Charging Rate
 

I had been having an issue with my 126 overcharging. As soon as you'd open up the throttle it would peg the needle an never back off. I had took the cover off the regulator and made sure the contacts were not stuck and cleaned them up with a point file. Upon inspection with it running I came to the conclusion the the contacts were not releasing/engaging as they should. So I bought a couple new regulators from my local mower shop (They are stens, with the gen terminal located on the underside). I installed a regulator on the 126 tonight and I think it is regulating better, but honestly I dont have a good reference as to how the amp meter should work. When I first start it up it will move about halfway on the positive side, then when I open it up it will pretty well peg the needle and stay there until it gets back to a full idle. I guess my question is whether it is typical for it to fully charge all the time when above a idle or should it vary more? It has a brand new battery and I have check the generator by jumping the field lug on the generator and it loads the engine as it should.

As for the second regulator I purchased, I put it on my 108 that has not been keeping my (new) battery charged. After a few times of mowing, the battery will no longer crank the engine, just like prior to installing the regulator. The wiring is correct and I have verified the generator works. I am hoping that it is a bad wire as the wires are bare in areas. I am planning on running some new wires before I start believing the regulator is a dud. The amp meter on this tractor continously bounces back and forth neg to pos.

Any thoughts?

GROUNDING....

Voltage Regulators have to be properly grounded before they can work correctly. The mounting foot of the V/R is usually the grounding point. Take a VOM (or DVM) and measure the resistance between:

* V/R foot and the negative battery terminal - should be zero ohms
* V/R foot and the S/G mounting - should have zero ohms.

Checked both tractors this morning, both show 0-.2 ohms at both the batt cable and gen base depeonding on how steady I keep my hand.

Put a VM on the battery and check the battery voltage at idle and WOT.Voltage reading should not be more that 14.5 volts.You may have a bad wire on your harness.