Battery Cables 101

Well, this weekend I decided to clean up my battery connections, and replace one of the cables.

Er, ahem, well, as a result of clean connections, and fresh heavy wire, my tractor now cranks over like a bat outa hell, and fires right up. As in bump the starter switch, and she's instantly running. I can't give you a cranking rpm, but I can say that with new wires and clean connections, it spins on 6 volts every bit as fast as it would when I jumped it with 12. We're not talking about a little bit of an improvement, we're talking phenominal difference!

So, the moral of todays story is check your connections and battery cables. It makes *quite* the difference in how the tractor starts.

In hind site, I'd have purchased 18" of the 3/0 cable from TSC (3.99 a foot), and had enough to make both cables new.

I posted this message for all the others out there who have lamented with me about the horribly slow cranking of the 6 volt system. It's pretty obvious to me now that they too are suffering from corrosion and or inadequate cables. I also really wanted to get the point across that my tractor now spins over *fast* on the 6 volts. Much to my chagrin. I only expected my tractor to pick up a bit of cranking speed, not to spin the engine over so fast that it actually keeps on rotating after I let go of the starter motor.

I am still a fan of 12 volt systems. But almost exclusively for the add on capabilities. As in electric pumps, etc. Some day, some where, mine may get a 12 volt conversion. But I have now been edumacated on the adequacies of the 6 volt system for starting the tractor, *if* things are kept clean. I just didn't appreciate how clean clean must be, and how well it will work when it's clean and properly sized.

To all my fellow lamenters of slow cranking, clean your connections! If in doubt, replace those battery cables! I firmly believe you will be as astonished as I was.