My neighbor swore by using his old tractor battery for a solar bank. I thought he was crazy.

Last spring, my neighbor Bob told me to hook a deep cycle tractor battery to my small 100 watt panel instead of the fancy lithium one I bought. I laughed and said no way, that thing is meant for a farm truck. But after my lithium battery died in the freeze last November, I tried his idea as a backup. It actually worked fine for running a few lights and my phone charger for 3 days straight. I figured the voltage drop would kill it, but it stayed steady around 12.4 volts. Has anyone else used a cheap lead acid battery from a tractor or lawn mower for a small off grid setup?

4 comments

4 Comments

sean85415h ago

Wait, you're telling me my fancy lithium battery was just pretending to be tough in the cold? That's hilarious and honestly pretty embarrassing for me. I went all in on this expensive setup thinking I was being smart, and Bob's old tractor battery basically told mine to sit down and shut up. I guess I've been overcomplicating things this whole time, trying to be all high tech when a 50 buck battery from Tractor Supply would've done the job. Makes me wonder how many other simple solutions I've been ignoring while chasing the latest gear.

nguyen.morgan12h ago

Right, because nothing says "I'm an idiot" like your fancy gear getting shown up by a lawn mower battery.

wyatt13516h ago

Oh man, Bob's probably been laughing this whole time about your fancy lithium battery dying in the cold. Tractor batteries are basically the pickup truck of batteries - they just keep going no matter what. I tried a lawn mower battery on my camping setup last summer and it ran my cooler and a fan for a whole weekend before dropping below 12 volts. Not bad for something that costs less than a pizza delivery.

west.casey12h ago

Wait, how many amps was that lawn mower battery pulling for the cooler and fan combo? I'm curious because I've got some buddies who swear by their expensive setups and I'd love to show them some real world numbers from a cheap option.