We are urgently developing research requirements with other European laboratories to make sure we understand and the disease (Schmallenberg) better.Machinery Focus
Check you have the correct battery
THE ‘Type’ of battery fitted to a tractor is important and is usually shown on the label in a series of letters and numbers to indicate its specification.
Tractors need an SLI (Starting, Lights and Ignition) ‘Type’. This is designed to supply short bursts of high energy (for starting) and it achieves this by having a large plate surface area.
The ‘type’ does not indicate battery capacity, but the label has other letters, including AH, SAE, IEC, DIN and RC - all accompanied by numbers. These are internationally recognised standards for battery information:
- SAE, IEC, DIN - These are the most important figures to check because they denote the Cold Cranking Amps (CCA). This is the measure of the battery’s ability to deliver a high discharge for a short period of time at low temperatures.All the various codes have slightly different specifications, which is why the DIN figure is not the same as the SAE. It is important to know the CCA of the battery to ensure it has the capacity to start the tractor.
- AH 125 - AH stands for Amp Hours - or battery capacity, which indicates how long it will supply a specific current for 20 hours - discharging the battery from 13.2V (fully charged) down to 10.5V. In this case 6.25amps X 20 hours = AH 125.
- RC 250 - RC is Reserve Capacity. This shows how many minutes (250 in this case) the fully charged battery will be able to discharge 25amps until the terminal voltage drops below 10.5V.