On Tue, 22 Dec 2015 19:48:09 -0700, rbowman
wrote:

On 12/22/2015 07:08 PM, wrote:
Anyone have any clue what's happening. I sure dont!!

This is a long shot. Do you have a meter to verify the positive terminal
is in fact positive? It's rare but it is possible to reverse the
polarity on a discharged battery by connecting it backwards.

Don't you mean to say that it's possible to change the polarity of a
generator (not an alternator) by connecting the battery backwards,
even for a short time?

At any rate, you're right about the meter. He should measure the
voltage of the battery without the charger, with the charger, without
the charger when cranking the starter motor.

If low charge, or a bad battery, is really the problem, the voltage
will drop too much when cranking the starter.

(With a car, I don't need a meter and don't need to get out of the
driver's seat by trying to blow the horn while cranking the engine. I
do this test when the car won't crank. If it doesn't blow well, it's
the battery. It if blows well, the starter isn't even engaging
electrically, so its the starter circuit or the sstarter.)

It's the farm tractor part that makes me suspicious:

http://fergusontractors.org/fena/wp-...-Generator.pdf

Yeah, a gnerator. Not a battery.

Like I said, it's a long shot that the entire system might have been
reversed.

That only works if the battery is reversed, connected backwards. Maybe
it is and the OP is going by the post positions, which are reversed,
so he should look at the embossed + and - next to the battery posts.
Those are always accurate.