts of post on this one. JD is right about deer
construction eq but just about 90% of the rest of the oem makers have the switch in the negative side. Some one said if you had a short in the hot side it would keep drawing if you took off the negative, not so remove the negative or install a disconect switch.
 
I always leave my wedding ring off when I'm at work or on the farm. I know that they're a hazard and I'd prefer to have a finger to put it on.

That said, I've worked with plenty of guys who wore they're ring all the time, grease, grime and all. If I wore mine in grease, it'd look horrible as it's got 3 stones and grooves that run the diameter that would fill in and woulndn't come clean very easily... Always shook my head when I noticed they still had their rings on.


Donovan from Wisconsin
 
Fixerupper, I did the same thing with my wedding ring. I installed the battery hold down cover with a 1/4th inch drive ratchet and extension. Then I installed the positive cable and lastly the negative. The cable clamps were were the same size as the hold down bolts so I just used that same ratchet and extension to tighten the cable clamps. Of course it turned out to be just the right length along with my ring to connect between the two posts. It actually burnt a slot right out of the ring and I was able to pull the ring off with my other hand smearing the knuckle from the heat and burning my other fingers that pulled it off. One guy said that my finger would never be right again but I was lucky and can't even see where it happened. I try not to wear my rings when I am working on something but a person always seems to get into small projects without thinking about that.
 
If you"re talking about being down for more than a month or so, Rod is right: a wet cell vehicle battery will usually slowly lose its charge, and if it goes dead it"ll usually never be the same, even if you manage to resurrect it...
Old Roy, yes, I"ve seen car/light truck batteries sit a year and still fire up, but that"s remarkable because it"s so rare, at least in my experience.
 
Fixer, my granddad did that. He burnt a hole clear through his gold band. My grandmother still has the ring some where but I have the wrench. Looks like some one tried to strike an arc with a stick welder on it. He had a pretty good run with that ring, wore it close to 40 years. He lost the first one when it came off his finger shovel'n corn to hogs when they had been married for bout 10 years.

Dave
 
Jim

Have heard of this sort of thing happening alot around machinery. Another is some shaft grabbing the ring and stripping it off the finger along with most of the flesh. The slide shows and movies they used in Tractor Safety course I took 30 years ago showed the end result of this. Not a pretty picture.

I always figured if I had a wife who insisted I wear a band at all times I would just get a tattoo instead. And hey all I am not one to get inked friviously at 42 I am without that but this is probably the only thing I would ever get that would be visible.

Another thing that can do dammage is metal watch bands. I do wear one and have been lucky. My dad used to and had about the same thing happen to him with the watch.
 
Disconnecting a lead-acid battery will not prevent it from discharging. If you're not going to use your tractor for several months, the only way to preserve your battery from discharge and sulfation is to use a Battery Tender. Most motorcycle shops carry them.
Battery Tender
 
Depends if the machine is wired pos or neg chassis return.
It's a tractor forum so there are lots of pos chassis owners here. Although some don't know it and have installed replacement batteries backwards.
 
Hello buiskanndeere,
Yes you make a good point.
I should have stated, remove the ground first that would have been more of a correct statement!
We had in the onroad trucks positive systems. series parallel system as well. Those were the days! But has been awhile since those systems have been gone, just like my memory.
Guido.
 
As someone here already said... Just put a Solar 12V, panel on it AND yes i said 12V.... it WILL NOT hurt a 6V batt had one on a 6v for two yrs, cranks all the time and NO don't disconnect them, just Keep them charged. Larry KF4LKU
 
Depends on the W capacity of the cell and the length/duration of sun exposure.
It is possible to overcharge with a "solar cell".
 
My tractors sit for 3 months.I make monthly hydrometer checks.They start right up on March 1.You do not need battery maintainers.My hydrometer cost 89 cents.
 
Just saying it is a System that works for me, and will continue to do so..it's a DELCO batt may have something to do with it.. larry
 
(quoted from post at 00:23:24 10/05/09) If you use one of those battery disconnects, do you have to repolarize generator/regulators when you connect it again??
Click to expand...
o
 
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