Battery backwards
 

Found that I mistakenly put the neg to the pos and pos to the neg on my CCO. Somehow though, my son managed to get this thing running. Doesn't want to start now. Where do I start to look and what could possibly be "burnt"?

Won't start or won't turn over?

Won't fire. It has no spark.

you probably burnt the points out.

Sounds like an error that others might wonder...."How did you make that mistake?", but I recently got a cub where a guy has installed two identical color battery cables and labeled the fender pan + and - (in pencil might I add:biggrin2:) to keep from mixing them up!!!! Hope whatever damage you have is minimal!!

Cub Cadet 123

what you are describing is preciesly why car salesmen at my dealership were not allow to use the jump boxes ---got a multi meter?

I do have a multimeter but am not the greatest at using it. Ha Ha. It's sorta embarassing but oh well. I have no idea how the heck I reversed the wires not to mention how my son was able to use it. I suppose I'll have to replace the battery to.

You shouldn't have to replace the battery; it doesn't care what direction it got hooked up, but the coil and condenser do.

No offence Matt,
Actually,
The coil can be hooked up either direction as well as the condenser, so no damage will occur to them.
Years ago many systems used a positive ground.
I would check to see if the voltage regulator is operating correctly, as they can be damaged by reversing polarity.

Chevrolet, in the early days, (when they had wooden floor boards/wheels) had a reversing switch in the ignition system that reversed the polarity of the coil/condenser/points with every start.
Research showed that doing so, increased point life by equally keeping the build up on the contact surfaces equal.

Go to the Tech Library, page #4, and get the wiring diagram. Work your way through the wiring until you discover the issue. The CCO has quite a simple electrical circuit and it shouldn't take long.

I would look primarily in the HV Coil, points, and condenser area.

somewhere along the lines the PO replaced the hot and ground wires on my O both with red wires and the same size ends.... no markings on mine though.

George-

None taken...I never claimed to be an EE...:HeeHee:

Wouldn't it matter if the condenser was on the wrong side of the coil? If you connected the battery backwards, the 'right' side would become the 'wrong' side, correct? Or doesn't that really matter?

The condenser will be on the points side of the coil to function correctly.
The system wiring would not be changed except the coil would be receiving reversed polarity, it will not affect the way the coil performs.
In the old days, the voltage regulator would usually burn the contact points, when the battery terminals were reversed.
Most distributor systems had the condenser mounted inside, some hung them outside, and still others mounted them on the coil but all connected to the point side of the circuit.

I would start checking ohm's with the points closed ( battery disconected) I pt filed my burnt points and still doing fine . reading should be just slightly lower than touching the meters leads together , but google using a muitimeter will help . points would be my guess or just a connection test ohm's of condenser ,coil and voltage this is a original CC right can't imagine what it would have damaged. reverse polarity is the destroyer of integrated circuits ,diodes ,triodes ,& board circuits & alike which you do not have on this model

Neatest thing I learned so far in 2011.:biggrin2:

I would think the condenser would possibly be polarity specific. Aren't they electrolytic? If it's swollen, it's probably not any good. That would appear as a short across the points at all times.

The only thing that could probably be damaged would be the regulator.

If it was running, and trying to charge the battery in reverse, and actually succeeded, your battery might be a goner.

To check the points, put your black meter lead on the chassis somewhere. Put the red lead on on the points side of the coil. Rotate the engine slowly by hand with the key on. You should see it change from 0V to 12V (or thereabouts) when the points open. Always 12 = no points in the circuit. Always 0 = shorted points or condenser, open coil, or no 12V on the other side of the coil.

Hope this helps.

And Matt, remember you can't spell geek without a double E. I knows this because I are one. :)

The condensers are not electrolytic, they are paper wound and not polarity specific like in electronic circuitry. If the battery was dead and recharged with the wrong polarity, it would loose about 50% of it’s capacity to work and would soon become worthless.
I’m not familiar with originals, is there a fuse that is blown?