If you use a vehicle everyday and it has a flat battery one morning, chances are the battery is dead. If you haven't used a vehicle for five months then chances are it just needs charging.
A case in point is my tractor. Dead as a door nail. Half a day on charge and it coughs into life with a cloud of black smoke (or not on Sunday - needs a bit longer on charge).
This little battery charger has had some use over the last few years. I think as soon as you have a smallholding you have to have something that doesn't start first time, kind of an unwritten rule.
Growing up on the farm was no different. I remember that we used to have to leave certain vehicles within range of an electric socket or next to another, more reliable, vehicle so it could be jump started in the morning, sorting this minor problem was something we learnt at a fairly young age.
So what's the most unreliable (but easy to sort) vehicle you've owned or currently own?
We have just replaced the battery on the tractor the quad bike was last year although the quad now has a starter motor problem, the quad has a pull start as well but I cant do it with the pull start, new starter motor on order
ReplyDeleteWe are forever charging batteries fir the electric fence. We had a farm vehicle that had to be parked facing down hill to facilitate push starts! Pete once atempted a reverse push start then we had to tow it out of a gully with the tractor...
ReplyDeleteWe are forever charging batteries fir the electric fence. We had a farm vehicle that had to be parked facing down hill to facilitate push starts! Pete once atempted a reverse push start then we had to tow it out of a gully with the tractor...
ReplyDeleteWe bought a new tractor battery last week. It's good to have one charging and one in use. There are cheap mains electric fencers around a hundred pounds/euros on the market. I have also seen solar electric fencers but they are expensive.
ReplyDeleteYes, it used to be the big tractor (the John Deere 31/30) that LH renovated that needed charging whenever it had been sat for a while, now we have pretty reliable vehicles, and the main culprit for running out of charge in the tipper trailer. Very frustrating to have a full load all ready for use and you can't tip it out for a couple of hours .... oh well it gives you time to do something else while you wait ... like drink coffee ;-)
ReplyDeleteOne of my small riding mowers likes to go dead all the time but the most annoying one is my old 6 volt 8N. She doesn't go dead but will just out of the blue stop making a connection and have to have the battery connection cleaned. Will start one minute, work for a while, then not start at random. Gotta keep the stuff with her at all times to fix it.
ReplyDeleteOur riding lawn mower was left here by the previous homeowner. It would go dead,not start,hear the engine surge. Sunday the boys took it apart,including the engine. My son didn't have kind things to say when he was taking the engine apart. It sounds better when it's running, so we will see how long it lasts.
ReplyDeleteOn lawn tractors I have found that often it is not the battery but the coils that are at fault. The battery has enough juice to spin the motor over, and it is getting fuel, but the coils won't spark, or spark very weakly even with new plugs and a fresh battery, especially in cold weather. Hit the coils with a heat gun for a minute or two and they work. Sure sigh that the coils are toast and due to be replaced.
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