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Riding lawn mowers often sit unused for months during the cold season. In most cases, there is little to be worried about while they’re inactive.
However, when you attempt to start it following a prolonged winter, there’s a significant chance it won’t start as the battery could be dead.
In truth, most riding lawn tractor batteries usually self-discharge due to the freezing temperatures during the off-season.
Which brings us to an important piece of equipment: battery charger for riding lawn mower…
You see, all you need to do to is hook a good battery charger for riding lawn mower to your tractor’s battery and it will be ready to start your mower in a few hours.
If you’re shopping for the best battery charger for riding lawn mower, we have reviewed the three best available models below to help you find the right one for your lawn mower.
Battery charger for riding lawn mower – the best 3 chargers in the market
These three chargers impressed us in terms of overall functionality, ease of use, and general value for money.
In short, you can trust them to keep your riding mower battery fully charged all winter or to crank up the juice in a riding mower battery that was in a fully discharged state.
BLACK+DECKER 6V/12V Battery Charger/Maintainer (Fully 1.2 amps automatic charger)
This works great, is conveniently small, and offers excellent features including long enough cables.
The charger will charge your battery fully and then maintains your battery without overcharging it (it will adjust its voltage automatically when battery is 100% charged).
Besides guarding against overcharging, the built-in circuit protection keeps your battery well protected from other common wiring mishaps (reversed connection, short circuit, wrong voltage, etc.).
The BLACK+DECKER 6V/12V Battery Charger is fully automatic so your only “manual effort” will be connecting it, setting the desired voltage, and of course, plugging it into a wall outlet.
Using it is a cinch too and there are 2 LED indicators; a red one to indicate fault and a green LED to show charging status.
There is built-in mounting bracket for convenient placement when not in use.
And oh, it comes at a fantastic price.
Pros
- Reasonably long cords.
- Very easy to set up and use.
- Sturdy and durable construction.
Cons
- There is nothing major to gripe about.
Automotive Battery Charger (and Maintainer) 12Volts 6A Smart Battery Charger for riding mower
This ultra-compact battery charger can both re-charge and maintain your battery.
It is extremely easy to use thanks to its simply designed to-battery connectors and intuitive controls (has nice touch keys).
The LCD display is handy when it comes to monitoring the charging progress and the health status of your battery.
Unlike conventional chargers/maintainers, it uses patented pulse charging technology to maximize the performance of the battery (slight pulse current is given at proper stages during charging to boost a battery).
If you have a mower battery that is completely dead, this charger can help give it new life- “Pulse Charging” does a great job to recover old batteries.
This will extend the life of battery as well- the repair mode breaks down calcification on battery cells to prolong battery life.
The entire battery charger is durable with the improved ABS case made both fire and water resistant.
You get a one-year warranty.
Pros
- Automatically stops recharging when fully charged.
- Very lightweight.
- Easy to use (the screen is especially awesome).
Cons
- The instructions could perhaps have been better.
DieHard Shelf Smart 71219 6/12V Smart Battery Charger (2 amp charge rate)
This microprocessor-controlled, fully automatic smart charger charges riding mower batteries in 5 steps so it does the job with exceptional precision.
The tool keeps your battery from harm in the event of wrong setup and the LED indicators will, for instance, flash if the clamps are reversed by mistake (the charger won’t operate).
The float mode monitoring ensures connected batteries stay at normal voltage so your battery’s charge will be maintained (It charges it up then shifts to maintenance mode).
You can even choose the desulfation mode to rejuvenate your battery if it is heavily sulfated.
The connectors and wires are of better quality (also the cord has nice length).
Accessories include 50A battery clamps, 12 Volts accessory plug, and even permanent ring connectors (It can be used to charge batteries for nearly everything from motorcycles, snowmobiles, to ATVs).
A 3-year warranty backs this.
Pros
- Longer 3-year warranty.
- Rugged cables.
- Lightweight and super portable.
Cons
- No major complaints.
Alternative to the battery charger: Battery Tender Junior (0.75 amps)
The junior battery tender will charge any 12v battery and can be the perfect alternative to a regular battery charger if your riding lawnmower has a 12v battery (most riding lawn mowers use 12-volt batteries).
The junior battery tender charger/maintainer is most notable for its unique 4-step charging procedure (initialization, bulk charge, and float mode) that ensure it optimizes your tractor’s battery power with every charge.
And because of the quick disconnect plug/adaptor, connecting and disconnecting this is a breeze.
There’s a lot we loved in this amazing accessory including the spark-proof lead connection, automatic charge adjustment, and reverse polarity protection.
It includes solid state LED lights to keep you informed of the charging progression and the level of power.
As you’d expect, it’s a connect and forget device- it manages the health of your battery automatically by intelligently interpreting and adjusting voltage according to your batteries’ needs.
Pros
- Easily keeps all types of riding lawn mower batteries topped off (It’s a universal charger/ maintainer).
- Comes with a plethora of cables/connectors making it very flexible (you can use it to charge motorcycle batteries, ATVs batteries, and more).
- Looks very well made.
Cons
- It can take a little longer to recharge seriously discharged batteries fully (but it should fully recharge a nearly dead 12v battery -but with good cells- in 30 to 48 hours)
Final words
The cold season spells doom for your riding lawn mower battery.
That being the case, your first task when the new mowing season begins is to charge the battery.
Speaking of which, you need a good battery charger for riding lawn mower.
The chargers we have reviewed in this article stood out from the competition and will help you resuscitate (and maintain) your lawn mower battery safely for years.
No more jump starting!
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