In message , Huge
writes
On 2007-03-09, wrote:
Huge wrote:

And I'm going to buy a second one for the (ride-on) lawnmower, whose
battery is dead as a door-nail, as we discovered yesterday.

Ride-on mowers and mini-tractors are really battery killers in my
experience, not because they work the battery hard or anything but
simply because they get left unused for long periods. As many others
have pointed out here it's leaving lead acid batteries uncharged (and
thus self-discharge) is what kills them.

Sadly, this has the opposite problem. It's been on a charger on a timer
all winter, on low charge for 15 minutes a day. Sadly, this is
still excessive, and it electrolysed all the acid away. Topping it
up and leaving on charge all night has revitalised it enough to start
the mower and mow the grass (in March!), but I don't hold out much
hope for it to have a long and happy life!

I've just had exactly the same problem having left a battery on trickle
charge for a couple of months - took over a litre of water to refill

--
geoff