Theories....

[timothyr1014]

on one of my old show cars I would lose the digital eq settings (even recording all the settings it would take at least 30mins to retune) if i disconnected, the solution was to add a 12v lantern battery behind a deadmans switch...I could cut the mains, but still have enough juice to retain the electronics. Just dont try and start off of it as that will defeat the whole purpose

 

[idi traveler]

I had a bad experience several decades ago with a little Mazda glc. I went out one morning and the batt was dead, I had had the car for a couple of years so I checked the condition of the fan belt, it was glazed over, got a new one from Auto Zone. the next morning the batt was dead, put a new batt in. A couple of days later I went out and the batt was dead, I drove the next weak with out incident and then one morning the batt was dead. So I thought alt problem, trouble was there we no alt's anywhere to be found. I did how ever find a rebuild kit in Fort Worth for a cool $110, 130 mile trip one way and I was in business. A couple of days later, dead batt. I tested for phantom batt load, nothing. I lived with the problem for another year. Until one day I was driving through a small town in Oklahoma and that Auto Zone belt came apart. I walked a mile to a Phillips 66 station and was able to get a Gates belt. I never had the problem again, the difference in a $2 Atuo Zone belt and a $10 gates belt in 1984. It does not account for the batt tenders but have you checked the belts?

 

[runaway!]

The alt will only provide output when there is sufficient current draw to drop the voltage and trip the VR. Otherwise an alt will never charge a battery.

You said voltage was fine but just no cranking amps, even a bad battery will post enough voltage to keep the VR from tripping.

If you wanna charge a dead battery with the alt, you need to apply a resistive load (headlights). The draw will drop the voltage and cause the VR to kick on the alternator - and the current draw from the lights won't exceed the alt output unless you are warm and at idle. Some of the plow guys can attest, lights and low speed makes for dim lights and dead batts.

You certainly have something drawing down on your batts, a battery tender should fail open. I imagine you have something with a significant draw occurring, a failed rectifier in your alt could pull small load and you would never notice (fuse never blows) - it would also effect the output as it converts alternator AC into DC. If your alt was in this condition, it would also fry new batteries...

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

Okay, I will stick my nose in and say what I know.


I have probably twelve or fifteen el-cheapo ten-dollar (five-dollars on sale) Harbor Freight "float"-chargers for the last several years with absolutely nothing but GOOD to say about them.

I use them constantly and have NEVER had one to fail.

Multiple batteries makes no difference to a single "tender" as the tender sees the voltage as being only one battery, regardless whether there may actually be a dozen.

Before ever having the "tenders", I had to replace mower batteries every year; now I am going on past five years on the same batteries and the mowers can sit un-used all winter and still crank over like new.

With several seldom driven vehicles sitting around, mowing day was always started by jump-starting a dozen various vehicles just to move them around; not any more !!! with the tenders always connected they crank over with authority and keep cranking until the engine fires; that alone is enough to convince me of their usefulness.




All of that being said, I tend to think that your problem may very well be the tender you are using.

Humor me and try a couple of the ones like I use and see if that doesn't cure your problem.

If it doesn't, and the truck keeps killing batteries, then you have some weird electrical issue going on, possibly within the regulator of the Leece-Neville.

Is the Leece-Neville a 110-555 ??

If so, it is a five minute job to swap regulators.


But then, it IS a Leece-Neville, so I doubt it is the culprit.

 

[franklin2]

I would just start the vehicle every so often during the winter and let it run for about 20 minutes. This will exercise and charge the batteries, circulate the fluids in the engine, fuel system, and cooling system, knock the rust off the pulleys while rotating the belts and seals in the waterpump, etc.

 

[BigRigTech]

Personally, I don't use trickle chargers or tenders.....Let it sit for a month if it's stored outside or 2 months inside and give it a slow, light amperage charge and then let it sit again. I think the key here is that light amp draws signal the tender to work, batteries are mean't for heavy draws and then a decent charging rate....My theory is that the moderate to heavy charging cleans the plates and prevents the plates from sulfating and touching each other thus killing itself and the charger in the process....I let my battery in the old Merc sit all winter in a heated garage - it always fires right up....I don't charge it for 4 months sometimes over the winter.

 

[jwalterus]

here's another thought......

if the batteries need a light load to draw juice from them and keep the tender charging.....

why not put one of those $5 wally world LED light sticks in that plug into your cigar lighter outlet? just need to make sure you have one on a constant power (I have a 3-way additional one hard wired to a battery with a fuse all its own), that would draw a constant 0.1 amp and give the possible overcharge a place to be used

not to mention the LEDs are suposed to be good for something like 500k hours on those....

 

[runaway!]

Another thing, look at the voltages the tender is making. If you start hitting 14v for long periods the battery will start loosing capacity.

Is the tender a trickle charger or floating charger? That could be the difference between wrecking and maintaining.

 

[burtcheca]

A fully charged battery should read in the voltimeter 12.56v. From 12.5 to 12.4v is 50% discharged, batteries going under 50% charge too often will have their useful life reduced. Under 12.3v not much juice is left. If you read more than 12.7 after an hour disconnected from the charger the are overcharged. Always wait about an hour after they are disconnected to get an exact reading with the voltimeter. Low temperatures affect battery life. Best temperature to keep batteries is in the seventies. I know these numbers because I use batteries to storage electricity produced by solar panels and a windmill. My old batteries were the same type used in cars and trucks, just with more lead and acid. When I had the old type batteries I had to monitor them. Also and equalizer with your charger is a good idea, I have my two batteries in my '86 E350 with an equalizer, if interested I can recommend the same I use. Two new batteries can behave different when charging. Batteries disconnected loose 1% charge per day because of internal short circuit, you cannot do anything about it, is in their nature. I now use the same kind the Army uses: AGM, almost no maintenance, but the numbers are a little different of those I gave you. I hope these number can help you know whats going on with your batteries without having to trust those pesky gadgets of today. You just need a reliable multimeter (20Kv per ohm) analog not digital.

 

[Ataylor]

Battery Tender

I have had a Battery Tender cook 2 batterys. This was the "Battery Tender" brand, not a copy. Both times the Battery Tender had a green light. I checked the battery electrolyte levels before putting it on the tender and the batterys were only 6 months old. After a month of being on the tender the electrolyte levels were non exsistant. I stopped using the tender after the 2nd battery was cooked.

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

By the way, MEL, what does the fluid level look like in the killed batteries ??

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

I bought the Battery Tender Plus at the Corvette museum gift shop.

What a most peculiar place to make such a purchase.

 

[Agnem]

Interesting Archie. I'll keep that in mind. Damon, I checked the NAPA's last night and they were both FULL, and SHOW a 100% charge with the electrolyte tester gizmo. I'll be taking them to NAPA today, so I'm hoping they have a load tester there to verify my findings. I also took the Moose Truck for a spin, and all seems well. When I parked it, the electric fans ran for a little while like they normally do, so the battery tender was red when I hooked it up. It should be green when I get home today. I'll check the voltage with a VOM as suggested and make sure it isn't cooking the new ones.

 

[Agnem]

Just got back from NAPA. They put the batts on their tester. The one battery, according to the diagnostic tool, had a bad cell. Does anybody know how it knows this? Could I have discovered that myself? The second batt showed a full charge, but when he put the load tester on it, it dropped right down to nothing. The he tried to charge it, and initially it didn't want to take a charge, but then it started to. He wants to let it cook overnight and will tell me tomorrow what it's status is. One battery is definitely getting replaced, although I may have a hassle with it since I don't have the recept anymore. The were purchased not quite a year ago. At least at this point it looks to me like this was death by NAPA. I don't know if the bad batts killed the battery tender, or the other way around, but one thing is for sure and that is that eventually the one battery killed the other one.

 

[Agnem]

What a most peculiar place to make such a purchase.

Well oddly enough, when I went to the Corvette museum as part of our rally activity, I walled into the gift shop thinking there would be nothing in there a Ford man would want. But then I saw the cute little battery tender with the Corvette Museum decoration and thought that since I was looking for a battery tender anyway, that it would make a nice momento from the rally. Each time I've had it replaced, I've been very specific to them that I want one decorated the same way. Maybe that's the whole problem huh? Charging a Ford with a charger that has a picture of a Corvette on it.