Posted by Brett in AK on Friday, April 13, 2007 at 09:56:24 :
In Reply to: Re: battery question for snow plowing posted by Jerry in Idaho on Thursday, April 12, 2007 at 21:24:38 :
I used to agree with what Jerry wrote, however I learned you're still only prolonging the inevitable. On my 74 W200 I tried the second battery and it helped for awhile, then I had two weak batteries after plowing. It's just too much of a draw when you're trying to run the plow, lights, heater(s). I solved the problem by later installing a 100 Amp alternator and a battery isolater available at NAPA. One drawback to the Mopar 100 amp alternator is that it doesn't really start charginig until the RPM's are increased. With extensive plowing you can still run the plow battery down, but you now still have a fully charged battery for normal vehicle operation. You might also want to have the plow motor checked out and change the plow fluid. I changed to aviation brake fluid which stays thinner at the cold temperatures up here. One last suggestion is to minimize the lift on the plow. There's no sense in lifting the plow any higher than necessary at the end of the push. Simply lift it high enough to clear the ground rather than raising it all the way up. Just my 2 cents worth!
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