lawn mower battery's

[HEC]

I have been using battery's from Walmart for the past several years for lawn mower and 4 wheelers and having very poor luck with them . I take them out every winter, store them in a warm area , not on a cement floor, charge them with a trickle charger every month or so and come summer their useless sometimes only lasting one summer . What do you guys recommend for a good battery that will at least last 3 or 4 years .

 

[Industrial Toys]

It's a crap shoot because you have no way of knowing what you are really getting. I did the same. Went to Walmart even though I have friends in the business that could get me batteries at cost. They could not touch Walmarts price. That worked for a few years, but now I am having poor luck with Walmart batteries. One thing I have noticed about batteries. They are making them lighter, and when they do, they are not as good!

 

[DHD]

Same experience here with the short lived Walmart batteries.
I'm not sure if it'll help extend battery life or not, but 3 years ago I got an Optimate 6 battery charger /maintainer.
I had a one ear old Walmart lawn tractor battery when I got the Optimate 6.
During winter storage of the battery inside a 65* area, 2-3 times during the winter months I'd hooked the Optimate up to the battery and let it do it's charging/maintaining. This past fall I sold the garden tractor with it's battery, and the battery was still going strong. So that Walmart battery lasted 3-4 years. Did the Optimate 6 help extend the life ? Who knows. Longer test will be needed.
I now have 3 batteries in storage through out the winter, and 2-3 times will hook up the Optimate to each of them, hopefully I won't need to buy batteries for awhile.

A buddy of mine turn me on to the Optimate, he had an earlier version, and he swears by them actually bring batteries back to life.

There is stuff on youtube about The Optimate 6 also.
I got mine for a little less than $100.

 

[PILOON]

Last winter we had no choice but to change the battery in my wife's Nissan Sentra.
Her car was a 2006! so I guess there are still some good ones out there.
My Kia is 5 yrs old and it starts at -25, -30 all last winter.

Morale is that there are still good brands out there.

 

[Bird]

My little Toro ZTR battery lasted 2 years and 5 months. I bought a replacement from my Toro dealer for $40.08 including sales tax. But I kept it on a maintainer during most of the Winter.

 

[Will_C]

I have replaced the battery on my Toro ZTR twice. The first one lasted 3 years and the second one lasted 4. Both replacements were no name batteries that my dealer charge me $35 for. I do keep them on a charger all winter. Not going to complain if it costs me $10 a year to start the mower-that's like getting 15 years out of a $150 truck battery!

Will

 

[KennyG]

I don't actually have any small equipment of my own now that have batteries. However, I maintain several mowers for my church. I go to the local Autozone or O'Reilly's when they have a sale. I think there is an advantage in not going to the discount stores. I just replaced a Diehard in a Craftsman mower that was 9 years old when it failed. I leave the batteries in the machine over the winter and try to charge them every month or two.

 

[Walt 2002]

A friend who does a lot of mower repair is getting 345 CCA batteries at O'Reilly's for $25 ex. He had bought 40 a couple of weeks ago.

Walt Conner

 

[MoKelly]

Sort of off topic, but I had my first experience with AAA last weekend. My truck battery died and wouldn't hold a charge. I was in the driveway.

Called AAA. They got to my house in 15 minutes. Tested the battery. Confirmed it was dead.

Sold me a new battery and installed it for $95.00. It has a 3 year no questions asked replacement warranty.

Awfully convienient. Had to tell my wife the AAA membership may be a good idea after all.

MoKelly

 

[Sawyer Rob]

The brand of batteries that last the longest for me is, Interstate... Yes they do cost more, but for me, they last a lot longer too...

Also, I now am trying a "good quality" batt. maintainer, and so far so good!

SR