Can You Jump Start A Lawn Mower With A Car?
Turning on your riding lawn whether it is Husqvarna YTH22V46 or Husqvarna YTA24V48 or any mower and finding it won’t start is definitely one of the biggest bummers to your weekend if you have a lawn. Lawnmowers frequently have trouble starting because they have been sitting idle for months (such as throughout the winter), which can lead to the power system in battery-driven models going dead.
You may assume you need to purchase a new battery or take your lawn mower to a repair shop for maintenance. But you can use your automobile to jumpstart a lot of lawnmowers. With your car, you can jumpstart a variety of lawnmowers.
How To Jump Start A Lawn Mower With A Car?
1. Safety
Make sure your riding mower is flat, turned off, and the parking brake is engaged before you do anything. Finding the mower’s battery is the next step. Look through your user handbook if you are still looking for the battery by just digging around.
Check to see if the battery is 12-volt after you’ve located it. The majority of contemporary riding mowers use this kind of small-engine battery, but if yours has a 6-volt battery and you try to jumpstart it with the car, you’ll damage the battery.
It would help if you didn’t attempt to jumpstart a push lawn mower. After all, you risk blowing the engine because most of them have smaller, 6-volt or fewer engines. Just a battery charger will work for a 6-volt model.
2. Cleaning The Battery Terminals
Even if you follow the instructions strictly, a dirty, corroded, or loose battery terminal can prevent power from flowing, preventing the battery from receiving a charge.
Corroded terminals can be cleaned up by dusting baking soda powder directly on the terminals. After that, add a teaspoon of plain water, and the acid will be neutralized after about a minute. To assist stop further corrosion, wire-brush the terminals and add a layer of grease or Vaseline.
3. Positioning the Mower and Car
Turn off your car’s ignition and park near your riding lawnmower. During the entire process, keep it off. Locate your car’s battery by opening the hood and supporting it firmly. It must be 12-volt as well. Make sure the lawnmower’s system is at the same voltage as the one in the car.
Remember that accessing the battery terminals on your car can require removing a plastic barrier. Take some time to determine which battery pole is positive and which is negative once you’ve located the battery and connections in your car.
4. Connect The Cables
One end of the red jumper cable should be connected to the positive battery pole on the lawn mower’s battery. The positive battery pole on the battery of your car should be connected to the opposite end of the red jumper cable.
Connect one end of the black cable to the car’s negative battery terminal, careful not to let this end touch any metal on the vehicle. Away from the fuel tank and battery, attach the other end of the black jumper cable to the metal mower frame.
5. Start the Lawn Mower
Start the mower by turning the ignition key once everything is connected. This shock ought to be enough to restart your riding lawn mower if the battery isn’t completely fried, in which case it has to be replaced. If you can start the engine, let it run for a few minutes with the battery still connected to charge it up.
6. Disconnect the Cables
Removing the cords in the opposite direction of how you attached them is best done while the lawn mower is still running. Alternatively stated, unplug the black cable from the mower frame first, then the car’s battery.
The red cable should then be taken away from the mower’s battery before the red cable is taken away from the vehicle’s battery. As you break the connection, this reduces the possibility of damaging electrical components.
7. Charge the Battery
Once the riding lawn mower moves, you must have enough power to keep it moving for a while. But it’s advisable to fully charge the battery with a charger as soon as possible to prevent this from happening again.
You must test the battery with a volt meter if it won’t start even after you’ve tried jumping it. You could need to acquire a new battery, or there might be another problem, like a broken starter, that needs to be fixed.
How To Jump Start Mower Without Car?
1. Jumper Pack
One choice is to purchase a “jump pack,” which costs between $50 and $60. The 12-volt battery has jumper cables attached and is enclosed in plastic. You plug it into a wall outlet to charge it, and when you need to jumpstart a car or lawnmower, you carry it outside and fasten the built-in cables to the dead battery.
2. Battery Charger
You can use a car battery charger to recharge your lawnmower; just use the jumper cables already attached to the charger to connect the mower’s battery to the charger. This method, though, is limited to 12-volt batteries. You can do this process within the confines of your own house without the assistance of a professional.
3. Trickle Charger
Most common 6- or 12-volt batteries can be charged using trickle chargers. From your lawnmower or zero-turn mower to your car or big tractor, you can use them on various small to large engines. Almost anything with a battery can use them, including boats, ATVs, jet skis, and other vehicles.
Is It Safe To Jump Start a Lawn Mower with a Car?
Jumpstarting a lawn mower’s 12v cranking battery is secure if done appropriately. However, it gets risky if you attempt to jumpstart it improperly or try to charge the wrong (6v) battery. Batteries come in a variety of shapes and sizes for gas-powered lawnmowers.
Since every lawn mower is unique and there is no set guideline for what battery to use with what mower, it is always crucial to check the voltage of your lawn mower’s batteries. Therefore, always check first.
Final Thoughts
In the long run, you know that a dead mower battery will need to be charged and eventually replaced, which is similar to dealing with a dead automobile battery. The good news is that there are methods to restart and recharge a battery if it dies before the end of its useful life, preventing the need to replace it entirely just yet. Remind yourself of that occasionally. A mower with a dead battery can indeed be jumpstarted. But soon, even jumpstarting will be ineffective, and that battery will need to be changed.
