Melted battery terminal

[DMaynard]

My 1979 International 175 Series C Loader was running great, had just moved many boulders and earth, the next startup melted the positive terminal of the first battery in a dual series lineup. Looking for some ideas before I do my trouble shooting. The terminals were tight.

 

[AndrewC]

I had a scraper do that when a starter failed and shorted to ground. Check your battery cables and starter.

 

[AllDodge]

Agree, first battery check the starter and cable for a short

 

[grandpa]

Terminals may have been tight,,, but were they clean? And yes I HATE when they do that!!!

 

[Scrub Puller]

Yair . . . grandpa may have nailed it.

It used to be fairly common to the extent that moulds were available for both positive and negative posts.

With judicious application of a bit of heat from a small welding tip on an oxy torch and some scrap lead it was possible to repair the battery.

I had my own set but any decent garage could do it.

Cheers.

 

[kshansen]

Yair . . . grandpa may have nailed it.

It used to be fairly common to the extent that moulds were available for both positive and negative posts.

With judicious application of a bit of heat from a small welding tip on an oxy torch and some scrap lead it was possible to repair the battery.

I had my own set but any decent garage could do it.

Cheers.

I'll have to check my tool box out in the morning to see if my set is still in there. Like Scrub says judicious use of small tip worked best. Set mold over the damaged terminal and melt the terminal while feeding in new lead until mold was full. If done right worked as good as new. Some tried to just melt lead and pour it into mold but the new lead would harden before it melted and bonded to the original.

 

[GregD1]

I never tried using a torch no matter how small a tip. What I have always used was a small carbon arc rod and a set of jumper cables using the battery power itself to melt the original post and add material. Cover the rest of the battery in a wet rag to be safe. Always use a full face shield and safety glasses and gloves.
If the post is totally gone. Put a sheet metal screw into the top of the lead and use it to hold the lead as you melt it to pour into the mold. Be careful as it is possible to blow the battery anytime you apply an open flame or heat over the battery.

 

[Mobiltech]

Terminals may have been tight,,, but were they clean? And yes I HATE when they do that!!!

I agree on this. If it zapped the post off it had a bad connection.

 

[Scrub Puller]

Yair . . . kshansen, GregD1 and others.

It's strange how subjects come up for discussion.

It was only a couple of weeks ago I mentioned repairing battery posts with moulds to a "young bloke" (thirty five or forty) and he had never heard of such a procedure . . . does this and the fact kshansen's moulds don't get used much these days mean there has been some improvement in terminals/connectors and it doesn't happen much any more?

It seemed to be quite common on 621 and the front engine of 627 scrapers and, just guessing, on a fleet of thirty or forty items of plant I reckon I'd repair half a dozen battery posts a year and find no underlying problems.

We were working in a salt water environment.

Cheers.

 

[DMiller]

Scrub, I am thinking they are adding more tin in the alloy for lead anymore, at least what I've seen the posts do not corrode as bad as used to either, that and the batteries I am getting anymore don't last but three to four years, use to see at least six on some manufacturers I am chalking that up to recycling the old lead back into new cells and the altered chemistry of today's engineering.

 

[lantraxco]

That and the seals around the posts are way better, the acid creeping into the post joint was always a problem. I used to use the NOCO treated felt washers and the spray on all battery terminals made a huge difference. Religious cleaning and tightening also helped. Gear reduction starters and engines that cold start better have also reduced the peak current draw. Lots of little factors.

 

[Scrub Puller]

Yair . . . Gotcha fellers, that all makes sense.

Cheers.

 

[kshansen]

Yair . . . Gotcha fellers, that all makes sense.

Cheers.

I was hoping it was because I was doing a better job of keeping them tight and clean! Dang, now you are telling me it's the engineers designing better batteries, engines and starters!

 

[lantraxco]

KSHANSEN>> It's a team effort dude, chill, and have a brew :drinkup

 

[kshansen]

KSHANSEN>> It's a team effort dude, chill, and have a brew :drinkup

Well I know one thing that I pushed for and have been doing different for many years. That is to toss out all those battery cable ends that attach to the wire with two 1/4 inch bolts on a plate. Had a hard time convincing some people that those were only for emergency/temporary repairs. Since going with crimp on ends with glue inside heat shrink don't think I have had any failures in that area. I always get a kick out of walking around a car show and see these expensive street rods with those cheap crap battery terminal ends. For the price of a few feet of pinstriping the guy could buy a crimper and some good heat shrink and do the job right.

 

[Scrub Puller]

Yair . . .

the guy could buy a crimper

Actually, along with the battery post moulds I had a little pot made out of a stub of inch pipe filled with solder.

Heat it with the torch, get the solder molten and then dip the stripped and fluxed end of the battery cable in and out a couple of times to bring it up to speed. When the heat is just right it accepts the solder and slurps it up like magic.

You then slip it then straight into the heated and tinned ferrule of the terminal/connector (held in jaws of an old set of vice grips set in position on the bench) . . . wait a moment and then quench it with a wet rag. Done right it won't damage the sheathing.

"Back in the day" this was the standard method of putting ends on battery and welder cables but even in my day it was going out of fashion and I was considered an aberration for sticking with the old ways.

Cheers.

 

[DMiller]

I still prefer a hot soldered connection as you do scrub to the current style of crimped technology, too easy to get contaminants in the connection and start corrosion you cannot see or fight. We used to set the terminals in the vise, use a gas axe to heat the cable cup add solder then insert the fluxed cable when well melted then dip just the terminal in a can of water using the cable and heat shrink after it had cooled some, also easy on sheathing.