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Well I have a craftmans riding lawn mower and I just bought this new battery for it and for some reason it drain my battery out . I called sears and other places and they told me that it sounded like a short some where .. Has anyone had this happen before I looked around and cheaked my wires and all w/ a tester but its allright? I would take it in but Hell My grass looks like a jungle. They told me that they are 2 month behind on repairs on other riding lawn mowers.... So Can you imagine how long it will be by the time they get to mine and imagine my grass.. please if anyone has had a problem such as this please c/b.... Thanks

Answer 1

Crapsman from Sears and Rubbish have always given problems in this area.

You could do two things.
1) Keep your battery on some type of trickle charger. (What most people do.)
2) Change battery to gell type and bigger size too. (What I did to mines.)

That is basically the only options you have.

Answer 2

The short diagnosis sounds right. If your tester has a resistance scale, you might disconnect the battery and check the resistance across the battery leads, with everything turned off. It should show infinite resistance. If not, there must be a short.

I don't know anything about the circuitry of the mower, so can't be specific beyond that point.

Perhaps it has a starter, perhaps not. Maybe it is totally electric.

If it does show infinite resistance, keeping the battery lead off, turn on the thing. I would expect the resistance to remain infinite, or go to some high value, indicating connection of something like a fuel gage or indicator light. If it Goes low, there could be a short in wiring to lights(?), any electrical controls or the starter circuit.

If it has a battery charging circuit, maybe it is not charging. That you could tell by measuring battery voltage with the mower turned off, and when turned on. When turned on, it should read a higher voltage.

It is ominous that Sears is so far behind on mower repairs. I think that tells us something.

Answer 3

There are a few possibilities. The first and most likely is the one that you have described. Any wire on the 6-12 volt positive side that is making contact with the chassis will drain your battery. Another possibility is that you got a bad new battery. While unlikely, it is possible. Another possibility is that your unit (engine) has a charging coil that is no longer working, so the battery is not being drained necessarily, but the charging circuit is not keeping it charged. If you cannot figure it out, and cannot wait until somebody else can service it, I would recommend that you have the battery charged, then only connect the battery terminals to start the unit and disconnect when you put it away.

Answer 4

If you aren't using it at least three times a week, then the battery will drain all by itself. Try using a trickle charger when it's not in use. This works for me as I suffered from the same thing. The trist about twenty dollars and is well worth the investment. I got tired of having to jump start the mower every time I needed it.

Answer 5

There is probably a short or drain somewhere.
Since you can't find it, and repair must be
deferred, charge the battery, use the mower,
and disconnect the battery ground when
not using the mower till you can get it fixed.
If this doesn't solve your problem, it might
be the charger on the mower.

Answer 6

If the mower runs all right, and just drains the battery when it's sitting, you should disconnect the positive battery cable when you aren't mowing.

A simplistic answer for a vague question is the best I can do.

Define the problem.

Answer 7

I agree that it is a short, or a switch that is not turning off when it is in the off position. I had this problem with the lights on my mower (which I did not use). You could also disconnect the positive battery cable when not in use to get you through the grass for now.

Answer 8

I hope you charged the new battery overnight or at least 24 hours before using it. The factory only charges it enough to test it and lord knows how long the store has it before they sell it. If you did not charge the new battery for at least 24 hrs. before use, then that is your problem. Try charging the battery overnight or at least 24 hrs. then use the mower and see what happens. My guess is everything will be all right. Good luck.

Answer 9

Mine used to drain down all the time. I got a set of jumper cables and just jumped it from the car to get it going. It would charge enough while runninig it that I didn't have any problems when I stopped it to empty the grass catcher. It would usually restart after the initial jump.