Manual / Off-season storage
How to Store Mower, Boat, Motorcycle and Golf Cart Batteries Over Winter
Charge fully, clean, store cool and dry, and check monthly. Seasonal batteries that start again in spring.
Heads-up: a few links on this page go to a product we reviewed. Buying through them pays us a small referral fee; your price doesn't change. How we earn.
A seasonal battery that sits half-charged all winter can sulfate and lose capacity for good. A little care in the fall avoids that.
The four steps
- Charge fully before storage. A discharged lead-acid battery can freeze; a full one rarely does.
- Clean the case and terminals with baking soda and water; dry well.
- Store cool, dry and above freezing, off direct contact with a damp floor if you can (a wooden shelf is ideal).
- Check monthly with a multimeter, or leave it on a smart maintainer.
Golf cart packs
Check water levels in flooded cells (distilled water only, after charging), charge the whole pack, and keep the cart plugged into a charger with a storage mode.
Motorcycles and mowers
Small batteries self-discharge fast. A small maintainer is cheap insurance.
Found a battery that didn't survive last winter? Some people try reconditioning before recycling it. The Easy Battery Fix guide covers lead-acid and deep-cycle batteries; we looked at it closely.
Read our honest review →Golf cart and deep-cycle owners may want to see the reconditioning guide we reviewed, since those packs are expensive to replace.
| Easy Battery Fix | Includes sections on deep-cycle and golf cart batteries | See it |
|---|