Anyone have any experience with battery powered push mowers?
- Thread starter Yaj Yak
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IceCreamAssassin , didnt you fux with these?
I have a very old Black & Decker 24 volt, 5 HP mower that I've had for over 22 years. I bought it used from Home Depot for $100. It has two 12v, 18Ah lead acid batteries and will run for almost 90 minutes. The giant 5 HP motor's enormous torque will rip through anything and I've never had a problem mowing tall, thick grass. It has some kind of governor which forces the motor to run at a fixed RPM, so if you hit thick grass, you'll hear the motor hum louder and the ammeter shows it pulling more juice from the battery, but it doesn't slow down.
It's been very reliable and I've only had two issues with it over all this time. The original batteries needed to be replaced because they were defective (read why below). B&D gave me the new ones at a discount and I think they were only $30. The second set of batteries have lasted all this time, about 21 years, and are still going strong.
The second problem I had was a couple years ago when I let the wife try to cut the grass. She carelessly ran over a giant log and damaged the spindle bearing in the motor (women ? amirite?). The motor was easy to disassemble and the spindle bearing was simple to replace. I got the spindle bearing for $4 on Amazon.
I'd never buy another gas push mower again. Battery mowers don't need gas or oil and they're quiet.
One thing I recommend is to NOT leave the batteries in the mower over the winter. Freezing temps will damage them and I'm pretty sure that's why I was able to buy this thing for $100. I'm guessing the previous owner let the batteries freeze and the cold temps killed them. I have a friend who has this exact same mower and he did the same thing. He left the batts in the mower over the winter and in the spring, they'd only last 30 minutes.
In the fall, I take the batteries out and put them in the fridge for the winter. So far, this has worked for me and the batteries are still going strong 22 years later.
The batteries in my mower are not easily removable and you must remove the top cover to get at them, then unscrew the battery terminals and pull out the batteries. I think most of the newer mowers have batteries that you can just yank out from the top with no fuss.
It's been very reliable and I've only had two issues with it over all this time. The original batteries needed to be replaced because they were defective (read why below). B&D gave me the new ones at a discount and I think they were only $30. The second set of batteries have lasted all this time, about 21 years, and are still going strong.
The second problem I had was a couple years ago when I let the wife try to cut the grass. She carelessly ran over a giant log and damaged the spindle bearing in the motor (women ? amirite?). The motor was easy to disassemble and the spindle bearing was simple to replace. I got the spindle bearing for $4 on Amazon.
I'd never buy another gas push mower again. Battery mowers don't need gas or oil and they're quiet.
One thing I recommend is to NOT leave the batteries in the mower over the winter. Freezing temps will damage them and I'm pretty sure that's why I was able to buy this thing for $100. I'm guessing the previous owner let the batteries freeze and the cold temps killed them. I have a friend who has this exact same mower and he did the same thing. He left the batts in the mower over the winter and in the spring, they'd only last 30 minutes.
In the fall, I take the batteries out and put them in the fridge for the winter. So far, this has worked for me and the batteries are still going strong 22 years later.
The batteries in my mower are not easily removable and you must remove the top cover to get at them, then unscrew the battery terminals and pull out the batteries. I think most of the newer mowers have batteries that you can just yank out from the top with no fuss.
We have a Ryobi with the 18V system (the tiny mower too) and love it. Someone else said you need to mow more often and I’d say that’s true. We have a 3 year old model that doesn’t handle thick stuff particularly well so we just mow more frequently but we have a super small yard. 18V system is pretty awesome because our batteries work in our electric blower, and our weed eater so the entire system is great. Super lightweight and bags grass really well. We’ve been pleased enough that I doubt I’d ever go back to gas.
We now have 4 batteries and two chargers.
We now have 4 batteries and two chargers.
Only experience I have with battery mowers is my Ego 21” self propelled. It’s got all the features you’d expect such as the only lever height adjustment, mulching adaptor, bag, adjustable handle angle, able to fold up and put against the wall. I’ve been using it with 1 battery and just starting its 5th season with no perceived loss of battery capacity.
When the grass is super thick and long and covered in morning dew it will do the “spin up really fast” thing and uses the battery faster but I’ve never had it not be enough to finish a mow. The self propelled feature is louder than the damn blade. Love how quiet the mower is and how you can smell the fresh cut grass.
When the grass is super thick and long and covered in morning dew it will do the “spin up really fast” thing and uses the battery faster but I’ve never had it not be enough to finish a mow. The self propelled feature is louder than the damn blade. Love how quiet the mower is and how you can smell the fresh cut grass.
Husqvarna and a few other make them. They are rad and getting better ever year. My last place of employment is the biggest seller of these and knows a fuck ton. If you’re really interested I’ll get you the dudes number for a quote.
Yeah I'd be interested. Can they do small hills and really technical yards?
Yes they can, they now have awd versions for shit yards and can turn in place. They are smart enough to go’s your yard as it mows to be more efficient in the future. I’ll pm you his number.
That's called fertilizing
Is your dog an elephant? Cause it should just roll over them with no issues.
I assume it’s on wheels? Have you all never run over a turd on accident and had it buried in the tire treads?
The owner of the company who sells them has a Great Dane and has zero issues with it causing problems.I assume it’s on wheels? Have you all never run over a turd on accident and had it buried in the tire treads?
Are you guys thinking that I think it won’t run or something? I’m simply saying I would be lazy and run it without doing my usual yard pickup right before mowing and the thing would be running over turds all over the place..
Jeez guys, it’s not like I said it’s a piece of garbage idea and won’t work.
Jeez guys, it’s not like I said it’s a piece of garbage idea and won’t work.
I have the whole ryobi 40v system (literally everything) and I am beyond happy. I have a smaller yard now with the pool... but cuts the entire yard, self propelled etc. I would recommend
So I am thinking buy 10 of the robot mowers. Drive by ti a account drop it and drive to the next one. Finish dropping the last go pick up the first. Become TCG baller.....
I see ads on YouTube for that all the time. Granted I watch a lot of lawn YouTube but it’s at least daily.
I like the idea of those lawn robots, but worry about them being stolen. Most of them have GPS trackers in them but you’d still have to deal with tracking it down. I’m also not sure what pattern those things mow in, and if they’d leave nice stripes or not.
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