Riding Mower Battery Life

 

I have a TroyBilt (MTD made) riding mower and the battery is dead
after only 4 summers. I figured I used it no more than once a week for
no more than 25 weeks a year. If I start engine twice each time I cut
the lawn, that's 50 times a year and 200 times in 4 years. Compared to
a car, it's about 3 and a half months of worth of starter usage. My
question: which is the main cause of very short battery life?

1. Lawn mower batteries are not nearly as well made (1yr warranty vs
6-8 yrs for auto batt.), or
2. The mowers don't charge batteries properly, or
3. Lack of use in winter drains and damages the battery, or
4. Something else?

 


I'm going with #1. We have orchards and use lawn tractors like farm
tractors due to being able to maneuver them between the trees. I start
mine more per day than most home owners would in a year. the only
thing we have found to work is gel cell wheel chair batteries. they
are the right size and seem to last many times longer than the lawn
tractor batteries.

 

On 04/03/2010 07:15 PM, panabiker wrote:

3) is definitely a possibility.  Does the battery tend to need a charge
in the spring?  If so, you may want to consider putting the battery on a
"battery tender" over the winter, and if it is stored in an area that
could freeze, bring it inside your basement and set it on a board (not
so much because "setting a battery on concrete makes a battery go dead
faster" which may or may not be an old wives' tale, but to protect
whatever you set it on from any possible acid leakage)

nate

--
replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.
http://members.cox.net/njnagel

 


I agree with Nate and add that this likely is the cause. Lead-acid
batteries develop sulfates on the plates that adversely affect the
performance and longevity after a couple of months without a charge.
If the battery is stored without a charge for a few winters, expect it
to die sooner than it should compared to if it was properly maintained
while not frequently used. Lead-acid batteries "hate" to be neglected.
Use a trickle charger or battery tender during those months when it is
not in use.

 


There is a bit of "science" behind that "wives tale."

When the battery rests on a cold floor you can end up (especially while
charging) with a significant thermal gradient between the top and the bottom
of the cell.

The effect is nearly the equivalent of putting two batteries in parallel and
keeping one battery some 30F warmer than the other.

One of the two batteries will not be charged correctly and fully or might
end up being overcharged.