motorcycle battery for tiller

[rald]

Any reason I shouldn't use a motorcycle battery on large tiller with PTO? The last couple 'mower' replacement batteries haven't lasted even with trickle charging over the winter. I've read that the best gauge of battery quality is the warranty. I can't find a mower-type battery with more than a 3-mo warranty, but the motorcycle batteries of similar footprint and CCA offer much longer warranties. I know they cost more, but I wondering if there's something else I might be missing before trying one. I currently have a bolt-on connector. Changing the terminal connectors should be straight-forward. It just seems I am doing something wrong - it shouldn't be that hard to find a battery that lasts more than a couple seasons. Thanks for any input.

Ralph

 

[mostly_gas]

I would try one. I would get 2-4 years off a battery on a motorcycle.

 

[3930dave]

Most bikes are a vibration prone environment, so even a basic motorcycle battery should be a step up.

A tiller seems to be a very high vibration environment - in that respect I'd be inclined to go with a good quality sealed (ie. not a traditional "wet" flooded lead acid) battery. A decently designed AGM type battery (meaning like Optima) is inherently more immune to vibration than a flooded lead acid type. Any well stocked motorcycle dealer should have sealed batteries in stock.

You have been using an offboard trickle charger, so I'm assuming that defective charging is not the problem.

Rgds, D.