Charging small lawn mower batterys

[nbpt100]

I refurbish a number of lawn mowers over the season and have been coming across a number with electric start options. The batterys vary by MFG and typically are all 12 volt and range in Amp Hours from about 2.8 to 3.4. 99% of the time the battery is dead and there is no charger. Each one has unique charger connectors. I was given the idea of using a battery motorcycle/ATV charger/tender that I can clamp directly on the terminals to charger and evaluate if it is good or bad. The problem I have run into is that some will list the Amp Hr they are rated to work with. The lowest I have seen is 5 Amp Hr., while some do not list anything but they use a lower current. My question is this: will a charger/tender like this one below work well and be safe? I do not need any fires or waste money on something that just won't do the task, for any reason. Thanks.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B081ZR7JZ9/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[Crabman]

I would think it would work.

I have had good luck with this one, which NT marks down to $29 or $34 pretty regularly.

BatteryMINDer Plus Battery Charger/Trickle Charger/Desulfator 12 Volt, 1 Amp, Model# 12117TC | Northern Tool

The BatteryMINDer Plus Battery Charger/Trickle Charger/Desulfator is an 8-stage maintenance charger/desulfator that extends performance and...

www.northerntool.com

 

[kelpaso1]

That should work fine, but the biggest problem is most people store their mowers out in a shed in the winter. The battery slowly looses it's charge over that time and will eventually freeze when the electrolyte turns to water when it is discharged. Best advise I give my customers is to remove the battery and bring it indoors for the winter where it will not freeze, even when discharged. Once a battery freezes once it is junk.

 

[Showkey]

Amazon NOCO 1 to 25 amp ……..

 

[FMB4]

Yuasa makes a well regarded 1 amp automatic battery charger and maintainer (YUA1201000). Not sure about the connectors, but you could always replace them with the typical clip/clamp type.

 

[nadogail]

From my limited experience, Yuasa is a very well regarded name in the battery game. Yuasa was the OEM battery in my first Toyota.

 

[nbpt100]

Amazon NOCO 1 to 25 amp ……..

thanks, those Noco's look pretty nice and a reasonable price.

I would think it would work.

I have had good luck with this one, which NT marks down to $29 or $34 pretty regularly.

BatteryMINDer Plus Battery Charger/Trickle Charger/Desulfator 12 Volt, 1 Amp, Model# 12117TC | Northern Tool

The BatteryMINDer Plus Battery Charger/Trickle Charger/Desulfator is an 8-stage maintenance charger/desulfator that extends performance and...

www.northerntool.com

That looks like a good one too but the mark down is only from 60 to 50 today.

That should work fine, but the biggest problem is most people store their mowers out in a shed in the winter. The battery slowly looses it's charge over that time and will eventually freeze when the electrolyte turns to water when it is discharged. Best advise I give my customers is to remove the battery and bring it indoors for the winter where it will not freeze, even when discharged. Once a battery freezes once it is junk.

Good advice but I doubt many of the people I deal with will actually do it. Many The want the electric start for ultra convenience or to overcome a disability. It is what it is.

 

[Crabman]

The NOCO's are nice as well as the batteryminders and battery tenders, I have some of all (yeah too many old cars and outdoor equipment)

If you shop Amazon, do a search and then go down the left column menu and hit used. These are typically customer returns with damaged packaging, although sometimes worse.

Example: Here is the NOCO 1 amp with several "used" from $4-6 less than the $29.99

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07W46BX31/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[kelpaso1]

thanks, those Noco's look pretty nice and a reasonable price.


That looks like a good one too but the mark down is only from 60 to 50 today.

Good advice but I doubt many of the people I deal with will actually do it. Many The want the electric start for ultra convenience or to overcome a disability. It is what it is.

If your disabled enough to not be able to pull the battery, then I doubt you will be pushing a mower around for an hour.

 

[mercifiknow]

If your disabled enough to not be able to pull the battery, then I doubt you will be pushing a mower around for an hour.

Not true dude. I can walk and do all kinds of things as regular able bodied people but have little strength in my arms from decimation of joints when I was a year and a half old (52 now) from arthritis. I can mow a lawn but can’t pick a battery up out of my truck or pull a corded lawnmower or my generator anymore. Things are relative.

 

[mercifiknow]

thanks, those Noco's look pretty nice and a reasonable price.


That looks like a good one too but the mark down is only from 60 to 50 today.

Good advice but I doubt many of the people I deal with will actually do it. Many The want the electric start for ultra convenience or to overcome a disability. It is what it is.

I wished there was an electric start on several things

 

[kelpaso1]

Not true dude. I can walk and do all kinds of things as regular able bodied people but have little strength in my arms from decimation of joints when I was a year and a half old (52 now) from arthritis. I can mow a lawn but can’t pick a battery up out of my truck or pull a corded lawnmower or my generator anymore. Things are relative.

And you're comparing a 4 pound mower battery to a 40 pound truck battery?

 

[dshop]

Harbor Freight has a great little battery charger/ maintainer for $24.95 on sale. It has a digital readout and will handle 6v and 12v batteries; I have used it on my riding mower for years...works great.

 

[mercifiknow]

And you're comparing a 4 pound mower battery to a 40 pound truck battery?

Negative. There are days I can’t lift that let alone a truck battery. Again it’s relative. You aren’t in his shoes. We are here to gain knowledge, or at least I am, not judge ability or lack there of. I’m done speaking on the matter.

 

[SILVERPLATE]

A battery tender will work just fine. I the same ones that I use on cars on the rider and generator batteries.

 

[nbpt100]

And you're comparing a 4 pound mower battery to a 40 pound truck battery?

My points were two fold which did not get understood by some. Let me add some context......Point 1 is that some people want convenience. They may be very busy or are not handy and do not want to learn how to pull the battery out. On Toro mowers it is pretty simple. On Certain Craftsman and Husqvarna mowers it requires the rear housing shroud to be removed to access the battery. This is over the head of some people I know. Others are not motivated to do it. The 2nd point is that some people's disabilites prevent them from being able to pull a recoil starter. However, They may be able to walk behind a mower for as long as they need. For example, my farther had shoulder surgery and after that could no longer pull start his mower. However he could walk behind it and mow his lawn for 45 minutes. I think most people got this but for those who may not have, this is the background context. It is off the topic of my main post as these threads often go sub topics branch off.

 

[mmb617]

A battery tender will work just fine. I the same ones that I use on cars on the rider and generator batteries.

Yep. I bought some battery tenders years ago and use them on cars and motorcycles that are stored all winter. The same model battery tenders also work with the lawn tractor battery.

I don't have electricity in the shed where I store the lawn tractor so I pull it's battery in the winter and hook it up to a tender in another building. That building is unheated but as long as the battery is kept charged it will not freeze.

Once a battery is frozen it's done, a lesson my son found out when he stored his motorcycle without a battery tender and ruined a brand new battery that winter.

It's also been my experience that no matter how well you care for it those lawn tractor batteries seldom last more than 3-4 years. And I don't buy the absolute bottom of the barrel ones, but I don't buy the top of the line ones either.

 

[Showkey]

If your disabled enough to not be able to pull the battery, then I doubt you will be pushing a mower around for an hour.

Women often have trouble pulling the starter rope on mower, generator and snow blower ……..but the actual operation of cutting or blowing is not an issue.
Then there’s the guys with bad rotator cuffs ?


Agree the vast majority with dead batteries are not repaired and the owner just pull start vs charging or replacement batteries.

 

[Buck41]

I have an electric start lawnmower and the battery went dead. My mower has the battery built into the switch mounted on the handle. Those suckers are expensive. I used a lipo battery that I use in my Radio control aircraft. I put a reseting breaker and it works fantastic. This is my wifes lawnmower and she needs the electric start because she can’t pull the manual rope anymore. As I recall it was a 3 cell 3200 battery. I have had to recharge it once this summer.

 

[Bretny]

I have no less than 8 pieces of seasonal equipment that have batteries. None are on chargers. I might have 1 or 2 weak batteries when the season starts again. Usualy those are batteries on there way out anyway.

The only thing I have a maintainer on is my generator. It may not get run for 6 months.

 

[D45]

I remove my mower battery every winter, before the deep freeze hits

Using the NOCO Genius 2, I make sure it's fully charged

Battery is then brought inside and stored on a shelf in the basement

Quick trickle charged then come spring time abd reinstalled