Charging issue on CC100

[Jim in SC]

I finally got a first start yesterday on the CC 100 I bought in May. That's the good news. There is, however, an issue with charging the S/G. The PO had installed a larger aftermarket diameter crank shaft pulley on the engine and a smaller diameter S/G pulley for some unknown reason. I replaced the larger shaft pulley with an OE clutch basket pulley, but left the smaller S/G pulley alone. I also added an ammeter to the tractor, which showed a good charge at low RPM but went off the chart at higher RPM. Should I replace the S/G pulley with a larger (OEM) pulley to bring the charge down?

[R Bedell]

Should I replace the S/G pulley with a larger (OEM) pulley to bring the charge down?

Absolutely.

[Red Dave]

I haven't had any charging issues with my 2 Cadets using stock, OEM pulleys, so I would say yes, try a stock pulley on your S/G.

But, it occurs to me that even if the S/G is running faster than normal, the voltage regulator should be tapering down the charging rate as the battery charges. I know both of mine do that.

Both of mine will charge hard right after starting, but the ammeter goes back to almost zero after a minute or less.

[ironman]

Originally Posted by Jim in SC

I finally got a first start yesterday on the CC 100 I bought in May. That's the good news. There is, however, an issue with charging the S/G. The PO had installed a larger aftermarket diameter crank shaft pulley on the engine and a smaller diameter S/G pulley for some unknown reason. I replaced the larger shaft pulley with an OE clutch basket pulley, but left the smaller S/G pulley alone. I also added an ammeter to the tractor, which showed a good charge at low RPM but went off the chart at higher RPM. Should I replace the S/G pulley with a larger (OEM) pulley to bring the charge down?

Since you didn:t have the ammeter before you changed pullrys, we can have no idea what the current flow situation was previously. Maybe it was good or maybe it was high all along.
Maybe you have a situation with the battery causing it. Maybe you have a situation with the v/r causing it. If it's not too big a task, switch the pulleys back and see what you get.

You also didn't mention the rating of the ammeter you put in, and if it's graduated what is it reading. Obviously a 10 amp meter will be pegged if you put 15 amps through it , while a 60 amp meter will only read one quarter of the way.

[Jim in SC]

Thank you Roland and Dave. It's a bit puzzling to me as well. I'll be trying an OE pulley and see if that helps. I'm also wondering if maybe the ammeter might be bad. Possible?
Right now I'm just very pleased that I got the tractor up and running and running well!

I'll post again when I try out the OE pulley.

[Jim in SC]

Originally Posted by Red Dave

I haven't had any charging issues with my 2 Cadets using stock, OEM pulleys, so I would say yes, try a stock pulley on your S/G.

But, it occurs to me that even if the S/G is running faster than normal, the voltage regulator should be tapering down the charging rate as the battery charges. I know both of mine do that.

Both of mine will charge hard right after starting, but the ammeter goes back to almost zero after a minute or less.

Originally Posted by ironman

Since you didn:t have the ammeter before you changed pullrys, we can have no idea what the current flow situation was previously. Maybe it was good or maybe it was high all along.
Maybe you have a situation with the battery causing it. Maybe you have a situation with the v/r causing it. If it's not too big a task, switch the pulleys back and see what you get.


You also didn't mention the rating of the ammeter you put in, and if it's graduated what is it reading. Obviously a 10 amp meter will be pegged if you put 15 amps through it , while a 60 amp meter will only read one quarter of the way.

Thanks for the great input. I will be changing out the ammeter for sure, and probably the pulley, maybe the S/G too. This was an engine swap with a donor 106 that I don't have much info on - the 106's ammeter was inop. I'll try these two fixes and see what happens.

[R Bedell]

I also added an ammeter to the tractor, which showed a good charge at low RPM but went off the chart at higher RPM.

There is NO need to swap out the S/G & Amp Meter with the above stated performance.

[Red Dave]

Originally Posted by R Bedell

There is NO need to swap out the S/G & Amp Meter with the above stated performance.

I agree. It sounds like the S/G is just fine.

I still suspect the regulator, but it would be a help with troubleshooting to quantify the amount of current flowing when your ammeter is pegged to the charge side. Does it come back toward center after running for a bit? If it does, then your regulator is probably working.

I have ammeters on both my 123 and 125. But neither one gives a quantity, just "D" on the left side "0" in the center and "C" on the right side of the needle with a couple lines between them. Being an electrical nerd, I sometimes think an actual quantity would be nice, but it would take more effort than it's worth to find another ammeter and swap them out. Plus it would take away some of the originality of the tractor.

Besides, if I really need to know, I can just use my Fluke clamp on DC amprobe.

[cooperino]

Purely out of curiosity... What is the voltage at high rpm? Most systems will only pull high amps when battery is weak or has a heavy draw. Remember the VR regulates voltage not amps. SO if you find high voltage at battery its most likely due to a bad VR