Riding Mower Battery Life

[D45]

Every fall I take the battery out of the mower and store in in the basement

I trickle charge it in the spring and install it, usually never have a problem with it

So far this year I needed to use my jump pack twice to start the mower.

What gives? The battery is 5 or 6 years old.

Is it just time for a new one?

 

[Falcon67]

Thats maybe 2~3 time more life than I usually see. There's a reason they carry a 90 day warranty. I've had the same luck - couple years - and same not so luck - make one season - with Walmart and with Interstate. **** shoot. The O'relliy's around the corner from work won't carry mower batteries because it's nothing but a warranty hassle.

 

[BarryWells]

Batteries, like everything else made today are pre- designed to fail at a certain point.You got your time. Probably time for another although I've seen guys drain, install new acid and get aa little more. I see no point. That battery did you well. See if you can still get the exact one.

 

[Falcon67]

I'll add - you'd freak out at the number of "power sports" batteries the 110 quad we have has eaten over time. And it's race track only use and adult ridden. I just replaced the battery again this spring.

 

[D45]

Looks like its time to go battery shopping...…..I didn't realize that 5 years was a long life

Atleast they are cheap

 

[mcj115]

Lawn and garden application are tough on batteries (compared to automotive use) since they are used rather infrequently (1 or 2X week typically) vs daily for a car and lawn and garden tractors vibrate more (engines without balance shafts along with driving the bumpy yard.

 

[HAP]

I bought an AGM for my JD Z840. Got tired of the out gas and corrosion from the standard lead acid type.

R,
HAP

 

[ScottsGT]

I only get 2-3 years max out of mine.

 

[finn]

Mine is at six years, if I’m not mistaken. The mower sits in an unseated garage all winter, and it regularly drops to the single digits in there.

I had to put it on a trickle charger for a few hours on Tuesday when I wanted to fire it up for the first time this season.

Started right up after a few hours on the charger, but broke the deck belt after mowing for fifteen minutes.

 

[Arkansas COB]

Just bought a new battery from Oriellys. The one I used as a core come from there also. Super Start that was 9 yrs old. I have good luck with them. I do keep them on a battery tender during fall and winter when not being used regularly.

Never had much luck with wally world batteries

COB

 

[D45]

My current mower battery is a 230 CCA battery

Should I stick with this size or would it be beneficial to get a 340 CCA?

I do have a 25% off code for Advanced Auto I might use on this

 

[CoogarXR]

I guess I am just lucky. I park the riding mower in the fall and I don't disconnect it or trickle-charge it. I hop on it in the spring and it turns over a little slow, but it always fires up. I think I got 5+ years out of the last one (5 years of mine, plus however long my dad had it before me; it was his mower). My new one is going on 3 years now, I think.

 

[Garett]

I jump start my riding mower everytime I use it. I mow the lawns once a week. I guess I'm cheap, and it only takes a minute to jump it.

 

[58Yeoman]

The Walmart battery in my 58 Chevy lasted 17 years, and it's hardly ever driven. Always have a battery tender on it though. I put a solar charger on the old Cub Cadet which is not used much. It starts every time now.

 

[logical]

I keep my zero turn, motorcycle and ATV on Battery Tenders off season in a semi heated garage. I keep it at about 45-50F. I got 10 years out of the mower, 6 out of the ATV. The bike is 5 years on the original and still fine.

Failure at 6 or so years is not unusual. It might be best to keep it on the charger all winter even removed and inside.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[Arkansas COB]

My current mower battery is a 230 CCA battery

Should I stick with this size or would it be beneficial to get a 340 CCA?

I do have a 25% off code for Advanced Auto I might use on this

My rider calls for a 230 CCA but I use the 340 CCA. Seems they last longer. Maybe be a factor and maybe not.

COB

 

[tdkkart]

My father was convinced that those batteries had a 2 year timer on them.
I, in the other hand have owned my mower for 10 years and only put one battery in it, so the math says I got more than 2 years out of at least one of them.

Also, there are "trickle chargers", which are often nothing more than a 120V to 13ish volt transformer that effectively force feeds your battery, and then there are battery tenders that actually monitor and shut off when you battery is fully charged, and the restart when the voltage drops back off.
A good battery tender will often dramatically increase the life of your battery, and a cheap trickle charger will do it's best to kill your battery.

I use a good tender and seem to get good life out of my batteries. Had an AGM in my Harley that lasted over 10 years.

 

[Leaflessshadetree]

Years ago I was lucky to get more than a year out of a small battery. They have improved since then. I think 5 years is expected, more is a bonus.

 

[JordanOH]

I replaced the original battery in a grasshopper, it was 15 years old.

 

[Jay H 237]

In my two garden tractors I put 2011 Ford Fusion batteries instead of a lawn and garden one. Slightly bigger and not by much but a lot more CCA and they last longer now.

 

[HOTFR8]

Any battery that is not kept on a battery tender type of charger that lasts longer than three years is doing very well.

 

[Jazz1]

My experience with garden tractor batteries is they are a 1 season novelty at best. Small car batteries as others suggest are better alternative.

 

[James-W]

I get maybe three years on my riding lawn mower battery, sometimes a little longer, sometimes a little less. I take the battery out of the mower over the Winter and put it on the trickle charger for about four hours once a month.

 

[vertguy]

My '07 Simplicity tractor original battery finally died last year. Although this tractor does get year round use between mowing and snow blowing, it can sit for long periods and I rarely put a charger on it. We shall see how long the replacement lasts.

 

[CraigStu]

I am retired from 25 years as an auto tech. I don't have the tester we had at work so all mine get replaced when they are 5 yrs old. Just not worth it to me to gamble on a problem.
But the battery in my husqvarna GT only made it to 4 years.

 

[exranger06]

5 or 6 years old? You got more than your money's worth out of that one. Buy a new one. If the new one lasts half as long as this one did, you're doing good. There's a reason these batteries have only a 90 day warranty, as opposed to a 6 year warranty for car batteries. I used to get 1 year, MAYBE 2 out of a mower battery. Then I started keeping them on a trickle charger all winter long, which extended their life to 3-4 years.

 

[pattenp]

I pull the little caps out at end of cutting season and top off the cells with distilled water and place on battery tender. Current battery is over 5yrs old.

 

[mfewtrail]

Current battery is 4 years old. On my previous riding mower, I was lucky to get maybe 3 years max out of them(Lowes batteries). My yard has plenty of bumpy areas which probably isn't helping the batteries any.

 

[ezover]

I jump start my riding mower everytime I use it. I mow the lawns once a week. I guess I'm cheap, and it only takes a minute to jump it.

yep, have a buddy that dose the same thing. he has 2 property with a mower at each. takes the jump pak hooks it up and he's good to go.

 

[laser3kw]

The charging system on a small engine aren't the greatest. Every time you start, it takes an hour or more to charge the battery back up.On top of that, the rectifier deteriorate and become ineffective. I find alot of time the charging system boil the battery down or just plain kill the battery. And as others said, the rough conditions they are in down't help.
I disconnected the charging system on my rider (14hp B&S) and just put a charger on it when it starts to struggle when turning over. That battery is on year 8, and like others, sits in an unheated shed all winter.

 

[dfiler2]

If I got 5 years out of my mower battery I would be "smilin".

 

[YukonXL04]

I get 3-4 years out of them. I also have 2 in some electric power wheels. So they get discharged to where they wont even move. I still get 2-4 years out of them. Never seen 5 years though lol

 

[dadsEH]

Ive had a Harley battery in mine for 7 years now. I always use ether in the air cleaner on first cold start.....crankk...bang....vrooom.

 

[NUTTSGT]

I replaced the original battery in a grasshopper, it was 15 years old.

I just replaced the battery in my JD rider this Spring. It's had the original 2003 battery in it.

 

[1redTA]

I keep a solar charger on mine that I got on sale from target? no more pushing the mower

 

[homebuilt burner]

I run group 24 automotive batteries in all of my garden tractors. Huge difference in lifetime.

A friend has as battery tender wired with a quick disconnect (like a boat trailer plug). The battery tender is plugged into an outlet that is powered off of a relay linked to his garage door opener light. When the garage door opens the light comes on, the relay closes and the tender cycles for 20 min. 4 or 6 times per day.

 

[My Old Tools]

The Walmart battery in my 58 Chevy lasted 17 years, and it's hardly ever driven. Always have a battery tender on it though. I put a solar charger on the old Cub Cadet which is not used much. It starts every time now.

Last week I changed the battery in my 2000 Silverado. The date code was 1/11. Walmart battery.

 

[WIHD]

running a bad (or very old) battery is hard on the charging system on a vehicle as its trying to charge something that prob won't hold charge effectively.
My experience is mainly w/ motorcycles, but, if you're trying to push a battery to save $$, you may be damaging other parts of your vehicle in the process, or, overworking them to an early failure. Something to think about.

My experience....buy an SAE connector, attach to the battery, plug in to trickle/float charger when not in use. I have one on every vehicle I own. Chargers plug right into them. Dont necessarily need the inline fuse.

 

[EZ SPEED]

I just replaced the wal-mart battery in my riding mowera month ago. That battery lasted 10.5 years!!
My secret is that I have a quick disconnect on the positive terminal with a wing nut, then attach my battery tender.
Hope I get half as long out of this new battery. LOL

 

[couch67]

Reminded me of a head scratcher with my older husqavarna tractor a few years ago. Battery was strong enough to start it most of the time, but if the engine (kohler command 16 I think) was being cranked right at the start of compression cycle, no go. Boosting it gave it enough juice to start. Moving it off compression by manually turning the flywheel also helped it start on its own, to give the starter enough momentum to get past compression.

Thought it was a bad battery (it was more than a few years old), but discovered online that the engine has a compression relief circuit to aid in starting. A centrifugal actuator on the cam allows the exhaust valve to stay cracked open, until the engine fires up.

I cracked the engine open, and found that this assembly had blown apart. Found all the missing pieces, replaced the assembly, and it starts fine now on the same battery I had previously.

Not saying this is your problem but maybe something to keep in mind if a battery replacement doesn't resolve the issue.