Jump starting an under-seat battery?

[Gord Baker]

One of my mowers has the battery under the seat and has a safety switch that requires the seat to be down and depressed before it will start. With someone in the seat I can't see any way that a set of jumper cables would fit under there without running the very real risk of grounding the + cable. How does someone jump start a mower with the battery under the seat?

Attach the Ground cable to the mower frame and the + cable to the Solenoid.post that does NOT connect to the Battery. Key start should then work.

 

[justin@justintime]

I mowed lawns for 20 something years and now have a repair shop from exmarks to scags to Craftsman not a one of them needs you in the seat. Nor should you jump start your tractor and mow your lawn it's a good way to fry your regulator and or stator. And will apply to all out door power equipment. Yes even you gun hoe scrapers that mow all day. Trickle charge your batteries when dead and trickle charge your batteries if sitting a month or more. All batteries have a discharge rate and most of you have a rapid discharge rate due to poor batteries due to the machine not the battery. Minus y'all running Kawasaki they have a rather nice voltage regulator that does what it should. AKA smart charge. Trickle charger your Husqvarna lawn tractor that may indeed have a kawi the. Scan your battery then set your Park brake put in neutral and turn the key make sure your blades are off of a no go then it won't start with you on it either.

 

[gerryg11]

I have a Husqvarna YTH24V54 rider model. I can attach the jumper cables to sit virtually horizontal in the same plane below the top of the battery terminals, which allows me to safely sit in the seat to start the machine without fear of shorting anything out whilst starting the engine.

 

[ChiefH]

Sounds like you need to pull the battery out and charge it and have it checked. The engine stator on a rider engine is not meant to "recharge" a battery, it is designed to maintain the battery and run the lights or the electric PTO for the deck if you have that option.

If the battery will not charge, replace it or will cost you much more trying to nurse it along by jumping it.

Never, bypass or rig any safety device. I have seen way too many injures and mishaps through the years. Accidents don't happen on purpose.

Set the parking brake and you should be able to jump it. Do not jump the rider with the vehicle running.

This is what I was going to recommend. If the battery needs a "jump" then it is not charged and needs a charger connected, OR the battery is near the end of its life and needs to be replaced. Do not defeat the safety switches!

 

[mg8t7gn]

I use one of those small handeld battery jumper boxes. The clamps are small enough to allow the seat to be in the down position. Just make sure the cables won't get pinched and the positive clamp won't touch ground.

 

[Freddie21]

My jumper box cablw clamps are small. I can connect them and have them lay horizonal and the seat does not touch them. Same with my charger cables. Or, you coyld jump to the starter solenoid (+) and engine block (-).

 

[jes_in_sac]

On a Craftsman, the brake must be set to both bypass the seat switch and to start the engine. The engine charging circuit is mostly useless for long-term use, and you should have a battery maintainer on the battery, to ensure that it's charged when needed, and to extend the life of the battery. Also, the wet-cell Lawn and Garden batteries are mostly worthless. So next battery change, buy a Motorcycle/ATV AGM sealed battery [cheap and readily available on Amazon], which will put up with the bouncing better, last a lot longer, and hold a charge better. They will be a little smaller for the same cranking amps, so just take up the extra space with some bubble wrap or packing material, which will also help cushion it some more. On many engines on Craftsman mowers, the starter is on the side where it's easy to get to, with the big red wire going to the starter right in front of you. With the brake set and in neutral, you can jump right to the starter battery terminal, with the black negative cable just grounded anywhere on the engine.

 

[rhkraft]

Craftsman, Husqvarna and most of the others are all made by MTD. Just painted different colors and have different hoods and decalcomania. I had a Craftsman and the governor gear exploded - junk! I had a Craftsman grass catcher on it that cost me over $500 so I wanted another Craftsman so the grass catcher would fit. Couldn't find a Craftsman in late July so had to look at others. I noticed the grass catcher would fit different brands. I bought a Husqvarna and the grass catcher fit perfectly with no alterations. But the Husq didn't have rear wheels on the mower deck so I removed the rear wheels off the Craftsman and bolted them on the Husq. Even all the bolt holes in the Husq mower deck matched.

 

[GearHead36]

To those saying that you don't need to be in the seat for starting.... Some do, some don't. I have two riding mowers. A Husqvarna CZ4817 and a Cub Cadet Pro Z 154S. To start the CZ, the bars must be pushed out, the park brake set, AND you have be in the seat. On the Pro Z, if the park brake is set, you can walk up to it and start it. I've had this jump-start problem with the CZ, and I couldn't figure out how to get cables in there.

I'll echo other's recommendations for a trickle charger. All of my power equipment with batteries have Battery Tender pigtails on them, and I keep them plugged in.

 

[Gord Baker]

One of my mowers has the battery under the seat and has a safety switch that requires the seat to be down and depressed before it will start. With someone in the seat I can't see any way that a set of jumper cables would fit under there without running the very real risk of grounding the + cable. How does someone jump start a mower with the battery under the seat?

Engage the Parking Brake and flip seat back. + to +. Do NOT jump with a vehicle with the vehicles engine Running. Catastrophic failure of your Mower Stator can result.