What to Know About Electronics and Dead Batteries
Batteries in many late-model combines, tractors, sprayers and self-propelled machines equipped with GPS and other gee-whiz electronic technology often go dead while the machines are in storage. Some of their batteries lose power over a month or two; others go dead in less than a week.
Equipment manufacturers offer varying explanations and sometimes denials, but the bottom line is that various computers on those machines remain active even when the machine’s key switch is off.
Aftermarket controllers and computers connected directly to the battery, or to a battery-direct terminal in a fuse panel, are another culprit, and happily consume electricity even though their control switch is “off.”
Many manufacturers now incorporate battery disconnect switches, aka, “kill switches” in their main wiring harnesses to completely disconnect the machine’s batteries during storage. Heavy-duty kill switches can be added to older machines for less than $100.
Simply disconnecting the main ground cable at the battery accomplishes the same result, but takes a little more work.
You may have to reset the digital clock on the machine’s cornerpost after totally disconnecting battery power during storage, but that’s easier and cheaper than replacing batteries.
