Just Bought a Honda HRX217HZA

Nick7700

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Oct 15, 2013
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Hi,

I've just joined this site and I've been checking out this site and reading a lot of info and went out and purchased a new Honda HRX217HZA. My old lawn mower (Troy Bilt) wasn't working anymore. Piece of cr**p. I've had it for 3 years and it finally crapped out. Well this Honda is the best mower I've seen out there. The electric start is a neat feature. I have one question if you guys can answer for me. What is the best way to keep the battery from draining since the winter months are coming up and I'll store the lawn mower away. I don't want to fire it up come spring and the battery is dead. Should I disconnect it? It didn't come with any charger. All the manual says is that the battery will charge itself during use.

Thanks,

Nick
 

robert@honda

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Should I disconnect it? It didn't come with any charger. All the manual says is that the battery will charge itself during use.

Honda offers an external wall charger you can use to keep the battery charged in the off season. It is Part Number 31570-VL0-W01, list price $21.16, and available from any Honda dealer. Do a Google search for the part number to find it online. Use this link to find a local Honda dealer in your area:

Find A Honda Dealer
 

Nick7700

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Thank you Robert. I will check the Honda dealers. Does it plug into the battery module or do I have to open up the housing to access it?
 

robert@honda

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Thank you Robert. I will check the Honda dealers. Does it plug into the battery module or do I have to open up the housing to access it?

Newer models have three screws on the battery compartment; remove them to access the connector. Older models have flexible tabs that hold on the cover.

NEWER MODELS:
newer_zpse4c84c62.jpg




OLDER MODELS:
older_zpsbd03648f.jpg
 

NJsnapper

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Mar 30, 2011
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Hi,

I've just joined this site and I've been checking out this site and reading a lot of info and went out and purchased a new Honda HRX217HZA. My old lawn mower (Troy Bilt) wasn't working anymore. Piece of cr**p. I've had it for 3 years and it finally crapped out. Well this Honda is the best mower I've seen out there. The electric start is a neat feature. I have one question if you guys can answer for me. What is the best way to keep the battery from draining since the winter months are coming up and I'll store the lawn mower away. I don't want to fire it up come spring and the battery is dead. Should I disconnect it? It didn't come with any charger. All the manual says is that the battery will charge itself during use.

Thanks,

Nick

Disconnect it and put this on it 24/7. You will thank me in 5 years when the battery is still fine..:) This a battery maintainer so it shuts off when fully charged and back on again when the voltage drops. The Honda charger is just a charger and will overcharge your battery and ruin it if you don't disconnect it

Schumacher SEM-1562A Battery Maintainer and Charger - Walmart.com
 

msteele

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I'll try to make this short. I bought the HRX217HZA two years ago (for my wife). I was working out of town a lot and my other Honda mower was not easy for her to start. She said if we had a mower she could start, she would mow the yard. We went directly to the dealer and bought the HRX217HZA. She loves it! Not only is it electric start, it also has an automatic choke, so she just turns the key and it starts immediately.

When we bought it, the dealer said the battery would last a lot longer if we put it inside for the winter and put a trickle charger on it. The first winter that worked great, but this year, I think maybe one of the connections came off and I didn't know it, because when I re-installed it, there wasn't enough power to start the mower. (As a side note, even without the electric start the automatic choke enables it to start with one short pull of the rope.) I stupidly connected a regular car battery charger to the battery, hoping to quickly restore it to full power and I left it on too long and the battery got hot, swelled up and almost burst.

I thought I would save money and get a replacement battery online instead of getting one from the dealer. That has been a real challenge, mainly because my owner's manual says the battery part number is 31500-VH7-B01, but that is obviously not the correct battery. Apparently the correct battery part number is 31500-VL0-W01.
[Thank you Robert for the pictures showing the OLDER model battery and the NEWER model battery]

Again, this is a great mower (just ask my wife!). The dual blade does an excellent job, I never rake leaves in the fall, I just mulch them with the mower. I love the variable speed drive, and of course the automatic choke and electric start is wonderful. Also, unlike the earlier models, the HRX217HZA charges the battery as you mow. I can't imagine having to plug in a charger every couple of weeks which you apparently had to do with the old models.
 
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