Turned on ignition switch, panel lights came on glow plug started then all shutdown. Tried again... no lights, no power nothing. I recharged the battery still nothing. I checked the 50amp slow blow fuse and it appears ok. Any suggestion as to what my next step should be, would be helpful. We live in Northern Vermont, so temperature is a consideration. The machine is kept in a very small barn and had been last used three weeks ago and everything was fine.
BX1880 dead
- Thread starter vtmountainwalker
- Start date
Check your battery voltage while connected to the tractor. Sometimes you can put a surface charge on which looks good until you load it. Batteries don't always die over time. Sometimes it's sudden, especially when cold.
Russell King
Well-known member
Lifetime Member
Equipment
L185F, Modern Ag Competitor 4’ shredder, Rhino tiller, rear dirt scoop
Check the condition of the battery cables and clean all of the connection points of the battery cables to be bright metal connections on both sides.
Whenever I read a statement " I checked the 50amp slow blow fuse and it appears ok. " I wonder why the word "appears" belongs in the sentence. After all, a fuse is either good or bad, and there is no in-between, so this leaves me with the assumption that you visually checked the fuse, and you didn't see any discernable indication of a defect with the fuse. If this is the case, then you need to recheck the fuse properly, and that is with an ohm meter. Fuses can appear to be functional when looking for a break in the filament and not seeing one, however, they still can be defective. You can't see the entire fuse filament at the metal ends or the attachment of the filament to the spades under a plastic fuse. If you don't have a meter to check the fuse, then replace the fuse to see if the situation changes. If there is a short in the wiring, then the new fuse is going to also fail, so this is really not a reliable method of testing that I rarely would recommend.
Remove the battery, take it into any reputable auto parts store, and have them check it with a load.
i7win7
Well-known member
Equipment
BX2370, B2650 grapple, tree puller, trailer mover, 3 point hoist, mower, tiller
ve9aa
Well-known member
Equipment
TG1860, BX2380 -backblade, bx2830 snowblower, fel, weight box,pallet forks,etc
...or better yet, buy one of these and use it for life...rather than running back and forth to your local auto parts store every time you have a suspect battery.
A voltmeter *MAY* tell you part of the story, but it will only tell you PART of the story.
I've seen batteries measure 12.8vdc at rest, but once you apply any kind of a load, poof, down to 2volts or something.
A voltmeter *MAY* tell you part of the story, but it will only tell you PART of the story.
I've seen batteries measure 12.8vdc at rest, but once you apply any kind of a load, poof, down to 2volts or something.
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It's been awhile since this happened to me but, what about safety sensor? Check pto to see if it's engaged, etc. I can't remember if it cuts out only the starter or if the ignition entirely locked out...
You had lights and power. You now have no lights, no power, nothing. It wasn't a gradual thing, and didn't happen while you were away from the machine - it stopped right then and there. That sounds a lot like a fuse or some sort of burned out wiring, not a battery problem. A weak battery would still give you lights after you've had it on the charger (and definitely whilst you have it one the charger - the charger should be enough to run the lights and glow plug).
I personally wouldn't get an analog multimeter, it costs about $20 to get an OK digital one.
(that's in NZ dollars, so about $20 US dollars, probably cheaper given the size of your market)
I personally wouldn't get an analog multimeter, it costs about $20 to get an OK digital one.
