1650 Keeps Frying Coils

[jbrewer]

Very good observation on the orientation of the regulator!

[vr4Legacy]

Put in the new regulator, and got 15+v at the battery.

Did some digging and tested across the AC terminals and got 25v+. Kohler manual says 20v+ is good for the stator.

Then I tested the B+ terminal unconnected and got around 6v. I reconnected and was getting 15+v straight from the B+ terminal. A little frustrated and intrigued, I tested again with the B+ disconnected, still at around 6v.

All of this unhooking and starting the charging system put a drain on the battery, so I couldn't restart it to test again with the regulator connected. I recharged the battery and tested again straight at the B+ terminal and I'm getting between 14.4 and 14.6v when connected to the tractor. Ran it for a good 5 mins and reading stayed steady.

Could a low battery cause the regulator to put out extra voltage?

Also, it is normal to get lower voltage with the tractor unhooked from the b+ terminal?

I'm going to put the trickle charger on the battery overnight and test everything again tomorrow. Hoping I've got this sorted out.

Thanks everyone for the info and help.

Originally Posted by jbrewer

Very good observation on the orientation of the regulator!

Thanks, I have my moments lol

[J-Mech]

Yes, low battery voltage will cause the system to charge at a higher rate.

Yes, if you unhook the battery terminal from the regulator, it will not put out 12V. (Long debate about this on here before. I was one of the debatees, and had to go test myself, as I thought it shouldn't work that way. I found out that it does not put out 12V unless hooked to a battery. I would have thought it would work like any other alternator, but it doesn't seem to. I have never wanted to know why it works like this bad enough to figure out why.)

I really don't think you need to put a trickle charger on the battery unless it's dead. If you had it running, just let it run and charge the battery. Should be fine.

If you test again, and see 15V, then I think you have another issue. Either a poor ground at the engine/and or RR, or a bad RR, or possibly a bad stator. It should not reach 15V. Odd also that you see 25VAC on the stator terminals.

Yes, that old RR was mounted upside down. Perhaps the PO also did some things to the stator.......

One more thing.... when you got 15V, was that at WOT? If so, how fast is your engine running? Is it set at no more than 3800 RPM?

[vr4Legacy]

Originally Posted by J-Mech

One more thing.... when you got 15V, was that at WOT? If so, how fast is your engine running? Is it set at no more than 3800 RPM?

WOT, set at around 3600 rpm. Certainly not over 3800. My next step was to dial it in when the coil fried.

Here's hoping it was just a bad r/r or possibly bad luck with a couple of coils.

I've got a busy week and next weekend, so I probably won't get much run time to test it out now for a couple of weeks.

[dodge trucker]

Originally Posted by vr4Legacy

Put in the new regulator, and got 15+v at the battery.

Did some digging and tested across the AC terminals and got 25v+. Kohler manual says 20v+ is good for the stator.

Then I tested the B+ terminal unconnected and got around 6v. I reconnected and was getting 15+v straight from the B+ terminal. A little frustrated and intrigued, I tested again with the B+ disconnected, still at around 6v.

All of this unhooking and starting the charging system put a drain on the battery, so I couldn't restart it to test again with the regulator connected. I recharged the battery and tested again straight at the B+ terminal and I'm getting between 14.4 and 14.6v when connected to the tractor. Ran it for a good 5 mins and reading stayed steady.

Could a low battery cause the regulator to put out extra voltage?

Also, it is normal to get lower voltage with the tractor unhooked from the b+ terminal?

I'm going to put the trickle charger on the battery overnight and test everything again tomorrow. Hoping I've got this sorted out.

Thanks everyone for the info and help.





Thanks, I have my moments lol

yeah that is partly what is meant by a "demand" system. battery low, it works harder. battery charged close to where it needs to be, it slacks off. Automatically.

[vr4Legacy]

Originally Posted by dodge trucker

yeah that is partly what is meant by a "demand" system. battery low, it works harder. battery charged close to where it needs to be, it slacks off. Automatically.

Makes sense for amps, didn't think it would affect voltage so much.

I'm going to remove every ground connection and clean them all up nice and shiny just to be safe. I did it to the battery and ground on the frame, but don't think I addressed the ground on the engine, as everything seemed to be getting enough juice. I'll also remove the regulator and clean up some metal under it.

Thanks again everyone for the info. Fingers crossed I'll be tilling up some soil in the next week or two if this rain ever stops when I have some free time

[jbrewer]

Originally Posted by vr4Legacy

Makes sense for amps, didn't think it would affect voltage so much.

:

Increased charging current (or any other current) comes from two possible reasons:

1) The resistance between the generating source and the battery is lowered
or
2) The voltage difference between the generating source and the battery is increased.


Hang in there. You'll get it.

[vr4Legacy]

So I went back to run the 1650 and tried starting it and the engine wouldn't turn over all the way. Turn it a few times and it couldn't turn all the way over. Then I heard a clicking/chattering from the solenoid, then nothing.

I thought maybe I fried the solenoid by stressing it too much, so I pulled it. Tested it straight to battery and it clicks just fine. Put it back in, cleaned up the terminals and still nothing. I had a spare, new, solenoid laying around so I swapped it out just to be safe. Nada.

So decided to see if I had 12v at the solenoid, hooked the meter up and get .1v when turning the ignition switch to start, no clicking. So I decided to trace my safety switches, maybe something wasn't right there. The brake is already jumped. Pulled the PTO switch and jumped it too. No change.

Next I pulled the switch, maybe it went bad. Tested it off the tractor and have good continuity between the battery and start terminals. Off and on as it should. Terminals were a bit cruddy, so I cleaned them up. Put it back in and still nada.

I started tracing power from the switch to the solenoid. PTO safety disconnected and I have a strong 12v to it. Put in the jumper and moved to the brake safety. Tested and I have 12v going to it. Put the jumper back in there and tested at the solenoid.. <.1v.

Went back and tested at the brake switch with everything hooked up and got a similar reading. Pulled the jumper wire, and 12v to the safety switch.

So I decided to pull the wire off the solenoid and check there. Disconnected and BAM 12v. Connected the wire back to the solenoid, and back to <.1v when starting. Checked the base of the solenoid to ground and got good continuity, so I should have a good ground there.

Charged the battery just to be safe, and still the same results. I am lost here.

edit: retested everything as above with the battery/starter wires disconnected from the solenoid. No changes.

What could cause the voltage to drop when connecting to the solenoid? What else can I check?

Perhaps the switch is bad, and can't draw under a load?

Should I try to jump the solenoid straight to 12v?

I really, really, really want to till my yard and get it seeded this weekend.

[darkminion_17]

Try jiggling the pto switch when turning the key to start. On the 682 I has to do that when I go to start it.

[vr4Legacy]

Originally Posted by darkminion_17

Try jiggling the pto switch when turning the key to start. On the 682 I has to do that when I go to start it.

I bypassed the PTO switch completely.

I get 12v at the solenoid until I connect the wire to the solenoid. Then it drops.