International Harvester Company TD-24 Operator's Manual page 84

MAINTENANCE
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM - Continued
Storage Batteries
1. REGISTRATION CARD. (Not for ex-
port.) A registration card is furnished with
the batteries. This card should be filled in
and given to your International Industrial
Power distributor or dealer for registra-
tion.
2. BATTERIES FOR EXPORT. Com-
plete instructions are included with batter-
ies.
3. KEEP TERMINALS CLEAN. Battery
cable terminals must be clean and tight. Use
hot water for removing terminal corrosion
and for cleaning top of battery. Brighten ter- .
minal contact surface with wire wool, apply
a light coat
of va s el ine, and reassemble.
Be
sure terminals are clamped tightly and that
the batteries are fastened securely in the
ba
tte ry boxe s.
4. KEEP VENTS OPEN. Keep vent hol e s .
in battery filler caps open.
5. KEEP UP ELECTROLYTE LEVEL.
The electrolyte in each cell should be 3/8
inch above the separators. Keep the electro-
lyte up to this level at all times; to prevent
battery failure. When the electrolyte falls
below this level, pure distilled water should
be added. Never use hydrant water or any
water which has been in a metal receptacle.
Keep pure distilled water in a glass jar on
hand for battery use only. To put water in a
cell, use a clean syringe. When adding water
to the batteries in temperature near the
freezi~g point (32
0
F.), always operate the
engine long enough to mix the water and the
electrolyte, or damage to the batteries from
the water freezing will result.
6. KEEP BATTERIES FULLY
CHARGED. The batteries must be main-
tained at full or nearly full charge to operate
the starting motor satisfactorily. The spe-
cific gravity of the electrolyte indicates the
strength of the battery charge and its ability
to crank the engine. The following table
illustrates a typical range of specific gravity
readings (at 80
0
F. or corrected to 80
0
F.)
with respect to the condition of the battery
charge:
1.280 sp. gr.
1.250 sp. gr.
1.220 sp. gr.
1.190 sp. gr.
1.160 sp. gr.
1.130 sp. gr.
Fully charged
75% charged
50% charged
. 25%charged
Very little useful capacity
. . . . . . .. Discharged
Specific gravity reading of at least 1.250
at 800 F., or corrected to 800 F., should be
maintained (see par. 7 following).
If the spe-
cific gravity falls below this figure, the gen-
erator charging rate should be increased or
the batteries should be recharged with stand-
ard auxiliary battery recharger.
7. VARIATION OF ELECTROLYTE
SPECIFIC GRAVITY WITH THE TEMPERA-
TURE. The specific gravity reading of the
electrolyte will vary with the temperature.
For instance, fully charged batteries reading
1.280 at 800 F. will read 1.268 at 1100 F.
or 1.312 at 00 F. When checking specific
gravity to determine the condition of the bat-
tery charge or to adjust the charging rate of
the generator, if the temperature is extreme-
ly high or low, the hydrometer reading at the
actual electrolyte temperature should be cor-
rected to standard reading at 800F. by re-
ferring to the table following:
Read the thermometer in the electrolyte.
Read the hydrometer. At the top of the table
which follows, find the column headed by the
temperature nearest to the electrolyte
tern-
perature; find in that qol.umn the figure near-
est.the observed specific gravity reading and
trace horizontally across to the 800 F.
column. The figure in the 80
0
F. column is
the true electrolyte specific gravity and
should form the basis for any adjustment.
OOF
200F 400 F 800F
lOOoF 1l00F 120'F
1.251 1.243 1...236 1.220 1.213 1.209 1.205
1.261 1.253 1.246 1.230 1.223 1.219 1.215
1.271 1.263 1.256 1.240 1.233 1.229 1.225
1.281 1.2. 7 3
1.266 1.250 1.243 1.239 1.235
1.291 1.283 1.276 1.260 1.252 1.249 1.245
1.301 1.294 1.286 1.270 1.262 1.258 1.255
1.312 1.304 1.296 1.280 1.272 1.268 1.265
8. PRECAUTIONS FOR CHECKING AND
MAINTAININGSPECIFIC GRAVITY.
a. Inspect the batteries once a week or
more often to maintain the correct specific
gravity. NOTE: After operating approxi-
mately 40 hours, if it is found that the water
has evaporated more than 2 ounces (an aver-
age size hydrometer full) from each cell of
the batteries, this is a sign that the batteries
are being over-charged. DO NOT NEGLECT
THIS .SIGN. Have your International Industri-
al Power distributor or dealer adjust the
electrical charging rate. Delay may serious-
ly damage the batteries.
82