On Fri, 21 Aug 2009 16:02:13 -0400, "Ralph Mowery"
wrote:


"Real ****er" wrote in message
...


I never had a battery started lawnmower or other outdoor machine. My
snowblower has a 115VAC starter motor which I most never use, as it starts
easily with the pull cord. Anyway, on machines that use a battery starter,
is there no type of alternator/generator that keeps the battery up to full
charge while it is running? Do you have to use a plug in charger "every so
often" to charge up the battery? If there is an alternator on the machine
built into the engine, maybe it is not working. Nobody has mentioned this
before here, so I am giving you my 2 cents on this.

I am OP. I said originally - I cut the lawn (2 hours) and then
checked the battery. It read `14.1V! This tells me that the mower
alternator (?) is working.

Batteries will fail
sooner than their life expectancy if discharged and not recharged
promptly, I believe.

RP

Of the several riding mowers I have had and several more I have seen, they
have a charging system.
If the battery is really ran down, that is not usually enough to recharge
the battery, but it is enough to keep them charged during normal starting
and mowing. The one I bought 4 years ago has never needed an external
charge.

I bought a portable generator (5000 watts) that has an electric start, but
no charging system. The battery seems to be of the nicad type instead of
the more common lead type. It comes with a wall cube that you plug in to
charge it.
Probably would take overnight to recharge the battery if it was very ran
down. I have had it about 6 months and have not tried to start it. I had
another generator and thought it had gone bad so I got the new one. Then I
fixed the old one. Bad gas had stopped up a small hole in the carberator.
The old one starts up just like always, usuall 2 pulls, 3 at the most.