Battery in mower during 'winter' in Texas

[oldmech]

Hi! You know a Battery lost about 1% by day . A battery discharge with time may be more with hot temp. We must charge the battery every month. The best is full charge battery for long life. I seen for sale a small solar panel $25. A 5 watts model. My son use one. Dont need electrical power. and keep the battery full charge. Good Luck Oldmech

 

[oosik]

I have my tractor & motorcycle batteries on Deltran battery maintainers. I put the mower battery in the spare bedroom and put a charger on it every three months.

 

[Deere Dude]

When I lived in WI, I run my garden tractor for mowing, wait a month or two, put on the snowblower, park it and wait for the snow. Sometimes it doesn't run for a month or two at a time. It always started and never had a charger or a maintainer. I wouldn't mess with anything in TX unless maybe a maintainer to make you feel good.

As far as putting it in a freezer, I was in Wisconsin so it was almost the same.

 

[JOHNTHOMAS]

I live in Kentucky. I've owned/bought/sold/traded around 20 Kubotas. Currently own 4 different ones. I've never done anything to/with any of their batteries and never replaced but one battery from a 20 year old Kubota that I traded for and the battery was dead when I traded for it. I sometimes think about starting them up and letting them run till fully warmed up and actually have done it once or twice in the past 12 years of Kubota ownership. All of mine have started right up at first crank when I started them thru the winter for snow removal or spring for mowing. Just active the glow plugs for 10 second, engage starter and they all start/started. I have 50 watt solar panel, two or threchargers but alas, never bothered to do the right thing, just said maybe tomorrow. I do have an upright freezer but not going to do that either.:cool2:

 

[DK35vince]

I've never used a maintainer on anything.
My motorcycles sit all winter. I just sold a 2007 Honda dual sport. Still had the original battery (nearing 10 years old) when I sold it. Never had a maintainer on it.
My street bike is nearing 8 years old, original battery still going strong, near had a maintainer on it.
Original tractor battery lasted 11 years, never had a maintainer on it.
I'm still not convinced maintainers extend battery life.

 

[truckdiagnostics]

I've never used a maintainer on anything.
My motorcycles sit all winter. I just sold a 2007 Honda dual sport. Still had the original battery (nearing 10 years old) when I sold it. Never had a maintainer on it.
My street bike is nearing 8 years old, original battery still going strong, near had a maintainer on it.
Original tractor battery lasted 11 years, never had a maintainer on it.
I'm still not convinced maintainers extend battery life.

Your location and application it would not make sense. Your storing battery fully charged at cold temps. Then it warms up and you use them. So, they will not discharge by sitting. In warmer winter climates the battery will discharge just by sitting at ambient temp. Haven't looked at it, but in my opinion batteries up north might last longer than down south. batteries do not like the heat.

 

[flusher]

Disconnect the + battery lead. Put the battery on a trickle charger.

 

[truckdiagnostics]

Disconnect the + battery lead. Put the battery on a trickle charger.

You should NEVER disconnect the positive first in a negative grounded system and chances are that is what you have. Ground first and last and your last connection should be away from the battery.

 

[Pete6114]

I remove all batteries from my seasonal equipment and toys during the winter and have them in my heated shop on the bench on automatic trickle chargers. Motorcycle/lawnmower and the breakaway batteries of my cargo trailer. My Mustang also has a charger during it's winter sleep.

 

[truckdiagnostics]

I remove all batteries from my seasonal equipment and toys during the winter and have them in my heated shop on the bench on automatic trickle chargers. Motorcycle/lawnmower and the breakaway batteries of my cargo trailer. My Mustang also has a charger during it's winter sleep.

They would last longer if you just disconnected the grounds and left them outside for the winter. By bring them in the warm temps are allowing a discharge. The charger is keeping the chemical process moving and it is decreasing the battery life. It is not a question of "if" it is how much. In the spring as long as the battery has warmed up it should start your equipment just fine. these recommendations are based on a "cold" winter climate.