Colt Case Ingersoll Garden Tractors

I was wondering if any of the members here have used battery maintainers on their tractors over the winter and what their opinion of their use were.

Keep the Peace
Harry

I have used this one since Feb 2017, especially in the winter. It keeps battery charged and tractor starts good. I tend not to use it in the warm weather so much.
Bob

Thanks Bob for your input.
Keep the Peace
Harry

They do help for maintaining voltage in the winter time . For those of us that experience real winters I highly recommend them for all equipment that you still use on occasion during winter , all other I pull the batteries and shelve in the heated shop . What most people are not aware of, is that the temperature fluctuation can cause condensation to form on the battery, solenoid, ect , and with a little dust on it can create a parasitic draw between the B+ post and ground slowly draining the battery . So when the S@#$ hit the fan it may be hard to start .

Dave

Thanks for the information David. I have four tractors in a unheated shed behind my heated shop. I have removed batteries and stored them into my heated shop before. I am trying to eliminate the work playing musical batteries. I was hoping to purchase a trickle charger that would charge four batteries over the winter. I've seen some on Amazon, right now in the research stage.

Keep the Peace
Harry

I've found a quality tractor battery goes a long ways. My dad used to buy our tractor batteries at Walmart and they would last about 2 summers and need to be replaced. My Ingersoll came with a new Napa 250CCA? battery and after 4 years it started just fine even in the winter (my tractor is kept in the garage not in a shed, about 20°F when its cold out). When I purchased my generator, the 4 year old Napa tractor battery went in the generator and I did some research on a new battery. Napa's tractor batteries are made by East Penn Manufacturing which according to the internet seems to be more highly rated than Johnson Controls who makes Walmarts batteries. The batteries are easily identified, East Penn's have a flat top, Johnson Control's have caps on top. I ended up going with a 350CCA East Penn tractor battery from O'Reillys auto parts before O'Reilly's changed to Johnson Controls. The 350CCA battery certainly cranks my 16HP vanguard with authority.

Really timely post @MattA ! I was just dealing with some batteries now! Thank you!

Researching solar electric, one of the things they harp on is the deeper you discharge a battery, the shorter its lifespan will be. I always put in the highest CCA capacity battery I can fit in the battery box. Our 2002 Focus had a huge battery in it and got 14 years out of it. The 2014 Focus has a much smaller battery and only got 6 years out of it. Both were the OEM Motorcraft batteries.


Gordy

Gordy wrote: ↑Sat Nov 27, 2021 11:59 pm Researching solar electric, one of the things they harp on is the deeper you discharge a battery, the shorter its lifespan will be. I always put in the highest CCA capacity battery I can fit in the battery box. Our 2002 Focus had a huge battery in it and got 14 years out of it. The 2014 Focus has a much smaller battery and only got 6 years out of it. Both were the OEM Motorcraft batteries.


Gordy

This come direct from one of the battery manufacturers .
( "This is a hard and fast NO. By fully discharging your lead acid battery, or even discharging it below 80% of its rated capacity, you could damage the battery.

The belief that a battery needed to be fully discharged before recharging goes back to the memory effect issue. (See question 1.) Since that is no longer an issue (and never was an issue with lead acid batteries) there is not a need to fully discharge.

By discharging a lead acid battery to below the manufacturer’s stated end of life discharge voltage you are allowing the polarity of some of the weaker cells to become reversed. This causes permanent damage to those cells and prevents the battery from ever being recharged properly ." )

Sulphating on the surface of the cells is the most common problem caused by discharging . Sulphur crystals build up on the plates limiting the amount of charge exchange . It is like a window progressively getting dirty , the dirtier it get the less light in and less you can see out . New style "pulse chargers " are suppose to dislodge the crystals and allow them to be dissolved back into the sulphuric acid . I have wanted to get one and see for myself if you can resurrect an older week battery , but they are expensive and not in the budget right now .

And yes you can reverse the charge in a lead acid battery . Many moons ago we did it in trade school . We fully discharge a car battery and then charged it in reverse polarity. It did take a charge and it was reverse polarity. Was not as strong as it was before , but it did .

Dave

Guys, really appreciate your posts and info. Odd that I too am having battery issues. I was getting the 444 ready for snow plowing, and it wouldn't crank. In the past I've used the "start" function on my battery charger to get going during winter, but even that wasn't doing a thing.
Jumping to conclusions I swapped the solenoid from my other 444 (was making a loud clicking noise) to see if that made a difference (the one before didn't have a second tab for pto/travel lever safety I discovered as well). Still nothing.
Before moving on to test key switch I flipped the charger to "charge" and noticed the needle acting odd (bouncing back and forth a bit and charge light going from red to green).
Decided to then swap out the battery from the John Deere AMT which I was driving this afternoon and it cranked over and fired right up.
Previous battery is just over 3 years old. I will see if I can top up with distilled water and bring it back but I think it's gone.
Those battery renders are great - use one on my motorcycle in the winter, and will get another for the 444 for this winter as well.

Now I'm ready for the white stuff!

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That 444 looks wicked with the blade on @Chad ! We should start some sort of brotherhood of the 444 gang with leather jacket and all sons of the 444, the number of the mist

Well, I gave up on experimenting with the original Case battery that came with the latest 444 and got a new battery from Walmart on an impulse

Talk about white stuff, put another auger on the caster and slapped it on the 446 because I just don't have the time and energy now to deal with putting it on the 244 like I intended (dreamed of).

P.S. I am an impostor in this discussion, I own zero battery tenders

DavidBarkey wrote: ↑Sun Nov 28, 2021 6:23 am I have wanted to get one and see for myself if you can resurrect an older week battery , but they are expensive and not in the budget right now .
Dave

I have the "Battery Minder Plus" pictured above. The first one I bought years ago was $55+ usd, A few years later Northern Tool had them on a doorbuster sale for $24 I bought 4 and I talked Dad into buying some for his growing GT collection, which I later inherited.

I don't know if the holiday doorbuster sales are a big deal up there, but keep your eyes open


Gordy

Thanks! I'm in for the 444 club.

I'm excited to try the snow chains this year (just had wheel weights previously; the other 444 donated for now until I rebuild it). With me on the back it'll be around 610lbs and the added traction should hopefully make a difference.

I might pick up another battery too and call it a day. Wanted to pick one up from Costco when I was there a few weeks ago, but there were none to be had (maybe they consider it a seasonal thing?) Have had good luck with them before for the $. But might try something a little better this time.

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Just a reminder about replacement batteries. Garden tractor U1 and U1R batteries a rated by cranking amps and cold cranking amps. Onan engines need a 340 CCA rating. Box store batteries are often 300CCA and less. The low CA/CCA batteries will start an onan on a warm day if the tractor has not sat for a week or so but get a set of booster cables if you want to start it in the winter cold.

Spike.

Spike188 wrote: ↑Mon Nov 29, 2021 9:58 am Just a reminder about replacement batteries. Garden tractor U1 and U1R batteries a rated by cranking amps and cold cranking amps. Onan engines need a 340 CCA rating. Box store batteries are often 300CCA and less. The low CA/CCA batteries will start an onan on a warm day if the tractor has not sat for a week or so but get a set of booster cables if you want to start it in the winter cold.

Spike.

The battery I just got from Walmart is 150 CCA (this shows how cheap I am). Should probably return it, don't know if they accept batteries to be returned though.

I'd have gotten one at Costco, but yes, the don't have GT batteries out of season

Eugen wrote: ↑Mon Nov 29, 2021 12:49 pm

Spike188 wrote: ↑Mon Nov 29, 2021 9:58 am Just a reminder about replacement batteries. Garden tractor U1 and U1R batteries a rated by cranking amps and cold cranking amps. Onan engines need a 340 CCA rating. Box store batteries are often 300CCA and less. The low CA/CCA batteries will start an onan on a warm day if the tractor has not sat for a week or so but get a set of booster cables if you want to start it in the winter cold.

Spike.

The battery I just got from Walmart is 150 CCA (this shows how cheap I am). Should probably return it, don't know if they accept batteries to be returned though.

I'd have gotten one at Costco, but yes, the don't have GT batteries out of season

If you have not installed it they will take it back ,just tell it is to small . I get mine all from automotive parts suppliers . Interstate 300 CCA / 375 CA in Frankie and thats a P220 Onan and 12 gpm. pump it cranks over with no issues . That battery is about 5 years old now and not one issue . I have found over the years that quality batteries are better than there rating and the cheap stuff lower than there rating . You do get what you pay for .

Dave

Battery chargers can perform much more these days than they ever did. They can actually repair a battery. They also have controllers built-in for smart charging which means your charge level will not cause damage while charging.

I bought this one. Save your manual as entering the different functions is done by holding the button down at just the right time and place.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07W8 ... UTF8&psc=1

Having said that, for winter use you should have a battery with as close to or over 400 amps starting power.

The Pro Logic battery charger which is a battery maintainer is working fine. It charges four batteries with 2 amps each. It charges then goes into a pause mode then back on charge as the voltage drops. I've been checking the four tractor batteries with a voltmeter, and they have been holding at 13 volts.
I had a bad battery in my winter project 444, that gave me 10 volts on the voltmeter. I disconnected one of the charged batteries on the Pro Logic charger and connected this battery to it. The next day it had a red light on the charger meaning there was a fault somewhere. I turned if off and restarted it and the next day it faulted again. This charger is supposed to have a pulsing cycle to break down lead sulfate between cells in the battery.
I guess that particular battery will be turned in for a core charge when I purchase a new one.

Keep the Peace
Harry