Battery Power for Lawn equipment -- is it time?

third year with the ryobi lawn tractor. batteries holding up well, but in the wettest spring we've had in awhile, i had to mow half one day and half the next to keep them from running down too low.
researching lithium replacements, someone makes a kit for $1,000.

 

My daughter has a black and decker cm1836. I got it for her in mid 2009. Still works well on original agm lead acid batteries. Has excellent power and is easy to use. I tell her those batteries won’t last forever and since they probably aren’t available from b d, lets think about getting a plan for a new much more expensive electric mower.
A couple weeks ago someone put out the same mower on the sidewalk for free. Everything came with it. I looked up batteries after taking the cover off and seeing what they are, and found lo and behold they are common, used in many things like electric scooters. Got a new set of three which gives the 36 volts for under $70 with tax. Got from home depot online but amazon has them. Home depot has better return policies.
So I find that interesting as buying new lithium ion for mowers and tools can easily be more than $70.

 

@bisco I went through the same thing with my Kobalt 80v lawn mower batteries. I investigated buying new Kobalt Batteries and was shocked at their cost. (post #823 in this thread)

My solution was to research ebay for compatible 80 volt batteries and I found replacements for an 80 volt battery 5ah that were generic and cost about 1/3 of what a Kobalt 80 volt 2.5 ah battery cost. They are holding up well this mowing season and hold roughly 2 x the charge of the old batteries.

I enjoy electric lawn tools and won't go back to gas but when the batteries begin to falter it can be a rude awakening when you price the replacements.

No pull starting, no buying gas and no oil or spark plug changes are things I don't miss. Buying new batteries for the lawn mower did make me cringe a bit at the cost!

 

They have their own downsides, but it is hard to dismiss corded tools cost advantage.

 

I recently had to purchase a new 40v battery for the Oregon Tools string trimmer. Having been a discontinued model for a while, and not being very popular when they were sold, I could not find any aftermarket battery. The least expensive one I could still find was $106 on Walmart. If it was the only tool, then it would have been wise to switch to a new tool with different popular brand that has third party supply of batteries, but I also own a chainsaw that works with the the same battery. So, I coughed up. We have two working batteries now, but when both of them die... I think I will just buy a new tool with a new battery. The battery tools are becoming another ink jet printer selling on Razor and blades model marketing.

 

Can you solder? Rebuilding the pack with new cells might be an option.

 

Yeah, I watched YouTube video on doing that on different brand battery. But decided not worth it for me. Changing air filter and spark plug is easier. I've never done anything else on the 2cycle engines on a brush cutter and a chainsaw.

 

Or have Batteries+ rebuild the pack.

JeffD

 

I use EGO brand and have a blower, string trimmer and hedge clipper. 2 chargers, 4 batteries. Only one has failed and that was replaced for free. Used for probably 5 years. The convenience is as much the attraction as the ECO factor. I did add a battery somewhere along the way and it was third party via Amazon.

 

... for me, for certain things, electric yard equipment makes sense. Electric blower, weed-whacker, electric edger, 22" electric hedge trimmer, electric chain saw on a 10' pole for tree trimming.

But, that none of my electric yard equipment is cordless, I go through cheap Chinese extension cords, annually. That I have to have 100' of extension cord, I need the cheap extension cords. I need them to be lightweight.

High quality extension cords -- just too heavy.

Biomass my yard produces? Just no way an electric lawnmower could ever consistently handle weekly up 'n backs, across my lawns.

3 fruitless mulberry, 4 Modesto ash, even my top of the line Honda lawnmower is insufficient for the job, come November. My Autumn leaf drop sufficient to fill 8 Waste Management green waste containers, mulched, requires a proprietary gasoline powered yard vac.

Because I must maintain a top-of-the-line lawnmower, AND a gasoline yard vac, makes sense paring down the number of gasoline engines I must maintain, opting to go electric where practicable, on light-duty yard equipment.

As it is, I can wrap up weekly outdoor chores, in a day. Saddled an electric lawn mower, I'd have to stretch what I can do in an hour with my commercial Honda, over several hours. Probably two days. Saddled an electric lawnmower, shoved down my throat by policymakers who've never mowed a lawn their entire lives? Cleaning up in the yard chores would no longer be a one day chore, for me.

Unacceptable, that I'd have to be at it, two to three days!

Thank our lucky stars, assassination attempt having failed, I stand a fair chance keeping my top of the line commercial Honda lawnmower, along with my oven, my stove, my air conditioning, my furnace, my yard vac, my house and my cars, after all!


Samuel, '04 Ruthiemobile

 

ah, good. please continue to bring your politics to every forum here

 

Honda revamped their gas engines and you can buy them in Calif again. I almost did, because I do like them. Then I found the Black and Decker push mower put out for free and spent $70 for the three lead acid agm batteries in it. My daughter has the same mower and it is still on the original batteries from 2009. Why this system went out I don’t know. The batteries are used in wheel chairs and electric scooters, easy and cheap to get. Have to keep them topped up.
I guess you agree the President in 2009 was doing a great job with lawn mowers.

 

meh.
You're more likely to get static over your gas mower from state officials than the feds.
Since I live on free soil I can mow worry-free.

Not a fan of Chondas but at least they're starting to ASSEMBLE some of them in the US now.
A friend of mine was picking on me for buying a ChiComm radio, telling me I should have bought a (insert name of over-priced radio here) instead.
Instead of boring him with my standard lecture about how Japanese products were viewed 40 years ago I asked him to take the battery off of his radio.
The label beneath said:
Made In China.

mic drop moment....

@ AGM batteries.

Common Starting & Deep Cycle Battery Types Explained

Right tool for the job.
If you're living in a neighborhood with a postage-stamp sized lawn, batteries sometimes make sense IF you use them correctly and avoid some of the pitfalls.
Repurposing a cast-off mower can be good both economically and ecologically.
I'm still using a corded mower that one of my neighbors threw out - probably after running over the cord a time or two.
My recent dalliance with portable comms informs me that it will be another year or three until Lifepo4 batteries are commercially viable for lawn use - so I'll stick with 'old-school' gas and cords for now.
We have a golf-cart whose (lead acid) batteries are about done.
I'm trying to convince my CFO to either switch to a battery technology that's less than 150 years old or drop a Chonda gas engine into it.
We can re-battery the unit for $1000-2000 but that will only buy us a few years (4-6) with lead-acid tech - even with diligent maintenance.
A gas conversion is about the same money......

I use Lifepo4 (Bioenno and Dakota) for portable, plugs-out electronics and while they're eye-wateringly expensive - you do not cut corners on some things.....

Sticks and stones.....
Words can't hurt people unless you scribble them on a brick and throw it at somebody.

 

I thought Chonda was like the harbor freight clones of Honda engines. Anyway one can buy a new Honda mower in Calif. Not being taken away. Honda stepped up to keep their Calif market share. Other engine makers did too.
They always step up, by now we see that.

 

There's a difference?

 

I used to be saddled with cutting the family 100x100 lot with a sumbeam twin blade 16" ? corded mower starting at about age 8 yrs. I ran over the cord a few times, experimenting which cutting directions I could use where I didn't have to move the gosh darn cord out of the way so much. Ours was the only electric in the neighborhood, probably the whole hamlet, I didn't know much about what was going on further away than that at 8 yrs. At 10 yrs I got to see the Hudson river and Flushing Bay on the water while attending the World Fair.
Thanks for the memories

 

that old time adage is incorrect. words matter

 

I live in a golfing community which has two courses. The roads and courses are hilly. You need a 6 battery car rather than a 4 battery version. People are buying LIon cars (ride in cars, push carts) and converting to them left and right. Talked to two people in the last few days that did it. Gas makes sense for a club as they can use the same car several times a day. For one round a day, electric is just fine. I am still lead acid. 3rd set of batteries over 18 years.

 

The weight of lead acids can be more of an issue to the user of a push mover than one with a self propelled appliance. Then Li-ion is more tolerant of neglect and heavy use; makes them more user friendly.