Redneck fix of the day...

Here's my redneck fix of the day:

So in another post I was complaining that I don't get the life out of a lawn mower battery that most people get. Most likely due to my bumpy yard. And I was needing a battery for my Troy Bilt MTD lawnmower but because it is my backup mower hated to invest in a new battery.

A year ago I acquired several used 12 AH 12 volt batteries from work. One of the most common use for these batteries is for those kids cars and alarm systems. They normally sell for about $50 a piece brand new. They are also sealed so they can be mounted on their side. Or at least I think they can:laughing:

These batteries were used in our fire alarm system at work and had to be changed out every so many years whether they were good or not. So they were free for the picking. I think I got at least 10 of them. Some were duds, some were better than others.

Awhile back I decided to see if one of these batteries would start this engine. Well it didn't. It may have been one of the ones that wouldn't hold a charge very long. Or just didn't have enough balls to turn the starter over. These are listed as 12 AH not cold cranking amps so I have no idea on that last one.

I took some of these batteries that would not hold a charge for very long to the metal recycler.

The batteries I decided to use on my mower, I had recharged and after a month both still had 13.5 volts.

I ran them in parallel and connected two 10 AWG wires to the battery cables. They provide enough cold cranking amps to turn over a 17.5 B&S.

I cut a piece of 2X4 to provide as a spacer (which was just the right size) and ran some wood screws through the pre-drilled holes in the brackets so the 2X4 wouldn't slide backwards. I had to loosen the screws a bit so the brackets could be adjusted to slide down in the slots in the frame.

I connected some ring terminals to the ends of the wires, used the original bolts/nuts and wrapped them up with tape well (very well) to avoid any short circuits from touching the frame.

The plan is mount a couple of those bulkhead isolators where the Lowes sticker is to connect these wires together. However I don't really need a bulkhead connector. These are normally about $10 a piece + $5.00 shipping. So I'd have at least $25 in just these connectors.

I don't see why I couldn't get a couple of 3/4" NPT nylon pipe plugs from Lowes or Home Despot and drill a hole through the center, just a bolt and nut and use a conduit nut on the backside and just make my own for less than $5.00 a set.



I stopped and started the mower several times today and it never struggled to turn over.

In case you notice, the positive connector closest to the frame (the rear battery), I used a connector that is fully insulated. And the other positive connector I used some heat shrink tubing around it to avoid and short circuits.

keep a close eye on those batteries.
The electrolyte is a paste and they have a bad habit of splitting the cases and leaking when not being charged at a very slow rate.

YOU gotta be schittin us ! ALL that !!!! .. when a $20.00 Walmart battery would have been so much faster and easier.. you my friend have too much time on your hands .. :laughing:..:laughing:

Building on what Bert mentioned- the original mower battery charges at a higher voltage than this type of battery (13.x vs 14.xV) so unless you cut at mid speed, you are likely going to get swollen batteries pretty quick.

Boobala said:

YOU gotta be schittin us ! ALL that !!!! .. when a $20.00 Walmart battery would have been so much faster and easier.. you my friend have too much time on your hands .. :laughing:..:laughing:

Click to expand...

Yeah in the 30 minutes it took me to rig this up, I could have went to Wal-Mart and bought one. But I have no money in this setup other than the connectors. The wiring came from a wiring harness from a Yugo.

I used to have one of these batteries in my bottom locker and ran wires to a power point to my upper locker so I could recharge my cell phone. Now that I have one of those new MOTO Z phones that requires a 3 amps charger, it will only recharge the phone a few times before the battery is dead. Before I could recharge my Droid mini about 15 times before the 12 aH battery required recharging.

Wait until you see Snapper Hi-Vac I'm going to repair. I'm going to be using a 79 frame, a 15 HP Kohler engine, deck, rear wheels and anything else I can salvage from the 1999 model.

Haven’t had a battery in my mower for well over 15 years, it was always dead anyway so I removed it from the system. Once started you don’t need the battery. To start I use jumper cables for my truck battery and connect directly to the battery leads which just dangle inside the mowers battery box.