The battery may have had either a short, or an open (broken connection) inside. I am not sure whether a typical lawn mower would be 'smart' enough to shut off the charging system if the battery had an internal short, but it's possible.

The fact that it now shows 2A when mowing suggests the charging system is working. If it wasn't, it would still read zero, and you'd be able to mow only as long as your new battery's charge lasted.

Hi stoveguyy,

Just pretend for a moment that your lawn mower is a car. When the car's battery no longer holds a charge, the car will not start because the car's starter needs the battery to generate a certain voltage to start the cranking. As you are driving your car, the alternator recharges the battery.

In much the same way, if the lawn mower has a dead battery, as you say, no cranking will occur. However, you can bypass all of that by using a battery pack jumper, which you explained to us above, but because the battery is dead, it won't hold a charge so no matter how long the lawn mower runs, the alternator cannot recharge the battery, hence your ammeter reading 0 despite the motor continuing to run.

If you replace the battery and it dies again shortly after replacing, it could be a bad battery or your lawn mower might be slowly drawing current even when it is off--which would be a bad thing and would indicate that there's a problem elsewhere other than your battery. Perhaps the wiring or it may be possible that it isn't grounding out properly, which would drain the battery faster than normal during regular use.

We hope this information will help you make a more informed decision on your home needs.

Very Best,

Tai Truong

Elements of Design

3400 Medford Street

Los Angeles, CA 90063

tai@lusivedecor.com

www.elementsofdesign.com

Once you get this sorted out, I recommend spending $5-$10 at Harbor Freight for a battery maintainer. It puts a constant trickle charge on the battery and keeps it from discharging. Allowing it to go completely dead for long periods (like winter) is what kills a battery. I have them on my riding mowers and tractor, and my batteries have never lasted so long.