Yet another 'Who designs it this way?!' Rant

[middle.road]

Picked up auction goodies on Tuesday in AL. Close to 3000# crammed in the bed of the Silverado, mostly big and heavy. (wait 'til y'all see that post...)
SWNB insisted we rest on Wednesday - who am I to argue?
So on Thursday I went to get the skidsteer out of the neighbors barn.
Battery dead... OK, hooked up the charger for (6) hours. No-go.
Now how do you change out the battery on a NH LS-170? Why all you have to do is raise the boom.
Why do they do that!!!? This is the third trac/skid steer I've had the displeasure of dealing with over the years that had that design feature.

I took a battery out of our 'Tranny dead-in-the-driveway'- F350, charged it up and tried connecting that from the outside. Still no-go.
Then I hooked the internal Optima back up, connected the F350 battery in parallel, and got a hold of an F450 dually to jump it.
Finally after all day of mucking with it, she fired up. Got it over to my garage, boom up and secured.
Swapping out 60# batteries is really a royal PiTA. - just saying.
Off to pick up a 31T this morning, hope it functions.
<End Rant>

 

[NCjeeper]

Cant wait to see your goodies.

 

[Ulma Doctor]

skid steers, scissor lifts, and forklifts are the 3 worst things to work on that i have ever had the displeasure of being paid to work on.
the designers put 10 lbs of shinola into a 5 lb bag.
they don't care about how someone is going to go about fixin' it when it goes down (AND IT WILL GO DOWN),
they just get it all in there somehow.

when i worked on material handling equipment,
i made a battery cart from 4- 6volt batteries linked in series and parallel to get 24 and 12v respectively
i could start semi-trucks, farm equipment, or forklifts from the same rack

here is a free tip: (not that it's worth free )
the key is to remove the dead battery from the circuit
if you try and jump a dead battery in the circuit, the jump charge is trying to elevate the voltage in the dead battery-
that power is not being used to start the vehicle
if you remove the dead battery from the circuit and hook up to the donor battery, the full capacity of the donor battery is being used to start the equipment/vehicle.
after the equipment is running, re-connect the battery terminals to the dead battery and let it run (for a couple hours if possible)

if the equipment fails to run or stops when you unhook the donor battery , your charging system is not functioning




PS, without pictures of a horde or tons of pirated booty, it doesn't exist

 

[vocatexas]

I feel your pain. I have an LS180. I've gotten into the habit of locking the boom in the raised position. You can change the battery with the boom down, but it is a very difficult job, especially by yourself. The first skid steer loader my dad bought back in '75 was a New Holland L35. The battery was under the seat. I wish my 180 had that feature. I wouldn't say the battery on that one was 'easy' to change, but it was a darn sight easier than the 180.

Can't wait to see your pics.

 

[Dhal22]

I need to buy a skid steer. Battery location is important I see.

 

[Nutfarmer]

I sure do wonder what engineers are thinking when they are designing equipment. I am working on a Mitsubishi fork lift with the battery directly over the top of the computer. Not even a battery try under the battery. Just think of the mess battery acid can do to the computer and associated wiring.

 

[stupoty]

skid steers, scissor lifts, and forklifts are the 3 worst things to work on that i have ever had the displeasure of being paid to work on.

I used to use a scissor lift a lot , occasionally I would have to take it up or down a long ramp , a couple of times the battery went flat on the way up which was when I discovered that it has a tilt sensor so it can only be charged on the flat

ha ha

 

[middle.road]

The 31T worked out fantastically. Better than I had hoped after two days of jacking around with the tractor.
The ol' beast didn't even hesitate. Started up in a heartbeat. Thankfully. Don't know how I'd unload all the swag from the auction without it...
Then a neighbor stopped by today and asked if I could haul a fallen tree up to his burn pile. Heck yeah!

-=- Link -=- to the battery...