How Long Does a Lawnmower Battery Last?

You have bought yourself a fine lawnmower, and you are excited to level your lawn grass, but there is a confusion people usually have with lawnmowers, which is the lifespan of the batteries. This is for good reason because replacing the battery can be hectic and expensive. You are also wondering how much time you will have to run the lawnmower after charging the battery to its full capacity. Do not worry; this article will cover every detail about the battery life and propose solutions to prolong it.

How Long Does a Lawnmower Battery Last?

Generally, the lawnmowers’ batteries last up to 3 to 5 years, but it can stop working after only 1 year or go up to 8 years, but the battery is all about charge holding capacity, and with time it decreases. How long a battery lasts depends on what kind of battery and how you are using it.

Battery Types

There are two types of batteries, which are in use today, Lithium-Ion and Lead Acid batteries.

● Lithium-Ion

The lithium-ion battery is a newer type of batteries. It works on the basic principle of transferring charges from positive to negative electrode to charge the battery and reverse order while the battery gets discharged. Lithium-Ion battery usually lasts up to 3 to 5 years or 500 charging cycles. The charging cycle definition makes more sense because if someone uses the mover more than average, the 500 cycles will be completed in less than 3 years.

Lithium-Ion battery life also depends on the battery’s material; high-quality material will give battery properties like fast charging, prolonged battery life, and more energy storage. On average, lithium-Ion batteries give 4 volts per cell, but there is a variety of it, and lawnmowers can also use about 72 volts per cell and even higher.

● Lead Acid

Lead-acid batteries are one of the oldest types of batteries; the problem with lead-acid batteries is that they cannot go to the full capacity level once they are discharged. Lead-acid type batteries can last up to 1 to 3 years or 200 to 300 charging cycles. Lead-acid batteries are used when the temperature is below 32 Fahrenheit, where they perform better than Lithium-Ion batteries. Lead Acid type batteries provide 2 volts per cell.

The battery life of a fully charged lawnmower

Batteries power the cordless electric lawnmowers. One question that many people have is how will their fully charged lawnmowers will work before needing a recharge. Electric lawnmowers have seen advancement in recent times, and now they can operate for about an hour before they will need a recharge. However, the time depends on many factors, but a lawnmower must operate for an hour under normal conditions on average. Once operating it for an hour or half an acre.

(depends on your speed), you will need a recharge, and Lithium Ions batteries inside your lawnmower will get charged inside 100 minutes.

● Battery management

The lithium-ion battery’s performance in electric lawnmowers is increased because of some changes and developments made. Brushless motors inside lawnmowers will help battery life; the reason behind this is that a motor without brush will only exert force on batteries to operate at a given time.

See it as you are working thick grass, and because of thick grass, there will be more force on the motor. Now a motor without a brush will sense the grass dimensions and exert more force on the motor, but once that thick grass is removed, there will be less force on the motor, which will result in less power consumption. This is some good power management technique applied, but this is only in brushless motors, not when the brushed motor is used. The battery life will get enhanced, and resultantly, the time is taken by lawnmower to complete that 500 charging cycles will increase, which means the battery’s lifespan is increased.

Another important thing that must be addressed while using a lawnmower is that when you feel that the lawnmower’s power is getting low, which means the batteries are running out of charge, you should immediately stop using that. You do not need to go into technicalities, but using batteries at less power will always have adverse effects on batteries’ health.

● Battery care in winters

Different temperatures affect batteries. If your lawnmower battery is removable or not and you plan not to use your lawnmower in winters, you must be careful where you place your lawnmower. If you are storing your lawnmower in your garage, it will be good to take out the batteries and store it at room temperatures. Cold temperature can affect batteries’ life badly; it can even make them stop working at all. Therefore, you must keep them in-store if you want them to remain unaffected by the cold temperature.

You should also not place your batteries where the moisture level is absurd. The battery will absorb moisture, and it will decrease its lifespan.

● How charging cycle will affect battery life?

As we have seen in lead-acid batteries, whenever the battery is depleted, it will not go to its 100% capacity again if the battery is drained to around 70% of its capacity. It will never go back to 100% because the charging will only go to around 70%.

Lithium-Ion batteries are different. They can be charged to their full capacity even after being 50% charged and then fully depleted, unlike lead-acid batteries.

Lithium-ion batteries depend upon the charging cycles because they can only go 500 cycles before getting out of juice. The best practice for lithium-ion batteries should be charging them to

Their full capacity and then using them until they get discharged. Repeat this cycle; this will enhance the battery life.

Lithium-ion batteries will take more time to charge and less to discharge when they are getting old, so when you see your lawnmower has started taking a longer time than usual to get charged, it means batteries are getting old. If your lawnmower used to take 90 minutes for 100% charging, but now the time is prolonged, and it takes 120 minutes, the reason is old batteries. However, this change will take 2-4 years to occur.

Tips to increase the battery life of your lawnmower

1. Always use a lawnmower when batteries are fully charged.

When batteries are not 100% charged, using a lawnmower would not affect the lawnmower’s mechanical components, but it will surely cause battery life problems; using a fully charged lawnmower is recommended.

2. Raise the mower height.

The higher the grass, the less moisture will be in the lawnmower; less moisture will not exert extra force on the motor; resultantly, the batteries will also not experience more drain.

3. Move your lawnmower time and again.

The more you cut the grass, the more limited the grass will be the point at which it is cut again. Cut two times every week.

4. Avoid using a lawnmower too early in the morning.

Moisture is the reason again, because of the due at night; the grass is usually wet in the morning, wait until the grass dried out, the lawnmower will still work on wet grass, but it will work harder and consume more energy, the source of energy is the battery, which we need to protect.

5. No use of the self-propelled feature

Using a self-propelled feature will use more energy. Again, more energy usage will cause more load on batteries. For battery better timing, the self-propelled feature must not be used frequently.

6. Avoid using a Mulching blade.

The mulching blade is used to bag mulch grass clipping. However, when not used in mulch mode, they use more power, which will consume less power, intended for better battery life.

7. Follow the instruction manual.

Most people ignore the solution manual, but one should read every instruction about batteries given in the instruction manual, the manufacturer is the one who knows best about his products, so read the manual and follow the instructions.

8. Buy quality batteries

It is not a tip to increase battery life, but a requirement; if you buy duplicate batteries, the battery lifespan will not increase no matter what you do.

9. Quality charger

You will require a good quality smart charger to charge a battery or store the battery during winters. With an old battery charger, you run the risk of overcharging and damaging the battery. Unlike modern smart chargers, these older chargers don’t automatically stop charging when the battery is full.

Final Remarks

Every battery type has its own advantages and disadvantages; one can be used over another for desired purposes. However, for the lawnmower, a lithium-ion battery is normally used. Lithium-ion batteries ‘ health depends upon charging cycles; the charging cycle’s proper implementation will enhance the battery life. Besides, proper storage and optimal lawnmower usage while following some instructions will surely increase the battery’s life beyond the average lifespan.

We expect lawnmower will be more advanced in the future, consuming less power and increasing the lifespan of batteries.