Can I Charge a Lawn Mower Battery with a Car Charger. Riding mower battery charger

How Long Does it Take to Charge a Lawn Mower Battery?

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If an energy-efficient cutting tool is what you seek, buying a battery-powered lawn mower isn’t a bad idea. However, the charging process of a lawnmower battery isn’t as easy as it sounds.

Many factors may indeed affect a battery’s charging time. But generally speaking, how long does it take to charge a lawn mower battery? Read along as our experts explore answers to this dilemma.

Charger Features

It’s not a secret that most lawn mowers whether it is the best 30-inch riding mower. run with a lead-acid or lithium-ion battery. But besides knowing which type of lawnmower battery you have, being well-versed in its charger features can help maintain your lawnmower batteries.

Voltage

If you’re an avid lawnmower user like our team, you’d know that many lawn tractor options in the market operate with a 12-volt battery. However, recently released electric lawnmowers include 6-voltage batteries too.

Getting a charger that suits the voltage requirement of your lawnmower is very crucial. Because if you get a mower battery connected to incompatible charger cables and adapters, it may cause damage to the battery and possibly lead to undesirable accidents. It can also be the reason why your riding mower won’t start working.

Amperage

The specification that dictates battery charge speed is the amperage. If you double-check the chargers sold in today’s market, it’s not hard to notice that most have a maximum capacity of ten amps.

We also recommend using a charger with a lower amperage as a higher specification could inflict damage on your lawn mower battery and the charger itself.

Charging Modes

Another useful feature you should look for on your lawn mower battery charger is its multiple mode settings.

With this capability, the methods of charging the mower’s battery can vary from slow charge, fast charge, and floating modes.

Additional Features

Besides charging your lawnmower battery to a full capacity, chargers are meant to enhance its convenience and lifespan.

For example, some recent lawn mowers have charger cables with jumpstart configuration. You may not know, but it brings your dead mower batteries back to life.

Chargers with timers can stop your lawn mower batteries from charging once it’s detected as fully charged. We recommend getting this type as it helps you avoid overcharging and damaging the batteries.

Standard Charging Time

Whether you are using a brand new or second hand lawn mower, the charge duration is still crucial as it indicates how long you can charge the battery. If the electric lawnmowers run with a lithium-ion battery [1], charge durations depend on the type of mower you’re using.

Getting batteries completely charged for a self-propelled mower will take two hours. On the other hand, push mowers with lithium-ion batteries only takes half an hour when plugged into an appropriate charger.

Besides that, there are also light mowers that take about an hour and a half before fully charging their batteries. Depending on the brand, bigger mowers charge for several hours.

Now, how long does it take to charge a lawn mower battery under the lead-acid category? Unlike the previous battery type, small lead-acid batteries need to be plugged into the charger for 12 to 16 hours. If you’re dealing with a bigger lead-acid battery, it can take up to 36 hours of charge time.

Given that lead-acid batteries have a higher full charge duration, our experts recommend using chargers with higher charge currents to reduce the time between 8 and 10 hours.

Can I Charge a Lawn Mower Battery with a Car Charger?

There are only a few things that riding lawnmowers and standard vehicles have in common, one of which being the use of a battery to start up and run. So, if you happen to have a lawnmower with a dead battery and only a car battery charger nearby, can you, and should you, use it to charge it? Can you charge a lawnmower battery with a car charger? Yes, you can charge your lawnmower’s battery using a car battery charger; simply connect the mower’s battery to the charger using the jumper cables that are already attached to the charger. However, this process only works on 12-volt batteries. This is definitely a process that you can carry out within the boundaries of your own home without the need of professional help. However, there are some precautions you must take to avoid causing any damage to your lawnmower or your surroundings.

Why Do Lawn Mowers Run Out of Battery?

Everything eventually runs out of battery power. However, many cars and lawnmowers use gasoline to keep running and have a mechanism in place that will keep recharging the battery as long as it is functional. Therefore, you might be wondering: Why did my battery run out when I wasn’t even using the mower? The answer to this question is usually cold weather. Lawnmowers use lead batteries, which are known to slowly discharge under cold temperatures. Therefore, if you are facing this problem in the spring, it was most likely the freezing temperatures of the winter that caused the problem, and this is entirely normal. If your battery is damaged or you know that something besides the battery is wrong with your lawnmower, don’t hesitate to contact a professional; handling lead batteries can be dangerous.

Preventing Battery Drainage

One thing you could do to avoid your battery discharging during the winter would be to store your lawnmower somewhere where the temperature is not as cold during the season. Also, you could turn it on now and then during the winter months so that the battery recharges. However, you are most likely reading this article because your battery is already discharged, and you are looking for a way to bring it back to life using your car battery charger, so let’s get right into it.

How to Recharge a Lawn Mower’s Battery Using a Car Battery Charger

This method is a pretty good alternative for charging a dead lawnmower since it is efficient. The battery charger even has multiple fail-safes in place to protect you against any accidents that may occur due to the battery overcharging.

A word of caution: Do not do anything outside of what is mentioned in the steps above and be careful with where you connect the jumper cables. The charger may have multiple fail-safes, but you don’t want to find out how far they will go when it comes to avoiding accidents.

Battery Charging Alternatives

If you don’t happen to have a car battery charger at your disposal or you are not able to purchase one, there is another method that you can try: using your vehicle’s battery itself.

Note that this alternative will not effectively charge your mower’s battery to its full capacity, but should give it enough of a boost to start it up and move it where you need to. In addition, this method will only work on mowers with 12-volt batteries.

This process is pretty simple and straightforward and works similarly to how you would jump a car using jumper cables attached to another vehicle’s battery:

• The first step is to locate your lawn mower’s battery, which is usually found under the seat.
• Then, get your car close to your lawnmower. You want the hood of the car to be facing towards the mower so that the jumper cables can reach both batteries.
• Make sure you turn off the car and set the brake in place, since having the engine running during the whole operation could result in either one or both batteries being damaged.
• Next, you should open the lawn mower’s battery compartment under the seat so that it is exposed, and remove the plastic covers protecting the battery’s terminals; do the same for your car’s hood and battery.
• The order in which you connect the jumper cables is crucial: The red cable goes first on the positive terminal of the lawn mower’s battery, with the other red end on the positive terminal of the car’s battery. Then, the black cable must be connected to the negative terminal of the car’s battery, and the other black end on a piece of metal on the lawnmower’s frame. Make sure that where you attach the black cable on the mower is not near its fuel tank or battery.
• Now that the cables are connected, try starting your lawnmower to see if it worked. If it did not work, then don’t worry, leave the batteries connected for a few minutes and later try again. Once the mower is up and running, disconnect the batteries in the opposite order in which you connected them.

Check out this video to see how it’s done:

It is essential that you disconnect the lawnmower from the car as soon as possible rather than leaving them connected for longer than needed since this could overcharge the battery and result in an accident.

What to Do if Your Battery Won’t Charge

If you find that your battery will not jump or charge, chances are you can still bring it back to life. Check out this website if you want to learn how!

In Summary

Charging your mower’s battery using a car battery charger is possible as long as your battery is in good shape and is 12-volts. A battery charger will make the process much more straightforward and safer for you since it is specifically designed to revive batteries.

If you do not have a car battery charger on hand, but a pair of jumper cables are available, then there is an alternative charge method that is just as efficient, which is using your car’s battery.

However, this solution only works to give your mower enough power to start up and drive it to a desired spot in the yard. It is not intended to provide your battery with a full charge, and doing so repeatedly could cause your battery to wear down faster.

Hi! I’m Peter, the owner of BackyardGadget. Working around the house has always been a big part of my life. I’ve created this site to share my experience, and to help people choose the right tools for the job. Thank you for stopping by!

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Charging a battery in a riding lawn mower video

You may need to charge the battery in your riding lawn mower at the start of the mowing season, or if you accidentally drained your battery by leaving the ignition on. Either way, this video shows you how to charge your battery safely using a charger.

For additional repair help, including common symptoms and troubleshooting tips, step-by-step riding lawn mower and tractor repair guides and articles, check out our repair help section. In addition, find the riding mower parts you need to fix your mower.

Supplies you may need

Hi, Wayne here from Sears PartsDirect. Today we’re going to talk about how to charge the battery in a riding mower. You may need to charge the battery before starting your mower for the first time in spring. And you should fully charge your battery before storing your mower for the winter.

Of course, you also need to charge the battery if it’s unexpectedly dead—perhaps because you left the ignition switch on and drained the battery.

Find the correct charger for your battery

Most riding mowers use 12-volt batteries, but some models built before 1980 use a 6-volt battery. Use a charger that matches the voltage for your battery. Also, use a charger with an output of 10 amps or less. Charging a battery with more than 10 amps can damage it. You can charge the battery without removing it from the mower. Wear work gloves and eye protection when charging your battery.

How to connect charger cables to battery

First, unplug the battery charger from the outlet. Lift the seat and connect the red charger cable to the red, positive battery terminal. Connect the black charger cable to the black, negative battery terminal. Set the battery charger to 12 volts and 10 amps or less. Plug in the charger.

The charger should fully charge the battery in one hour at the 10-amp setting. You might have to charge the battery longer if your amp setting is lower. Some chargers shut off automatically when the battery reaches a full charge. Unplug the charger once it indicates the battery is fully charged. Disconnect the charger cables from the battery and lower the seat.

There you have it—a fully charged battery, ready for use or storage. I hope this video helped you out today. Be sure to check out our other videos here on the Sears Parts Direct YouTube channel. Subscribe and we’ll let you know when we post new videos.

Lawn Mower Battery Size Chart | A Comprehensive Guide On Lawn Mower Batteries

Mowing is a fancy word for cutting grass. As a part of maintaining the lawn, many of us spend the maximum time mowing the lawn. The purpose of mowing is to keep the grass in the lawn at a set height so that the lawn looks neat and attractive. Lawn Mowers, as the name suggests, are a piece of special equipment that helps us in mowing lawns. Today, we have cordless and electric type lawn mowers that mow using an electric motor. But if you need a heavy-duty lawn mower, then chances are you look at a gas-powered lawn mower. Earlier gas-powered lawn mowers use a pull-string to start the engine. But nowadays, you get simple electric start models. The problem with electric start lawn mowers is they need starting batteries and depending on your usage, they die and you have to replace them.

There are several important parameters and specifications that you need to be aware of while choosing a replacement. So, in this guide, we decided to make a beginner’s guide on Lawn Mower Batteries. First, we will all the essential things about lawn mower batteries and then we will move to the lawn mower battery size chart.

Using this chart, you can compare your battery with the specifications of other batteries and purchase a perfect replacement.

A Brief Note on Lawn Mowers

We have been using lawnmowers since the late 1800s. All the initial lawnmowers were completely mechanical devices. Very soon, we saw gasoline-engine-based lawnmowers that made the job of lowing a garden very fast and easy.

These types of mowers are very popular even today as they are very powerful and allow you to mow thick and tall grass very easily. Then we have the main electric-powered lawn mowers.

They are small and easy to maneuver in small to medium-sized gardens. As a result, they became very popular in the market. But the limitation is you need to drag the cable or you can reach as far as the cable allows you.

The next important type is also electric but this time it is in the form of battery-powered mowers. These are cordless devices and you can use them anywhere you want. Their ridiculous cost makes them a niche product.

Types of Lawn Mowers

The basic type of lawn mower is a Reel Mower. It is a mechanical device that runs on our muscle power. We have to push the mower and when the wheels rotate, blades mounted on a cylinder cut the grass with a scissor-like action.

Next, we have rotary mowers that are powered by electricity, a battery, or a gas engine. Of the three power sources, gas-powered rotary lawn mowers are very common and popular, especially in the North American market.

You get both push-type as well as self-propelled models in gas-powered mowers. These types of mowers are very useful for large gardens, usually up to half an acre.

If you have a relatively small lawn, then corded electric lawn mowers are ideal. They are silent (comparatively), do not pollute, and are easy to maintain. Maneuverability is the main concern with corded-electric lawn mowers. In most cases, you have to stay within 150 to 200 feet distance from an electrical outlet.

An alternative to this is battery-powered cordless electric lawn mowers. They are very easy to maneuver as you don’t have to worry about the electric cord. Cordless Lawn Mowers are heavier than their corded counterparts.

Depending on the size of the battery, these models allow you to mow continuously anywhere between 45 minutes to 2 hours. But the cost of cordless lawnmowers is very high.

All the models we discussed till now are push-type or walk-behind mowers. But there is another type in the form of ride-on or riding mowers. As the name suggests, you can sit on the mower and ride it across the lawn to mow the grass.

If you have a very large lawn, over half an acre, then it makes sense to invest in a riding lawn mower. Usually, the ride-on mowers are gas-powered with rotary-type cutting mechanisms.

You often hear the term lawn tractor when you browse for riding lawnmowers. While ride-on lawn mowers just mow the lawn, riding lawn tractors can mow the grass and much more.

With the correct attachment, you can use a lawn tractor for mowing, dethatching, aerating, fertilizing, and even plowing snow.

Understanding Lawn Mower Batteries

As we mentioned in the previous section, gas-powered lawn mowers are very popular, be it the walk-behind type or the ride-on type. Earlier models came with a pull-string to start the gasoline engine.

Depending on the age of the mower, you could start the engine with a single pull in case of a relatively new and well-maintained mower. But as it ages, the performance of this starting mechanism starts to fail and you might need to pull more than a couple of times to crank the engine.

This is where lawn mowers with starter batteries come in handy. These batteries work similarly to our car SLI batteries as they help crank the gasoline engine of the mower.

With the push of a button or twist of a key, you can start the lawn mower and don’t have to worry about any pull strings.

Comparison between Lawn Mower Batteries and Car Batteries

The moment we say lawn mower batteries are useful for easily starting the mower’s engine, we immediately start comparing them with car starter batteries. They are similar in some aspects but there are a lot of differences as well.

Let us begin with the similarities. Car batteries are usually flooded lead-acid type or sometimes maintenance-free gel-type. It is very rare to see other types of batteries as car starter batteries.

Even lawn mower batteries are lead-acid batteries and they come in both flooded as well as gel types. But surprisingly, you can also find lithium batteries for lawn mowers.

As the majority of batteries in both cases are of type lead-acid, their working remains more or less the same. The advantages and problems you have with car batteries, you also have them with lawn mower batteries.

This includes low cost, a simple charging system, the life of the battery, etc.

Does this mean can we use a car battery in a lawn mower? No. this is where the differences kick in. First thing, car batteries are much bigger than lawn mower batteries, both in terms of physical dimensions as well as capacity.

The main difference is the starting current they can provide, which we usually represent as Cold Cranking Amps or CCA. As car engines are quite large, their batteries must provide a lot of amps to crank the engine.

So, you usually see CCA ratings of 500A or more in car batteries. But lawn mower engines are small. You don’t need such large currents. That’s why you will see CCA ratings in mower batteries in the range of 130 to 150A.

Important Specifications of Lawn Mower Batteries

Continuing the previous section’s discussion, let us see some important parameters and specifications of typical lawn mower batteries.

Type of Battery

As we mentioned before, you can find both lead-acid and lithium batteries for lawn mowers. In the case of lead-acid type, you again have flooded, AGM (Absorbent Glass Mat), and Gel types. Each type has its advantages and disadvantages.

Lithium batteries or Lithium Iron Phosphate to be specific, are also becoming quite popular with lawnmowers. The charging and protection methods (or lack thereof) are very different between lead-acid and lithium batteries.

Lead acid batteries are affordable, heavy, and robust to operate in all climatic conditions. But the problem is you have to take care of them and make sure they are fully charged all the time. Speaking of charging, the number of times you can charge and discharge a lead-acid battery is very less.

Lithium Batteries on the other hand are expensive and lightweight. Even though they support a good number of charge/discharge cycles, they need special circuitry in the form of a Battery Management System or BMS to protect the individual lithium cells from overcharging, deep discharging, etc.

Charging lead-acid and lithium batteries is very different. You can get chargers that support both these battery types but double-check the capabilities of the charger before using. Do not blindly use one type of charger on the other type of battery.

If the lawn mower has an alternator (which is usually the case with riding-type lawn mowers and lawn tractors), it can charge the battery once the engine is on. But for smaller mowers, this is usually not the case. You have to charge the battery externally.

Size and Other Physical Parameters

Physically, lawn mower batteries are smaller. In the next section Lawn Mower Battery Size Chart, we will see the dimensions of some popular types of lawn mower batteries.

Another important “physical” aspect of lawn mower batteries is the terminals and their position. Unlike car batteries, which usually have a pretty standard type of terminals, mower batteries have more than one type of terminal to connect the cables.

Also, the position of the terminals might be different between brands, manufacturers, and battery types. Usually, in a particular battery group, the type of terminals and their position (which is almost always on the top) will be common.

But we cannot say the same when you go to a different battery group.

Voltage

The reason why we are talking about battery voltage is in the early days of lawn mower batteries, we used to get them in 6V ratings as well. But it is safe to assume that most modern mower batteries that we get today are 12V batteries.

This applies to both lead-acid and lithium batteries. So, all the batteries we are going to discuss in the guide are 12V unless otherwise mentioned.

Capacity

The capacity of a starter battery is an interesting specification. It represents the amount of current in amps a fully-charged battery can deliver for 10 hours straight.

We usually see the battery capacity specification as Ampere Hour or Ah. Depending on the size of the battery, its capacity can range anywhere between 10Ah to 40Ah.

Cold Crank Amps (CCA)

This is one of the important specifications of a starter battery, be it for cars or lawn mowers. What does CCA mean? Cold Crank Amps or CCA represents the amount of cranking current (in amps) a fully-charged battery can deliver for a period of 30 seconds at a temperature of 0°F.

As the size of the gas engine in mowers is small, you don’t need a large cranking current to start the engine. Hence, you will see CCA ratings of mower batteries in the range of 100A to 300A. You can find batteries with CCA ratings more or less than this range. You have to check your lawn mower’s manual as it will usually recommend a specific CCA value.

Lawn Mower Battery Size Chart

An important thing to remember before purchasing a new mower battery is they are significantly smaller than car batteries and within lawn mower batteries we have several sizes.

A Battery Group categorizes the physical dimensions of the battery. All the batteries falling in a particular group have nearly identical shapes and sizes. If you are familiar with car and boat batteries, there are we have several battery groups.

Let us now see some popular lawn mower battery groups. The groups in this list are no way near the full possible types but these are pretty common with mowers.

The following table is a Lawn Mower Battery Size Chart consisting of the common battery groups.

Different manufacturers have their own set of battery sizes and they may or may not be compatible with batteries from other manufacturers. But if they come under the same battery group, then chances are they will become compatible.

How To Choose a Replacement Lawn Mower Battery?

The common thing between a gas-powered lawn mower and a car is they both have engines. But we take cars very frequently to school, work, shopping, or other commuting activities.

This is not the case with lawn mowers. We use them only when we need to mow the lawn or garden. So, for the most part of its life, a lawn mower usually sits in a garage or shed.

Here comes the problem. As we take our cars out for a spin on a regular basis, the level of discharge of the car’s starter battery won’t be that bad. But as lawn mowers are sitting idle most of the time, there is a good chance that the battery will discharge pretty quickly.

If you have an external charger, then you can extend the life of the lawn mower battery. But in case you don’t have a battery charger, then you will at a replacement in a short time.

Things to Consider for Lawn Mower Battery Replacement

The first and most important thing while choosing a new lawn mower battery is to check the physical dimensions of the battery. Lawn Mowers have a slot for the battery that fits only one type of battery.

When we say one type, we mean one size. The replacement battery must fit perfectly into that slot and it should be loose (and if it is tight, you can’t even fit the battery into the slot).

So, check the owner’s manual or maintenance guide of your lawn mower and look for battery specifications. If they mention the battery group, then you can simply browse for that particular group and purchase a replacement.

What if you can’t find the battery group information? We have to old school and measure the dimensions of your current battery. With this information, you can look up any lawn mower battery size chart and compare the dimensions with the common and popular battery groups in the list.

After the battery group size, the next important specification is the CCA rating of the battery. Once again, check the user manual if they specify the necessary CCA of the battery. If not, look at the label of the current battery and you might find the CCA ratings.

When shopping, you need to match the CCA values. It can be higher than the current value, but never lower. But if you opt for a higher CCA rating, then you have to spend more money.

Another important thing is the type of battery. We have lead acid and Lithium Iron Phosphate as the two base battery types. Further, in lead-acid, we have wet or flooded, AGM, and Gel types.

Always choose a replacement battery of the same type as your current battery. The compatibility between different battery types is, to put it in simple terms, highly questionable.

Conclusion

If you have a lawn or garden, then you have to invest in a decent lawn mower. It does the job of shearing or cutting the grass and maintaining it at a set level very easily.

Like many power tools, even lawnmowers come in different shapes, sizes, and power options. The most common and popular one is the gasoline engine-powered lawn mower.

Pull-starting the gas engine of the lawn mower is an old technique. Nowadays, most lawn mowers come with electric starters. When we say electric starters, it means there is a battery involved in it.

If the battery is old or dead beyond recharging capabilities, then you have to look for a replacement.

In this guide, we saw the basics of lawnmowers and their types. Then we moved to different types of lawn mower batteries and also some important specifications you need to consider while looking at mower batteries.

After that, we made a simple lawn mower battery size chart. This chart consists of some popular lawn mower battery groups with their physical dimensions.

We hope that this guide on lawn mower battery size chart could help you understand the basics of lawn mower batteries and also in making an easy purchase decision.

If you feel we missed something or want us to add anything, do let us know in the Комментарии и мнения владельцев section below. If you want, we can add lists of possible replacements in several battery groups (for instance, all the best replacement batteries for the U1 or U1R battery group).

Riding mower battery charger

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Lawnmower Parts Online is an Irish owned company who’s goal is to provide a one-stop shop for parts and service kits for all your garden machinery. We provide these parts at great factory-direct prices.

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