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How to Charge Your Lawn Mower Battery
Most riding lawn mowers and lawn tractors rely on a healthy lead-acid battery. To get more life out of your mower, keep it charged and out of the heat.
Warning: Always wear protective glasses and have proper ventilation around you before you use a battery charger.
5 Steps to Charge Your Lawn Mower Battery
Connect your battery cable to the positive battery terminal first. Usually, the negative battery terminal is black, and the positive terminal is red. However, you should always check the symbols on your equipment.
Then let it charge. Usually you'll use a 12-volt charger for your mower, but some lawn mowers use 6-volt batteries, so check the label first. Match the charger's voltage settings as well as any type settings, such as lithium-ion or AGM. Set the charging amps to less than 2 amps if the charger has the settings for it.
Check your charger regularly to avoid overcharging or overheating the battery. The charger may turn off automatically or switch to a float charge.
Then disconnect the cables, negative before positive, in the opposite order as before.
How Long Does It Take to Charge a Lawn Mower Battery?
It takes five to 10 hours, depending on the battery and charger. A good rule of thumb for recharging lead-acid batteries: Divide a battery’s amp-hour rating by your charger’s amps to see how many hours it’ll take. For instance, the M-U1LH lawn & garden battery has 20 Ah, meaning it can take a 2-amp charge for 10 hours.
Lead-acid batteries take a long time to charge to prevent them from overheating.
What Amp Charger Do I Need for My Lawn Mower Battery?
A trickle charger or smart charger between 1-5 amps would be ideal for the battery in your lawn tractor or riding lawn mower.
Lithium batteries require a lithium-specific charger because their battery management systems carefully control how many amps get into the battery. Only charge your lithium battery with a charger that has a LiFePO4 setting.
Can You Overcharge a Lawn Mower Battery? Yes.
You can overcharge lawn mower batteries by using the wrong charger settings. Lawn mower batteries can be 6-volt batteries or 12-volt batteries, not to mention the difference between lithium, AGM and typical lead-acid batteries.
It’s critically important to match the charger’s settings to the battery’s voltage, amp rating, and battery type such as AGM, lithium or flooded. If the amp setting is too high or if you use the wrong setting (such as regular for charging AGM batteries), you could overcharge the battery.
If the plastic case ever feels too hot to touch, turn off the power and let the battery cool down.
Today’s battery chargers manage most of the technicalities. Smart chargers are equipped with features to make charging batteries safe and easy:
- Automatic shutoff and charging timers
- Hookup fail-safe switches to stop charging if the positive cable isn’t on the correct terminal
- Different mode settings for lead-acid, AGM or lithium batteries
- Float modes for trickle charging
Not all battery chargers come with the same features. Read your charger’s manual before charging the battery.
How to Jump-start Your Lawn Mower Battery With Your Car
You can jump your lawn mower with your car. It's the same as a regular jump-start with three big differences:The car's alternator generates too many amps and can damage the mower's parts, including the battery. Never jump-start a lawn mower battery from a running car. Don't even leave the key in the ignition.
Connect the mower before the car. Make sure the positive cables only touch the terminals. Letting them touch anything else could damage your car battery.
All gas-powered riding mowers, including John Deere, Ryobi and Cub Cadet, have an alternator. Mowing will charge the starting battery.
Jump-starting should be the last resort. Instead, it’s best to recharge your lawn mower battery in spring and before storing it for winter. If your mower’s battery dies, give it the weekend to recharge and do another home project.
How long will your lawn mower battery last?
Let's check! Bring your lawn & garden battery to any Interstate Batteries location for a battery test. Let's see how many summers your battery has left.
