On Wednesday, December 23, 2015 at 7:56:10 AM UTC-6, wrote:
On Wednesday, December 23, 2015 at 6:16:05 AM UTC-5, Uncle Monster wrote:
On Tuesday, December 22, 2015 at 8:12:44 PM UTC-6, wrote:
I have a farm tractor with a positive ground. I hooked a 15A battery
charger to it, and had massive sparks shooting all over the place. Yes,
I did connect the polarity correctly, with the red clip on the batt +
post and black one in the batt - post.

Because of this, I removed one of the battery cables (to the
tractor)[the negative one], and reconnected the charger. The sparks were
so intense, they melted a small hole at the top of the battery post.

In all the years I have charged auto batteries, I have never had this
happen. Even touching the clips together on the charger dont cause such
intense sparks. What the heck could cause this?
My first thought is a shorted battery, but the tractor lights work fine.
There just is not enough charge to turn the starter over fast enough to
start the engine. I would think that if the battery was 'dead shorted'
it would not operate the lights, or make the starter turn slowly.

To insure the charger is not defective, I connected it to another
battery and it's charging properly, on both the 2A and the 15A settings.

Anyone have any clue what's happening. I sure dont!!

Did you try disconnecting the battery from the tractor before charging it? Š™.˜‰

[8~{} Uncle Charge Monster

+1

disconnect BOTH sides of the battery from the tractor.

then connect the charger

there may be a conflict with the grounds
M

I was thinking that the tractor may have its own earth ground, like an implement dug into the soil and there is some weird ground loop or some strange potential from the electrical power system getting through the positive connection of the charger. Š™.˜‰

[8~{} Uncle Potential Monster