John Deere lawn mower battery life

[jeremytl]

Hello folks, I have a JD LA110 riding lawn mower. I bought it new in 2007. It seems like I have to replace the battery every 3 years. Does that sound about right? Seems like they should last a bit longer than that. Anything I can do to get more life out of these batteries? I'm on a pretty tight budget so instead of buying a new battery right now, I use a charger every time I need to mow. I set it on manual charge and it takes about 10 minutes and then I can start it. Is there any harm in doing this weekly? I mean am I in danger of blowing up the battery?
Thanks in advance,
Jeremy

 

[CobyRupert]

I found that the little motorcycles and lawn tractor batteries don't last long. 3 years about average. The best thing you can do is not let it completely discharge over the winter, that is, give it a recharge every few weeks over the winter. (Easy to say, easy to forget.) I have a habit of toping the batteries off every spring with water (demineralized, if available), but I'm wondering if that is really good for them or not.

All batteries can produce explosive hydrogen and oxygen byproducts when charging, but I'm not sure if there's an increased danger from what you're doing. I don't think there's much harm to what you're doing, but eventually the battery will probably hold less and less charge, and you're be relying on the charger to start more and more.
I don't know what effect it has on the tractor charging system if eventually a couple of the battery cells short. -Now I'm curious...must research

 

[Xfaxman]

Hello folks, I have a JD LA110 riding lawn mower. I bought it new in 2007. It seems like I have to replace the battery every 3 years. Does that sound about right? Seems like they should last a bit longer than that. Anything I can do to get more life out of these batteries? I'm on a pretty tight budget so instead of buying a new battery right now, I use a charger every time I need to mow. I set it on manual charge and it takes about 10 minutes and then I can start it. Is there any harm in doing this weekly? I mean am I in danger of blowing up the battery?
Thanks in advance,
Jeremy

Check the electrolyte level once a month, and add distilled water when needed.

I switched to AGM, sealed, no corrosion. Cost more, but last a lot longer.

 

[Sundancer268]

I use a Battery Minder Charger and I have gotten well over 6 years on mine. The last one I took in for a test when the tractor would not start and they said it was bad. Purchased a new battery and went home with the new battery and the old battery. A couple of weeks later my Battery Minder battery charger came in. I hooked it up to the old battery and forgot about it. When fall came and I was putting the Snow Blower on the tractor I saw the old battery and decided to take it in and see how it was. The parts store hooked it up to their tester and said it was like brand new. I bought a couple more Battery Minders and will now keep them on all of my equipment when not in use. I purchased the permanent pig tails and now just plug them into the charger when I am putting the tractors away for the day.

 

[stlbill]

Hello Jeremy,

Wait a second. You bought a John Deere and you're on a budget? Hope you never have to buy any paint.

Seriously, I depend on Battery Tender brand for all my lawn and garden equipment.

Consider yourself fortunate if you learned this lesson on a tractor. I learned it the hard way after pushing off into the Missouri river, a large river with a strong current, solo on a brand new personal watercraft only to find out the battery would not start the engine! Lucky for me I am Mr. Safety and I brought swim fins. Yes, there were worse situations like the day I clogged up the jet pump 20 miles from my launch. Thankfully it was UP river from my launch. Again, Mr. Safety.

I have a DR brand weed trimmer on wheels with electric start. The electric start seems to be an after thought for the Briggs and Stratton engine because it does not recharge the battery during operation. When I put the DR back on the Battery Tender the red light is illuminated and sometimes it even flashes green for a much longer time than the my younger John Deere 2305.

(And I'm not linking to www.deere.com. If you're on this forum and you don't know the URL, d'oh!)

 

[GGB]

If you are on a budget like most of us, a battery tender is the least expensive way to keep from buying batteries more frequently.

Just make sure that you are getting one that automatically turns off or on so that it doesn't overcharge the battery. There are several good brands, so shop around.

 

[nikdfish]

There is a lot of variability. I just replaced the original battery on a SST18 spin steer that was over 10 years old, but on the other hand, the one on the cx gator only lasted a year...

Both were replaced with larger capacity non JD products.

Nick

 

[jeremytl]

Thank you all for the advice. Is this a decent price for the Battery Minder?

 

[tractchores]

Mine has been dead for years. I use one of those jumper packs to start it. I got sick of constant replacements and the jumper pack works fine and lasts much longer...

 

[EverythingAttachments]

I have an LT180 that I bought from a friend about 6-7 years ago with around 120 hours on it. I think it has around 250+/- hours on it now and i've never changed the battery.
It does get weak and has to be jumped if I don't use it regularly, but when I use it weekly, like now, she fires right up and purrs with no assistance.
It takes little effort to get that smooth Kawasaki engine spinning.
Travis