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This is my first post, so "Hello everyone!,"

Would love for the electrically talented to chime in...

I was given an Earthwise 60120 Cordless Mower (24v, 20a) the other day and I'm trying to figure out the issue with it. It was supposedly purchased last year, used last summer, stored over winter in a comfortable garage (I'm presuming possibly without charging the batteries every 30 days or so), and then the previous owner attempted to operate it but stated that they couldn't get it "to take a charge" so they bought a new mower and gave this nearly new one to me.

I have attempted to charge the mower and the charger seems to be functioning well--one light on charger indicates power to the charger and another light indicates charging/full-charge of battery. It has several green lights on the back of the mower and a red light that signifies that it's super low and needs to be charged. Once the charger's indicator light turned green, I then checked the voltage with a multi-meter using the contacts on the battery plug and it read 26.28 volts. I have read in another thread that it's supposed to be closer to 31 volts when completely charged....does that sound right? The charger puts out 31 volts, going by a multi-meter reading.

When I went to run the mower, it either spins up and shows a red light on the back of the mower or spins up and doesn't (I might be confused, but that's how it seemed). It sounds like the motor and blade spun up to speed as it should, but then the charge diminished rapidly (within 1 minute of mowing grass that had been cut two days ago by a gas mower...little resistance on the blades or load on the motor). Additionally, I pulled the handle to start the mower and handful of times to see if there was much power and the motor spinning sounded great at first, then another pull and the spinning was much slower....another pull about the same....another pull full speed....then slow...slow...dead. Lol. I'm charging it again and will double check what I just wrote about the light and power.

I have yet to take it apart to check out all of the electrical or to check the motor resistance (still unsure how to check resistance). I have read that it might very well be that the "rectifier" (or possibly rectifier and motor?) that might be the culprit.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Steve

If the battery is not getting to 31 volts then it is bad. Dont over think it. They left the battery uncharged all winter and it ruined the battery.

Thanks for the reply, BlazNT. I'm not sure if they did or didn't barge it at all during the winter. The stock charger doesn't go into trickle mode, so I'm going to try to charge it longer and monitor battery voltage along the way to see what it tops out at. I'll have to continue charging it tomorrow (it's on my covered patio), but so far it's now up to 28.8...so I'm hoping the batteries may still be good (maybe wishful thinking...fingers crossed).

Are there other possibilities as to why it's acting, not just low powered, but odd (motor spins up to max out at varying speeds...once full power, then hardly anything, then hardly anything, then fast again, then almost dead)?

To me it is acting like a close to dead battery. Just like my battery powered drill. Runs dead low rpm then let set for a few then full power for a few seconds the low rpms again.

Thanks agin for the response, BlazNT. They probably are toast. I charged it last night and it got up to 29 volts. Just tried using th mower and it lasted a minute or two. Hooked up the charger and the green light that comes on when the batteries are full came on almost immediately.... (?)

Guessing hear but I would say volts ok but no amps.

BlazNT said:

Guessing hear but I would say volts ok but no amps.

Click to expand...

I'm lost...maybe there's something else going on?

Your battery is bad. The stock batteries are poor quality and frequently do not last even one year, especially if they are not kept charged when in storage. You can rebuild it for about $80 with two 12 volt 20 Ah AGM type SLA batteries, and it will last for years.

Thanks for the reply, MowerMike. Guess I just wanted confirmation before I bought new batteries. Read up that it's extremely important to keep them charged when not in use. Thanks. I'll go with the answer of having to buy and rebuild the battery. ????