Hey there...decided to register for the forums...I have been watching this website for a long time. I am very excited about the direction that this technology and industry is headed. Goodbye to gas guzzlers and hello to one more step to oil independance.
Dan
aka
Parakiller

Welcome to the forum! Lurk no more.:)

Welcome to the forums!

rgathright...
Speaking of the B&D battery mower - I've owned one for 12 years now and it's still going strong. I've had to replace the battery every 2-3 years and just recently had to put new wheels on it but it's been a great mower. This past summer I picked up a 15w solar panel and now I recharge it with the sun. Takes about 2 days to recharge via the panel. Cheers!

rgathright...
Speaking of the B&D battery mower - I've owned one for 12 years now and it's still going strong. I've had to replace the battery every 2-3 years and just recently had to put new wheels on it but it's been a great mower. This past summer I picked up a 15w solar panel and now I recharge it with the sun. Takes about 2 days to recharge via the panel. Cheers!

What do you do with the mower (specifically the battery) over the winter? Do you leave it disconnected, and then charge it up at the beginning of mowing season? Do you leave it connected to the charger?

The manufacturer's website didn't have much in the way of detailed information. I saw that the mower has a 24V SLA battery - what is the current rating? What kind of charger comes with the mower - a simple DC wall-wart, or something a little more complex that can properly maintain the charge on the battery?

Thanks!

My mower is an older model, only has a 12v/26AH battery. The charge controller is built into the mower on mine and it has an external plug-in power supply/transformer, I usually leave it plugged in all winter. I ran a couple of wires from the battery to the outter mower housing and plug the solar panel's charge controller directly to the battery, bypassing the mower's charge controller. Seems to work ok but I only started using the solar charging in the last month or so.

Thanks for the detailed response.

The reason I was asking is that lead-acid batteries need constant care - I keep my Seadoo and motorcycle connected to battery maintainers over the winter.

I'd like to know more about the solar panel and the charge controller - it is designed to charge lead-acid batteries? Can it function as a battery maintainer?

I actually bought the solar panel when I happened to see it on the 50% off table at Schucks Auto Parts... it was only $50 which isn't bad for a 15w panel. It came with a small charge controller for 12v batteries and it will maintain the charge after the battery has been charged. I had seen that same charge controller sold by itself for $15-$20 so it was a pretty good deal. I don't have any specifics with me right now (I'm at work) but can get more detail later if you need them.

Hi, everyone! I'm happy to be here! I'm on the wait list at 44985! Ouch!

Welcome Voltgirl11.

An interesting time to join.