Skid steer stalled on me in the middle of a mud hole and burned a little from rear compartment yesterday after 2 hours of light work. About 8 weeks or 50-hours ago I added an additional Ground Negative cable from battery to motor block because the skid steer stopped starting without assistance from a jump. So I checked ground by adding a ground cable and that seemed to fix it fine. Battery checked and charged fine according to a load tester. I've never had a battery do this before. Anyone knows what causes it? Both the Positive and Negative terminals are melted and separated from the top of the battery. It's a tiny 12" long by 6" wide battery, about the same height as a car battery. This is a 3 cylinder New Holland LT185b diesel so I'm not sure how much punch it needs for startup. Any ideas what I should check just to be sure I'm not going to fry a new battery if I install it and splice in new cables about 8" from the terminals?
I'm not clear what happened. Melted terminals would suggest big current, likely long term. An overcharging alternator would have to be extreme to produce that high current. A starter could do it, but it likely isn't turning long enough to get that hot. A short circuit would. If a battery cable chaffed through the insulation, it might conduct 300 or more amps to positive.
Are you sure the hot cable is not grounded out, somewhere? A Dead short in the battery can do it, too...
I thought I was saying that.
I removed battery and wires. My POS terminal wire is still good in appearance. My NEG term wire end is toast so I cut off about 4" to good wire. It's a Deka 1,000 CCA maintenance and vibration free battery. Marked 2013. Has small 5/16" (or there abouts) sized threaded studs that protrude from top of battery. Never seen this type before. Not normal terminal stud...probably some stock crap that's special order. I connected my 1,000 peak amps battery jumper box to it but I didn't receive any dash lights and no crank. Still totally dead. Should I be able to jump start the skid steer and operate it with no battery to get it out of mud hole? I checked all fuses with meter. There were two 7.5amp blade (marked on fuse door) fuses in cab ceiling I removed...one was burned open and has emblem of a light bulb next to it. The other had 20 amp fuse in it in error and had emblem of a fuel pump next to it. It was not burned. I don't have any 7.5amp blades so not sure if either these would effect crank. Anyone know of a way to shoot or test my two cable ends to see if any resistance or short may be on one or other that caused failure? I can't see where they lead. I suppose it's possible it was just a bad battery that shorted out. Likely the culprit...I hope. Was gonna find a dying battery, put in skid steer until started and then run it for a while and see if the battery reacts like this one. I don't want to fry a new one.
Typical scenario is negative battery cable connects to the machine's frame. Battery positive cable will run to the starter relay which may, or may not be mounted on the starter. Using a good battery, I'd connect the positive cable on both ends, and use a fuse holder to connect to negative terminal. A short circuit will blow the fuse. Those terminals are junk. You want a tapered post, clean it with a good quality terminal tool. I use NOALOX (from Home Depot, or electrical wholesaler). A high resistance connection at 120 volts can burn a building down. At 12 volts it requires 90% less resistance to overheat. It's possible you have no other problem than a bad connection at the battery. Willie
I thought inline surge fuses were usually on the POS side only. But I'm no electrician by any means. I guess one can be placed anywhere for extra surge protection eh? I definitely want to protect the new battery as well as any machine electrics from massive shorts or resistance. The wires are huge, like 2/0 or 4/0 AWG, about 5/16" or 1/3 inch diameter. What type and size fuse would be sufficient on the main battery cables? I'm hoping the whole problem was the 3 yr old battery negative battery post or other internal failure.
Electricity flows from negative to positive. Ben Franklyn guessed wrong about direction of flow. By the time he figured out which way it was flowing it was too big a deal to fix all his experiments. A starter might draw 300 amps or 3600 watts (two hair dryers). An alternator might be producing 100 amps, or 1200 watts. A fuse that big would be expensive. I would follow the positive cable to see if it has any bad spots in the insulation. As for the alternator, it could be over charging, but that likely would ruin the inside of the battery. It is likely your alternator is fine. A short to frame in any positive conductor might explain your battery damage, but just a loose connection at the battery could also be the problem. A fuse temporarily held between negative cable, and negative terminal would give a less destructive way to test than connecting directly. A DC ammeter might also help.
I got an aging (2010) low maintenance car battery that has 600cca and it seems to work fine until I track down an inexpensive AGM sealed battery. Got her outta the mud and such. Thanks! I was thinking about going with another Deka for $170 delivered because the Optima and other part store brands were $275+. I'm going to use the tapered battery terminals because my NEG cable is now fitted with that female type and I retrofitted the POS term by attaching a car terminal to it. I'm wondering what the minimum CCA is suggested for these New Hollands?
Will you use it in winter? A fully charged battery will give 40% of its available power at zero F. For those of us in cold climates, no battery will ever be too big. I've fitted all diesels with dual batteries, even those not designed as duals. You will profit in less trouble, longer starter life, and less frustration. When I need a machine, and it won't start I get very negative feelings. When it shouldn't start, but does, I feel good!, as if I were smart. I also use dual solenoids, and cables.
PS. You are paying too much for batteries. I size batteries by space where they go. I always buy as big as will fit. The most expensive battery I've ever bought was in the $150 range. I get best prices from my local Interstate dealer. Perhaps volume affects price, but they offer best value IMHO.
if you submerged the battery, and enough mud/water was across the terminals, you may have found the problem. :drinkup