Help, what have I done?

[Toddo]

Idiot alert here.

Someone I know(throat clear) put the (+) on the neg. and the neg. on the (+) on the tractor with a rolling box style battery charger.

The charger now smokes when connected properly.

What have I killed and what have I cost myself?
a. tractor battery
b. battery charger

Thanks in advance,
Toddo

 

[ken w.]

Sounds like you fried the charger. You could have also damaged the alternator.NAPA had the battery charger / starter on sale for $129.00

 

[Gary S]

Disconnect the battery from the vehicle and try again. If the problem is the vehicle, it will work. If the charger still smokes, the charger is fried.

Troubleshooting 101

 

[justanengineer]

Sounds like you have a positive ground setup on the tractor (common on older tractors) and fried your battery charger, so at least b. Probably not a unless you melted a terminal or somehow cracked the battery housing.

 

[kythri]

Sounds like you have a positive ground setup on the tractor (common on older tractors)

It does?

I thought he said that he hooked up the charger backwards in his post.

Did I read that wrong?

 

[DrkMtnDew]

hook the charger up correctly to a different battery, like your car or pickup, to test the charger. assuming i understand your OP, your tractor is negative ground. which more or less, when hooked up backwards, creates a dead short on the charger. thus creating high amperage, lots of heat, and a nice little smoke cloud.

 

[justanengineer]

It does?

I thought he said that he hooked up the charger backwards in his post.

Did I read that wrong?

Sorry, I may have misunderstood but thought since he said it was a tractor that was the source of the polarity mistake, though simple human error could be possible too....I do worse things regularly so can sympathize, among them stabbing a negative battery terminal trying to find continuity to ground while working on my Dad's collection.

 

[shoot summ]

Do not hook the charger up to another battery, use a Multi-Meter and check the output of the charger. No sense in potentially ruining a battery to check the charger...

 

[Steinmetz]

hook the charger up correctly to a different battery, like your car or pickup, to test the charger. assuming i understand your OP, your tractor is negative ground. which more or less, when hooked up backwards, creates a dead short on the charger. thus creating high amperage, lots of heat, and a nice little smoke cloud.

Don't do this without at least checking the output of the charger with a voltmeter. Most likely, some of the diodes in the charger's rectifier blew. Might want to check those with an ohmmeter.

 

[Outlawmws]

You also need to check the battery for polarity. If it was left on and "Charged" you may need to discharge the battery (Hook it up to a load like an old head light to discharge, then recharge with a known good charger. (This happened in my auto lab class and I saw the AL teacher discharging the now confused battery...

 

[andywander]

hook the charger up correctly to a different battery, like your car or pickup, to test the charger. assuming i understand your OP, your tractor is negative ground. which more or less, when hooked up backwards, creates a dead short on the charger. thus creating high amperage, lots of heat, and a nice little smoke cloud.

The ground polarity of the electrical system on the tractor makes no difference at all. If you hook the charger up backwards, it is backwards. No more or no less of a "dead short" no matter what side is vehicle frame ground.

 

[signcrafter]

Do not hook the charger up to another battery, use a Multi-Meter and check the output of the charger. No sense in potentially ruining a battery to check the charger...

Some of the "smart" chargers won't put anything out without being hooked up to a battery. Not sure if that's what the OP has or not but just throwing this out there to keep in mind.

 

[Tucko]

a. tractor battery
b. battery charger
c. pride
d. All of the above.

Fixed it for you....

 

[bcradio]

....among them stabbing a negative battery terminal trying to find continuity to ground while working on my Dad's collection.

Was the negative/ground cable not hooked up when you did this? If it is, I don't see the issue.

 

[rockchucker]

Do not hook the charger up to another battery, use a Multi-Meter and check the output of the charger. No sense in potentially ruining a battery to check the charger...

No reason for that "Someone" to blow any more Batteries or rigs up!

 

[dirtydogintex]

Why do folks continually tell other folks
to use something perfectly good
as a test's guinea pig,
a test that more than likely will roast said pig?

 

[xfrk]

It's not their pig.

 

[Sureshot]

They like roast pork?

 

[justanengineer]

Was the negative/ground cable not hooked up when you did this? If it is, I don't see the issue.

The issue was my father's collection being mostly original antique IH/Farmall tractors with a positive ground. The positive connection on the battery goes to ground and the negative to the "hot" side, reverse polarity, thus stabbing the negative cable would never show continuity to ground.