How to Charge Your Tractor's Battery

Is your tractor battery dead? The Broken Tractor team wants to assist you by giving you a step-by-step list of how to charge your tractor battery.

If these steps are difficult for you to understand, or you believe you cannot perform them safely, please contact us or a local mechanic for consultation. For more information, you can also check your tractor owner’s manual. Also, please note that the purchase of a variable-rate battery charger is needed to complete the process.

Charging Procedure

1. Safely park the tractor, making sure it is secure.

2. Turn off the engine.

3. Activate the parking brake.

4. Remove the battery.

5. Connect the leads of the charger to the battery terminals. ***10 minutes is the normal maximum charging time at the boost setting.

6. Begin to charge at a low rate.

• Slowly increase the charging rate one setting at a time.
• After 1 minute of each setting, check the ammeter.
• Be sure to maintain a maximum charging rate of 10 amp.
• If required, utilize the boost setting.

7. Check to see if the battery has taken the 10 amp charge after 10 minutes at boost setting.

• Replace the battery if it did not take 10 amps after 10 minutes at boost setting.
• Go to steps 6 and 7 if the battery took 10 amps after 10 minutes at boost setting, and no additional water was needed.
• Go to Steps 4 and 5 if the battery took 10 amps after 10 minutes at boost setting but additional water was needed.

Go to Steps 4 and 5 if the battery accepted 10 amps after 10 minutes at boost setting, but the specific gravities of all the cells were below 1.175.It’s important to avoid damage to the battery. If the battery becomes too hot to touch, or if the battery releases much gas or bubbles, decrease the charge rate.

8. Next, set the battery charger to 15 to 25 amps.

9. Check the specific gravity after 30 minutes.

Additional Details:

• Check after 60 minutes if you are servicing a maintenance-free battery.
• Charge the battery at 10 to 15 amps for 6 to 12 hours if the battery discharges too slowly or too unpredictably.
• Charge the battery for 12 to 24 hours if you are servicing a maintenance-free battery.
• Charge the battery at 20 to 25 amps for 2 to 4 hours if the battery discharged too quickly.
• Charge the battery for 4 to 8 hours if you are servicing a maintenance-free battery.
• Replace the battery if the variation between cells is more than 50 points.
• Go to Steps 6 and 7 if the variation between cells is less than 50 points.
• Keep charging the battery until the specific gravity is between 1.230 and 1.265 points.
• Load the test battery.

If you need any assistance or additional information, contact the experts at Broken Tractor. We can help you figure out the issue or determine if you’ll need a new battery. Call us today or contact us online!