Battery Leaf Blower Troubleshooting Guide

Leaf blowers are great because they help clear out leaves from your yard during fall and some other weather conditions that cause leaves to fall from trees and scatter all over your yard. Modern leaf blowers are even greater, especially electrically powered leaf blowers, not only are they light enough to be carried by one hand but you can also recharge their batteries, which they always come with. But as you would have it, these batteries tend to fall subject to issues of their own, as opposed and compared to electrical leaf blowers with cords that stretch over long distances. Some of the battery issues can be troubleshooted instantly, whilst others are a little more complicated for the average Jane and John. Because the battery is the power source of the entire leaf blower, when it has a problem, the whole machine tends to also have problems and it is important to know which problems those are so as to solve them.

Table of Contents

1. When Battery Isn’t Charging

Most leaf blower batteries are Lithium-ion batteries which can very well last whilst they’re being drained by the powerful tool’s wind generating motor. When the battery is not charging and you cannot see any indication of why it is not, the battery is probably dead. But if your leaf blower is new then it needs some careful troubleshooting.

To Troubleshoot This

  • It is very important that the battery charger is connected to an electrical outlet and it is turned on. And the outlet (power source) should provide the specified amount of voltage to the battery to avoid explosions or killing the battery.
  • Lithium-ion batteries (which leaf blowers use) are temperature sensitive and have a feature that automatically turns them off (even during the charging period.) The temperature is at about 70°C. It is important that the battery is cool before it is placed on the charger.
  • Your leaf blower should not be left in the sun or hot weather. A battery that is in constant exposure to the sun loses its wattage and charge preserving capability over time.

2. When Leaf Blower Isn’t Starting

It is annoying to pull the trigger of your leaf blower to only find out there and then that it is not starting. Of course the problem can be caused by other factors like the fan. Although it may be something else on the leaf blower like faulty or damaged wiring, it is commonly because of the battery.

To Troubleshoot This

  • Before checking anything else on the machine, you should check the battery.
  • Make sure that the battery is correctly inserted into the leaf blower, it should always click into place.
  • The battery should always be charged and you can check this on the battery itself. Click on the battery button to know the level of charge. If it has a red flash when you press this button, then the battery needs to be charged immediately.
  • You should always have a backup battery ready, so that when one battery pack isn’t working or charged up, you use another. You can also determine whether or not the problem with the leaf blower is because of the battery or not.

3. When Battery Isn’t Lasting Long

Ultimately because the leaf blower’s motor, the battery will not last very long. The motor requires vast amounts of electrical energy to create and disperse a great wind pressure, it does so by turning the fan located within the leaf blower at high speeds. Standard handheld leaf blowers can last for about twenty minutes before needing a full recharge.

To Troubleshoot This

  • It is always advisable to keep a spare battery charged when another one is in use. Having another battery handy can increase the time you will use the machine for.
  • When buying batteries, take note of Ah (ampere hour – which is a unit of electrical charge, equal to the charge transferred by a current of one ampere in one hour through a specified point in a circuit.) The higher the ampere hour, the longer your battery will last on one charge. For instance a 5Ah battery, has lower run time than a 9Ah battery.

4. When Leaf Blower Is Turning On & Off

The leaf blower requires a lot of back and forth movement to effectively blow leaves away. Sometimes this back and forth movement can prove hazardous for the leaf blower because in most cases you will bump into obstacles that may damage the inner electronics of the leaf blower. Which can absolutely be the cause of the above problem, but the lead blower may also need some battery troubleshooting. Faulty electronics and some battery issues present the same problems.

To Troubleshoot This

  • If a battery is running low on electrical charge it will often lead to the leaf blower behaving like this. Which is because the power required by the motor of the leaf blower will by far surpass the power remaining inside the battery, turning it off.
  • Restarting the blower will make it work again but only for a few seconds before it turns off again.
  • It is important to charge the leaf blower’s battery within the recommended time frame, for instance if the battery is supposed to be charged for one hour without interruption, then that is what should be done. It increases the battery’s lifespan.
  • Always, first and foremost, refer to the leaf blower’s user manual for effective battery care. A battery can totally die as a result of negligence.

With almost all handheld leaf blowers, it is important to always check the battery level before using it. A Lithium-ion battery will often lose wattage overtime or due to overuse, this is an important point to remember. On some occasions batteries will cease to work completely because of a blown out fuse, often the work of too much voltage from the power source. It is good to keep a voltage tester to then be sure that the voltage from either the battery charger or the battery is the recommended one by the leaf blower’s user manual.