I have a ride on lawnmower with a battery that won’t hold a charge. My got a semi- dead battery from my daughters car she replaced. Match made in heaven? Not so much
As can be seen, the replacement battery has the same footprint but is taller. The battery terminals would short out on the seat if I put it in as is. Solution? Cut the terminals down flush and tap holes into them.
After cutting the terminals off I found that they were not actually solid, but had an inner post, also made of lead, attaching to the outer post. There was also moisture seeping up in between the two so I had to re-seal them some how.
This also meant I could not tap into the middle as I had planned. I grabbed out my 100W iron and attempted to seal the holes up and attach some wires. An unexpected surprise was the sulphuric acid spitting up from the gap in the terminals as it was heated, and the melting of the surrounding plastic when the terminal was heated too long.
This was not one of my note worthy soldering jobs, but will suffice.
For a professional finish, I cut up a dog food bag to insulate the stubby terminals and crimped some terminals onto the battery wires so they could be attached to the mower. The battery was flat so I still had to jumpstart it but seemed to charge after some use. I’ll see how it goes in another month when I have to mow again.
