I bought a new E26 in New Jersey two months ago, and the battery has already died twice this winter. Should I start the machine every few days, use a battery maintainer, or consider replacing it with a lithium battery? The machine is still well within the warranty period. Thank a lot!
What did your dealer say?
I agree first one I would ask is the dealer, but twice in two months seems wrong.
Does the machine have any sort of telematics?
Take the ****ing cables off when it sits.
My John Deere Skid steer 332g draws 5.5 Milliamps continuous on the battery for telematics and computer memory. That is not much in warm weather, but it cold weather it is a fair amount especially if living in colder areas. The reason it is worse is because the load does not ever change, but in minus 20C or more the battery only has a small fraction of its capacity. So in the cold after 6 weeks, there is no guarantee it will start. I go and trickle charge it every 3 weeks while removing snow from off my trailer and from in front of my shed. I then run it for 30 minutes cleaning snow and it gets charged right up. For your info in minus 35C a new Dodge Ram 1500 truck will be no start in 5 or 6 days because they draw around 50-60 milliamps at a temperature that the battery has little capacity. I mounted a Noco 3500 on my Chev 3500 to keep the battery perfect when I dont use it enough to keep fully charged. Simon C
Cables off works good as Shimmy said, if you don't mind doing that. Simon C
Taking the cables off would be a hassle to me. My CAT 320C (2006 vintage) has a disconnect switch. I use it at the end of every day...couldn't the OP install one? You can see mine under the fuse panel/box.
There are much easier options than that -
Yep. All our Cat equipment have them and we turn them off at the end of every day. Decent vandalism+theft protection as most don't have a disconnect key and keeps the battery drain at bay.
You can also get battery post disconnects but a master switch like shown is better and can be put in a convenient location or hidden to help prevent theft.
If we get a machine without a master (night) switch it is the first thing I add! As Dave says, consider locating in a hidden location, a bit of a theft deterrent. In the meantime consider just removing negative cable.. New machine…surely must be an issue if going dead that quickly.
Thanks, everyone, for your replies. The dealer said they will come next Tuesday to take a look and mentioned that the issue could be a weak battery. I believe my machine has telematics since I can view the GPS location, fuel level, and other data on the Bobcat website. Also, I don’t turn off the battery switch located below the seat. I’m still new to this area of operation. I’ll wait to see what the dealer technician says next week, and I’ll consider disconnecting the battery in the future. I recently purchased a "Shunt Battery Monitor," but I’m trying to avoid making too many modifications while the machine is still under warranty. This Bobcat hasn’t been as robust as I expected. My machine has only 20 hours of use, and I’ve already encountered three issues: At 10 hours, the hydraulic fluid was low. The technician came and fixed a loose connection. At 15 hours, the thumb hydraulic hose quick coupler snapped off after getting tangled with a tree branch. I reconnected the coupler, and it seems fine now. At 10 hours and again at 20 hours, the battery went dead.
This may be your issue. Happened to our Cat 325 NG when it sat at the dealers yard for a couple of months then on our yard for 2 weeks. The telematics and GPS ghost drained the system.
Tough customer.
Or a night switch.
Apparently he has one, and I guess I was assuming he was shutting it off. Some machines maintain power to the telematics, even with the disconnect turned off.
I keep a solar trickle charger on my machines when they are sitting for long periods, especially in the winter months. Connect it and forget about it, no extension cords or hassles. I don't like disconnecting the power on the newer machines since there is just too many electronics still activated when the machines are turned off(telematics,etc.).
Disconnecting or shutting off the batteries too soon can cause bigger issues. There should be a light near your battery switch. When it goes out, it is safe to shut off the switch. Too soon causes CAN BUS errors and sometimes in extreme cases wipes the operating software from the computer. Follow dealer techs recommendations. Good luck
Yes. Also for DEF purges on larger machines. All our Cat machines with DEF have the light.
Interesting. I don't have anything new enough that has a computer or emissions.
Consider yourself fortunate.