# Oddball event with a lawnmower battery



## PicoAzores (Nov 17, 2021)

Something has happened between my Husqvarna GT52XLS riding mower and its 12V 16Ah battery. The battery is about 2 years old and should still be kicking. Yet after about 2 or 3 months of no usage the Husqvarna battery indicator light turned red. So I charged it with a battery charger. The current indicator went up a bit perhaps 2,5 Amp and within 10 seconds went down to zero. Strange, I thought. Perhaps the EINHELL battery charge dysfunction? I reinstalled the battery as it was showing green light and started the tractor, which very quicky went to yellow and then to red within seconds. I turned off the tractor and started it again. The crank was normal. But the battery life indicator light on the GT52XLS was showing RED. The mower has got 52 hours of work behind it, so it's not very old even that I bought it back in 2014 or even 2013. I brought the battery to a electronics shop and they checked it with a multimeter and they told me the battery is bad. OK, so I have purchased a medum range multimeter for around $35 made by UNI-T. Checked the battery's voltage at 12V mark on the multimeter with red going to+ and black to—. The indicator on the multimeter shows 12,4 V. Good! What's the problem? Why both the shop owners opinion and the tractor lite are stating/showing bad/red? What could be wrong?


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## BinVa (Sep 21, 2020)

A multimeter will only show a static surface voltage or draw/charge current of the battery or system. The multimeter will not show the true condition of the battery internally and the ability to retain a charge, that’s where a load tester comes in, it will show the battery’s ability to hold or retain amperage. When replacing a battery the higher the CCA the longer it will retain its ability to supply the necessary amperage for starting. You may be able to find a replacement battery of the same dimensions with a higher CCA rating that will last a little longer. If your current battery is 6-7yrs old.…it’s about at the end of it’s service life. B.


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## FredM (Nov 18, 2015)

Your battery has most likely a dead battery cell, the battery will show a voltage reading, but cannot supply a load draw because it has a dead cell, batteries of old with a filler cap to each cell could be read voltage wise with a voltage tester, newer batteries are somewhat sealed now and all you can do is a load test between positive and negative poles.


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