Bosch cordless mower battery

SiliconChip

I have come into posession of a Bosch Rotak 36V cordless mower after the death of my mum. When I last cut her grass in October it was working fine, but trying it today the battery has no charge and it doesn't seem to want to take a new charge - the green light on the charger flashes when I insert the battery (indicating that it is charging) but it goes solid green again within about 30 seconds. I did leave the battery in an unheated shed over the winter, is it possible that it's completely died? If not can anyone suggest a way of getting it to charge again? Or do I need to look for a new battery or just replace the mower altogether?

twopenny

SC I'd suggest you post on the DIY or a tecnical forum too.
I know it's a mower but it's a technical issue with the battery.
For what it's worth I've found that a lot of the time it's something easy to correct. Not all of the time 

greyteam1959

My Bosch rotak batteries are kept in an unheated shed & have been for the last 10 years no problems.
I would suggest cleaning the area around where the battery seats in case debris is causing the battery not to seat properly.
Also take out & clean the terminals on the safety key.
Also try starting the mower & jiggling the safety key.
See what happens.

SiliconChip

twopenny said:

SC I'd suggest you post on the DIY or a tecnical forum too.
I know it's a mower but it's a technical issue with the battery.
For what it's worth I've found that a lot of the time it's something easy to correct. Not all of the time 

Yes, I'll do that, I thought I'd try here first in case anyone else had encountered a similar issue with a mower but I suspect you're right that it's the battery (or less likely the charger) that is the problem.

SiliconChip

greyteam1959 said:

My Bosch rotak batteries are kept in an unheated shed & have been for the last 10 years no problems.
I would suggest cleaning the area around where the battery seats in case debris is causing the battery not to seat properly.
Also take out & clean the terminals on the safety key.
Also try starting the mower & jiggling the safety key.
See what happens.

I thought it was unlikely that the temperature would be the cause, I expect batteries are kept in worse conditions than there have been in Birmingham for the last few months.

It's not a key problem (although I agree that the key can be a bit suspect) as the battery has no charge, pressing the button to check how many lights come on shows nothing at all. I will however try to clean the battery and charger contacts in case there is a connection problem there.

SiliconChip

Just to conclude this thread, following advice receieved on the Techie board I took the battery and charger to a Repair Cafe at Bewdley yesterday, they tested the battery which showed that it had a full charge and they were able to press the status button in such a way that the lights showing the full charge lit up. So today I put the battery back into the mower having cleaned the contacts first and away it went, the grass is now cut and I've since charged the battery again.