My Battery Runs Down?

[rneely]

I have an M925 and one of the four batteries drops below 12 volt over about a months time. I charge it up and it's ok, then slowly goes down. Is this a sign of a bad battery or do I have a drain from something? If it is a drain how do you I track it down? Everything is off while it is parked. Manuals have not given me any direction.
Thanks for you help.

 

[wreckerman893]

Unless you drive it a couple of times a week to keep the charge up the batteries will slowly discharge. You could also have a drain somewhere. You could install a battery disconnect and that might solve the problem.

 

[M35A2-AZ]

Have you put a current meter on it to see if it is a drew from the truck or just the batteries going down?
I would put a disconnect switch on it.

 

[HASSON1911]

Same problem, install a kill switch, problem solved!

 

[Tow4]

If there is no extra wire (electrical load) on the B+ lead I would say the battery is bad. Try un-hooking one of the terminals while it is sitting and check the voltage after a few days. If it's low, the battery is bad. A fully charged battery should be ~12.6v.

If there is an extra wire, check it to see where it goes and if there is a load.

 

[steelandcanvas]

Do you have a hydrometer or a load tester to test the battery? You may be looking at a bad battery. I would think a small parasitic draw would affect all the batteries, not just one. Test the battery and then go from there.

 

[Warthog]

I would say a bad battery. You might be able to save it with a desulfating charger.

I have a Hawker AGM glass mat battery that was bad. After using some tricks and a AGM charger/desulfator I was able to save it. ($800 battery)

It wouldn't take a charge. The trick was to hook two batteries in parallel and charge both. The good battery would take the charge and kick start the bad battery into taking the charge.

 

[Robo McDuff]

I have a similar problem with a Hawker Armasafe Plus 100 Ah battery from 2007 (this thread). After reading up on battery technology and maintenance, I am looking into buying a Pulsetech charger - desulfator. The link shows the three models mentioned below on the same page. Pulsetech has a nice 12 volt Maintenance charger and desulfator (XP-100C, $ 99) with very good reviews or the same in a 2 x 12 volt parallel configuration for a few $$ more. The cheapest 24 volt solution seems to be using their quad-link added to their XP-100C, setting you back $ 199 in total.

Anybody any experiences with these models? They are relatively expensive but still a lot cheaper than a new battery.

Edit later: they also have a dual station type for the same $ 199, better for 24 volts. Prices in online shops are about $ 30 to $ 60 cheaper.

 

[Suprman]

Hawker batteries like a good long deep charge. Sometimes they wont start taking a good charge for the first 12 hours. Put it individually on 15-20 amp charge for 36 hours.

 

[swbradley1]

Does the battery happen to be the one with a small wire attached between two of them that are wired in series? If so, then the 12v tap is drawing power all the time.

Otherwise I agree with the other members about a bad battery.

 

[Robo McDuff]

Suprman, I answered a similar question in my other thread
swbradly, these batteries were out of the car for 16 months, started the car once in November, slow but without problems and once in summer, ditto. Now it was taking too long, so I thought to load them. Then I found out.

As mentioned in the other thread, the topics are now running parallel, moderators maybe merge the threads?

 

[rneely]

I bought a PulseTEch 12V Xtreme Charger and put it on the battery today at 3:30 pm. It jumped to 75% and continues to cycle through a charge/pulse mode. I will update as it progresses. Paid $65.19 from Amazon. The volt meter showed 11.49V at start.

 

[Robo McDuff]

My batteries are back up, but it took several days of loading, then a bit of use (the truck started with immediately without any hiccup) and back on the loader. The pulse-tech loader-maintainer is on the Christmas list.

 

[tobyS]

I struggle with this also. I gave up on one 923 and bought 2 new 8D 1425 CCA to replace them. I really like them. Now I'm doing it to my 925. So there will be some take outs available in North Indiana.

 

[M35A2-AZ]

I struggle with this also. I gave up on one 923 and bought 2 new 8D 1425 CCA to replace them. I really like them. Now I'm doing it to my 925. So there will be some take outs available in North Indiana.

Did they fit ok in the box?

 

[tobyS]

Yes (posted before). But you have to reduce the bottom boards to 3/8" and I suggest insulating the terminals from the bottom of the seat.

Oh yea, the boards from under the batteries make great side and between spacers.

 

[rneely]

The PulseTech Extreme charger (see post #12) has my battery at 12.6V and says it is 100% charged. Now lets see if it holds.

 

[Robo McDuff]

12.6 volt is not very much. When I started and thought they were loaded, I had similar. After switching from slow to quick and back and leaving them on the loader for a few days they came up to 13.6V, even a few hours after the loader was disconnected. Maybe that is typical for these armasafe batteries.

 

[Robo McDuff]

I bought a PulseTEch 12V Xtreme Charger and put it on the battery today at 3:30 pm. It jumped to 75% and continues to cycle through a charge/pulse mode. I will update as it progresses. Paid $65.19 from Amazon. The volt meter showed 11.49V at start.




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After some months of winter, anything new on how the charger is working and the batteries are holding?

 

[whiskey357]

Sounds like a lot of good reasons to check out a kill switch.....get them for around 20 bunks for a good one....But looking at your battery system and check grounds...best of luck