battery cable cut off

paul56 · Apr 3, 2013

We have a Troybuilt Bronco we keep at a lake house. When we try to use it battery is always dead, even with a new
one left in mower for a few weeks. Is there a cut off or switch that can be installed in the neg. battery cable ? Seems
if I disconnect neg cable, battery stays charged.

Carscw · Apr 3, 2013

paul56 said:
We have a Troybuilt Bronco we keep at a lake house. When we try to use it battery is always dead, even with a new
one left in mower for a few weeks. Is there a cut off or switch that can be installed in the neg. battery cable ? Seems
if I disconnect neg cable, battery stays charged.

You can go to any parts store and get a inline battery cut off switch. Or you can take the half a min and unhook the battery. Just saying

(( racing is the only sport that you need two balls ))

djdicetn · Apr 3, 2013

Carscw said:
You can go to any parts store and get a inline battery cut off switch. Or you can take the half a min and unhook the battery. Just saying

(( racing is the only sport that you need two balls ))

Carscw,
That's my advice(just disconnect the negative terminal). I do that anytime I'm not going to be mowing for more than two weeks. I had another forum user send me a private message the other day. He bought a Gravely Pro-Turn XDZ 152 just like mine about a week after I did last fall. He went to start it the other day and it just went click.....click.....click!! I asked him if he disconnected the battery over the winter and he said no, was I supposed to? I recommended a good Schumacher Automatic Charger/Maintainer at Wally World and told him to put a trickle charge on the disconnected battery every 4-6 weeks during the winter and he could avoid this spring start-up problem.

panabiker · Apr 3, 2013

On the Bronco, there should be no load to the battery when the key is not in. Unless they changed the design, I also have the Bronco and I never disconnect the battery over the winters and there is no measurable electric current coming out of the battery terminal when not in use. This is different from a car where many electronic devices are loading the battery (ie. remote controlled door locks, alarm, clock, radio etc).

MowerMike · Apr 3, 2013

panabiker said:
On the Bronco, there should be no load to the battery when the key is not in. Unless they changed the design, I also have the Bronco and I never disconnect the battery over the winters and there is no measurable electric current coming out of the battery terminal when not in use. This is different from a car where many electronic devices are loading the battery (ie. remote controlled door locks, alarm, clock, radio etc).

Although there may be no load on the battery, there will still be some leakage current through the voltage regulator / rectifier in the charging circuit. This will gradually drain the battery through the ground cable. Any time I store a machine with a battery in it for more than three weeks, I will either connect it to a trickle charger or disconnect the ground cable.

panabiker · Apr 4, 2013

MowerMike said:
Although there may be no load on the battery, there will still be some leakage current through the voltage regulator / rectifier in the charging circuit. This will gradually drain the battery through the ground cable. Any time I store a machine with a battery in it for more than three weeks, I will either connect it to a trickle charger or disconnect the ground cable.

Not in my Bronco. The voltage regulator and rectifier are disconnected from the battery by the key switch. In other words, the key switch is the cut off switch. I have the wiring schematic and I have done the actual measurements of the off current, which is zero micro-amp. There may be other designs that do have some electronics connected to the battery. As I said before, most cars do drain battery when parked. So, to the OP, may be it's worthwhile to identify if there is a leakage current and what is actually causing it. Sometime, a dirty key switch can cause some leakage current between the terminals but that should be easy to mitigate. Also remember, the batteries do drain by themselves internally. If the battery is a few years old, they lose enough charge that you can't start the engine after a winter of storage, so trickle charge is certainly helpful.

exotion · Apr 4, 2013

paul56 said:
We have a Troybuilt Bronco we keep at a lake house. When we try to use it battery is always dead, even with a new
one left in mower for a few weeks. Is there a cut off or switch that can be installed in the neg. battery cable ? Seems
if I disconnect neg cable, battery stays charged.

Buy a float charger from harbor freight I've used one for my rider and one for my jeep for years when they don't get any use

Carscw · Apr 4, 2013

Turn the wheels to the left let all the air out of the back tires and take the blades off. LOL

Man just undo the battery and see what happens

(( racing is the only sport that you need two balls ))

djdicetn · Apr 4, 2013

Carscw said:
Turn the wheels to the left let all the air out of the back tires and take the blades off. LOL

Man just undo the battery and see what happens

(( racing is the only sport that you need two balls ))

Yeah, much ado over nothing. Lawn equipment battery maintenance is not a rocket science:0)

panabiker · Apr 4, 2013

djdicetn said:
Lawn equipment battery maintenance is not a rocket science:0)

Of course this applies to everything discussed on this forum, not just batteries, but that doesn't mean we can't have some fun with non-rocket science. :smile:

battery cable cut off

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paul56

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Carscw

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djdicetn

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panabiker

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MowerMike

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panabiker

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exotion

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Carscw

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djdicetn

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panabiker

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