New guy

[railton]

I'm a real tenderfoot. Just moved onto 21 acres from the suburbs. Bought a 2008 JD 4320 and have used it for about 10 hours to bush
hog our fields and tear out 12 foot high blackberry bushes on about two acres. Scary stuff.

So I barely know what I'm doing and--much worse: don't know what I don't know. So I'm really looking forward to any advice I can
find from anyone willing to share.

Very thankful for this forum.

1st question: I'm using a Cen-tech battery float charger (Search results for: 'battery float charger')
bought for $8.99 to keep the battery charged during winter. But I see similar items on JD web site for $36. Am I stupid to use this
somewhat cheap item?

Many thanks.

Railton

 

[Will_C]

Does it work? Sometimes you pay a premium for the brand name. I have a pair of Schumacher float chargers- I think a paid $20 or so for them- have them for 5 years or so with no problems.

Will

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[deerseeker001]

Welcome from Wisconsin

 

[mddorange]

:welcome:
To the forum from Alabama. I know all about those blackberry bushes as I have been tore up many times while bush hogging my place. I always wear long sleeves, gloves, jeans and boots for protection.

 

[k0ua]

Welcome to the forum.. I have used the little cheap harbor freight charger before and it seemed OK. But if you are concerned, get a digital volt meter on the battery with the charger attached and after it has run for a few hours or more, and see what the float voltage is. If it was 14 volts or less I would not be concerned.. If over 15 volts, I would be. The static voltage on a lead acid battery should be about 12.6 by itself. just sitting there fully charged. After it has just come off of a charger it will be more, but should fall to 12.6 in a few hours. I use a more expensive charger a battery tender jr. Which is much more sophisticated than the little harbor freight unit. And on the lawn mower I have a 1.5 watt solar charger out in the barn.

Amazon.com: Battery Tender 021-0123 Battery Tender Junior 12V Battery Charger: Automotive