TC24D battery light on - guessing alternator

jwstewar

Senior Member
Staff member
Been using the tractor off and on all winter without issue, including all day cleaning the barn a few weeks ago. Went out last Sunday to take some feed to the barn because it was too wet to take the truck. Start the tractor up, battery light comes on and it stays on. Thinking, uh oh, this isn't good. I go ahead and take the feed to the barn because the girls were yelling and wanted fed. So I brought it back to the garage. With everything off, the battery was sitting at 12.38 volts. With the tractor running it was at 12.2. Thinking it was either regulator or alternator itself I start looking. I checked eBay and what do you know. Found a bunch of hits. These all of course look like Chinese knock offs, but it was $60 w/ free shipping. It came Thursday. Saturday night I pull the old one off. It is very rough turning and if you listen closely you can hear a small screech in it. The new one turns very smooth and can hear nothing. It had a diagnostic paper in the box with everything saying the voltage and amperage and everything it put it. Supposedly it is able to put out 52 amp when the tractor originally came with a 40. I compared the old and the new. Identical except the new is silver instead of painted black and has a metal casing on the back instead of plastic. I put it on, fired the tractor up, the battery light was off.

Told my wife, it fit and works, now the question is how long. I'm guessing I could change several of these $60 units for the price of one from New Holland. As long as it isn't failing all the time, I think I'll be good.
 

Doc

Admin
Staff member
Gold Site Supporter
Good job. Yeah I'm with ya. With a little luck I figure that will last as long or longer than the original.
 

Lee1935

Active member
any good electric shop can repair your old one, that way you will have a standby. a new rotor and brushes is most all that's needed.
 

jwstewar

Senior Member
Staff member
Just for curiosity, I looked the alternator up on Messick's website. A new one is $550 and a remanned one is $280. I can change my new Chinese quite a few times for that kind of price difference.
 

thcri RIP

Gone But Not Forgotten
When I got my TC29D 16 years ago the battery that came with it failed the first year. Blew acid all over the radiator and rusted the radiator out. The white crud came and was sucked into the radiator all at once. My dealer gave me one of the new Gell batteries and worked flawlessly till last summer. I was not happy though becaus it was physically larger than the original and blocked off the air going to through the radiator and on hot days the motor would over heat.

Early last summer it failed and I too decided the less expensive was the way to go. Worked great all summer and last winter and no overheats. Two weeks ago that less expensive battery no longer holds a charge. Less than a year. Even if I put on the charger I can’t get it charged. Hoping the dealer will replace.

In my case the more expensive was the least expensive if I have to buy these.
 

jwstewar

Senior Member
Staff member
When I got my TC29D 16 years ago the battery that came with it failed the first year. Blew acid all over the radiator and rusted the radiator out. The white crud came and was sucked into the radiator all at once. My dealer gave me one of the new Gell batteries and worked flawlessly till last summer. I was not happy though becaus it was physically larger than the original and blocked off the air going to through the radiator and on hot days the motor would over heat.

Early last summer it failed and I too decided the less expensive was the way to go. Worked great all summer and last winter and no overheats. Two weeks ago that less expensive battery no longer holds a charge. Less than a year. Even if I put on the charger I can’t get it charged. Hoping the dealer will replace.

In my case the more expensive was the least expensive if I have to buy these.

I remember that happening.

My original battery lasted 11 or 12 years (2003 - 14/15). I just went to Advance and picked a same size battery up. I think it was around $100. It has not given me any issues. It even held up using it with this bad alternator without having to be jumped/charged. I've been pretty happy with that "cheap" alternative.
 

jwstewar

Senior Member
Staff member
Thanks Jerry, me too.

I know the tractor is getting some age on it, but I still think I have had some issues I don't think I should have had in a tractor with around 2200 hours on it. As much I've liked the tractor, I don't know that I would buy another blue.
 

jwstewar

Senior Member
Staff member
Grrr... I had my wife take the OEM alternator in to a shop to be rebuilt shortly after I put the new one on. The guys was getting ready to go on vacation and something about parts, so he said would be a bit. I wasn't overly concerned about. Fast forward to a month or so ago, the lights kept getting dimmer when using it at night and the tractor wouldn't start. I throw a multimeter on it. The battery was down to about 8 volts even when running, so the new alternator wasn't charging. No lights on, including when trying to start. Any way... as to why I'm posting now.

I go into the guy's shop that I took the original. He lost my alternator. He said he would order me a new one in and sell it to me at his cost. I say OK. So it comes in this past Tuesday (He charges me $75). I put it on, it fits fine. I start the tractor the battery light comes on when I try to start it just like it used to. Start the tractor, the light doesn't go off. I check all of the connections and they all seem good. Belt is tight. Tractor not running, battery is sitting at 12.55 volts. Running the battery is sitting at 12.52 after starting. Then shut off and start again turn lights on 12.44 volts.

I take it back off and had my son take it back to them yesterday to have them test it and the Chinese one. He said the new one is OK. The Chinese knock he said got hot really quick, but it should keep the battery charged. Obviously it isn't.

So I'm kind of stuck, looking at the repair manual, it says it is an internal regulator. So why else would the battery light be on? I would think running, I should be seeing around 14 volts.
 

jwstewar

Senior Member
Staff member
I loaded the tractor up on Friday and hauled it into the place I got the new alternator. He was able to make the new alternator charge. So he said there was a broken wire at the wire going to the charging post of the alternator. So I then had my work cut out for me. I followed the wire back a bit. It then went into the main wiring harness via a plastic conector, thought I was in trouble then. Turns out, that plastic connector has gotten hot and burnt the wire. Knowing I wouldn't be able to find that connector and not really caring, I just cut the connector off back at good wire on each end. I then crimped new insulated spade connectors on. Fortunately still had enough wire that everything would reach. Fired it back up and all was good. I took pictures, but my phone did an update and I lost the pictures on my SD card, still need to see if I can do a recovery.

Since I had the dash apart, I decided to finish something I had started in the fall. I had 2 of the traditional halogen lights on the canopy and I had bought a light bar to replace them with. Turns out, I actually had a pinched wire here too that needed placed. According to the multi-meter I had voltage, but the light wouldn't light. So I had voltage, but no amperage. So I now have plenty of light out in front of the tractor.
 

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jwstewar

Senior Member
Staff member
I was finally able to get my pictures from my phone. The first several pictures show the connector and how hot it had been and how close it was to catching the tractor on fire.

The last few pictures show the light bar I installed on canopy. The one picture shows back of the bar, then the others show the tractor with the bar and head lights on. Then you can see how dark it was, then with the headlights, and then with the lightbar and headlights.

Only thing I'm not liking are the bugs. Fortunately the main time I need the light bar is in the winter, so bugs aren't a big deal. But the bugs seem to really like this light bar, they liked the old halogen ones too, but seem to be in love with this.
 

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