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New-to-me Craftsman E150 Riding Mower is getting stowed for winter. Any advice on battery maintenance over winter? It's a Li-Ion battery, so is it best to leave it on the charger, or just periodically charge it during freezing temperatures?

Owner's manual

Li batteries don't like being continuously charged. I would say top it off if you are done mowing for the season. Take it inside your crib for the winter. Top it off in the spring. Mow as normal.

Removing the battery involves disassembling the rear of the mower and seat. Terrible design.
And, upon startup this spring, it ran for 10 minutes, and now the charger flashes a, "E004" error code. Mower does not start. Searching for answers.

jwax said:

Removing the battery involves disassembling the rear of the mower and seat. Terrible design.
And, upon startup this spring, it ran for 10 minutes, and now the charger flashes a, "E004" error code. Mower does not start. Searching for answers.

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It would seem your battery went bad during the winter, Lithium batteries do not like to be frozen.

Thanks for the reply, and I thought the same until I measured the battery- it's 54.5 volts. That is in range of the charger to complete the charge cycle, and run the mower. The mower doesn't make a sound when switched ON, usually a relay clicks closed. Testing the mower during the winter and it ran fine.

Voltage under load is the critical parameter. Voltage-no-load is a good starting point but is not a complete answer.

Thanks Grumpy, but when I turn the mower on, it draws .055 Amp, but will do nothing more. Usually a contactor goes clack, but I get nothing. Dosen't look like a battery problem, it's a problem detected by the CANBUS system. Anybody know how to troubleshoot that?

jwax said:

Thanks Grumpy, but when I turn the mower on, it draws .055 Amp, but will do nothing more. Usually a contactor goes clack, but I get nothing. Dosen't look like a battery problem, it's a problem detected by the CANBUS system. Anybody know how to troubleshoot that?

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Trying to find a shop that will work on a battery Craftsman mower will not be easy. When people buy off brand battery equipment, this is one of many problems.

"off brand battery equipment"? MTD? Samsung? Don't believe these are off brands. What seems to be missing is distributors that are uneducated/uninterested in the ways of battery equipment and their maintenance.

jwax said:

Thanks Grumpy, but when I turn the mower on, it draws .055 Amp, but will do nothing more. Usually a contactor goes clack, but I get nothing. Dosen't look like a battery problem, it's a problem detected by the CANBUS system. Anybody know how to troubleshoot that?

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Find the contactor that went "clack" and determine if it is being driven to "clack" or not. If not then scratch your head, if being driven then go about finding a replacement contactor.

Disconnect and reconnect batteries just in case there is some microscopic corrosion due to temperature changes over the winter. this is a common issue with anything electrical. Keep it simple.

CANBUS is communications area network. As in a buss of specific speed modules communicate on. Talking about OBD2 like coms in cars and trucks. Code scanner time maybe.

Tried connect/disconnect battery to no avail.
Speaking of CANBUS, can I simply unplug the CANBUS connector from the battery so it can't send the, "Bad Battery" signal to the mower? Without that signal, maybe I can run the mower?
Or, the disconnected CANBUS will send the bad battery signal anyway?
Maybe need a CANBUS scanner, whatever that is.

How do you know a bad battery message is being sent?

jwax said:

"off brand battery equipment"? MTD? Samsung? Don't believe these are off brands. What seems to be missing is distributors that are uneducated/uninterested in the ways of battery equipment and their maintenance.

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Who sells Craftsman battery mowers? Lowes. Does Lowes service/repair battery equipment? No. Do most shops service/repair battery Craftsman equipment? No. Do you see where I am going?

Tiger Small Engine said:

Who sells Craftsman battery mowers? Lowes. Does Lowes service/repair battery equipment? No. Do most shops service/repair battery Craftsman equipment? No. Do you see where I am going?

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None of the shops around here will even look at a battery mower or any battery OPE. Can't get parts and are throw aways one real mower shop manager told me.

slomo said:

None of the shops around here will even look at a battery mower or any battery OPE. Can't get parts and are throw aways one real mower shop manager told me.

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If the dealer sells Stihl for example, then obviously they will work on your battery trimmer, blower, etc. However, if you buy a Ryobi or Craftsman battery piece of equipment for example, at Home Depot or Lowes, no shop in most cases is going to repair that off brand equipment. Therefore it often ends up in the dump while people are trying to be “green”.

How do you know a bad battery message is being sent?
The Delta-Q charger flashes the error code for "Bad Battery".

All very well made points on this forum! Appreciate your inputs!