Hustler Battery Drained?

[joallen001]

The other day while mowing one of our Hustler Super Z 27hp Kohler just died cruising down the yard. We jumped it off to get it back on the trailer and bring to the shop. The battery showed to be dead so we charged it and we cleaned the ignition coil which had lots of trash around it. Ok so mower is charged up and ready to go. So we sent it off on a crew to cut some more. Well the mower lasted about an hour. So we start over jump it off and bring back to the shop. This time we put a new battery on since the recharged battery took a while to get to charge up. Off to mow again!! Well yesterday the mower ran for about 4 hrs and the new battery was completely dead. Obviously it seems the battery is not charging. Hopefully this is enough description to get some ideas on fixing this mower. We decided to keep 3 of our super z's this year even though they are out of warranty. So far every one of them has given us some problems. One had to have new seals in the hydros, one had to have a new hydro pump, and of coarse this one now. They all have around 1500hrs. Thanks for all the help and suggestions.

[mowerconsultant]

Some testing needs to be done with a voltmeter, you need to check voltage back at the batter when the mower is running at full throttle with out the deck running.
You also need to check it coming into and out of the voltage regulator.
Wiring needs to be checked also along with fuses, grounds, breaks etc....
You need to narrow down where the problem starts and eliminate some areas in which the problem could be.

Pj

[joallen001]

Some testing needs to be done with a voltmeter, you need to check voltage back at the batter when the mower is running at full throttle with out the deck running.
You also need to check it coming into and out of the voltage regulator.
Wiring needs to be checked also along with fuses, grounds, breaks etc....
You need to narrow down where the problem starts and eliminate some areas in which the problem could be.

Pj

Seems as though the voltage drops even when the mower is running. When the blades are engaged the battery starts to drain really fast.

[mowerconsultant]

Have you had a chance to use a voltmeter to measure voltage at the voltage regulator going into and out of it?

Pj

[joallen001]

I just checked the regulator. Coming out and going in was the same but on the left side it was reading .617 and on the right side it was reading .257 if that makes sense.

[mowerconsultant]

I just checked the regulator. Coming out and going in was the same but on the left side it was reading .617 and on the right side it was reading .257 if that makes sense.

You need to know how to test the wires coming from the stator, they are pushing out AC voltage.
The single wire coming out into the wiring harness is putting out DC.
I need to know those #'s.

Pj

[joallen001]

The wires coming from the stator read
Left side.015
Right side 8.45
If you touch them both its 4.1
All this is in AC
The single wire in the middle reads 11.7 DC

Thanks for your help Pj

[mowerconsultant]

You have less than 12 volts coming out of the regulator? was this at full throttle?

Pj

[joallen001]

Full throttle was 11.78

[Ruben Rocha]

Fist thing you need to do is start the engine. Lift the seat. Run the engine at full throttle. With nothing else on that draws off of the battery.
Then with a voltmeter measure at the battery terminals.
If you don't have more than 12volts dc (could be 13-14 volts)
Then the battery is not being charged. It must be more than 12volts to charge the battery.
So you need to work back from the battery to eliminate a blown fuse,bad wire, Voltage regulator or stator. Then work back to the regulator measure the voltage at the two connections that go to the battery. You may only have one wire for the plus and the frame is the negative. If you have more than 12volts then you have a bad wire connection or blown fuse. Then measure the two terminals that goes to the stator. this will be ac but still should be more than 12 volts. If you do then you have a bad regulator. If you don't then you have a bad stator or wire that goes to the stator. This whole process should be done while the engine is at full throttle.
And you must use a voltmeter that shows the actual voltage not a test light.

[mowerconsultant]

Fist thing you need to do is start the engine. Lift the seat. Run the engine at full throttle. With nothing else on that draws off of the battery.
Then with a voltmeter measure at the battery terminals.
If you don't have more than 12volts dc (could be 13-14 volts)
Then the battery is not being charged. It must be more than 12volts to charge the battery.
So you need to work back from the battery to eliminate a blown fuse,bad wire, Voltage regulator or stator. Then work back to the regulator measure the voltage at the two connections that go to the battery. You may only have one wire for the plus and the frame is the negative. If you have more than 12volts then you have a bad wire connection or blown fuse. Then measure the two terminals that goes to the stator. this will be ac but still should be more than 12 volts. If you do then you have a bad regulator. If you don't then you have a bad stator or wire that goes to the stator. This whole process should be done while the engine is at full throttle.
And you must use a voltmeter that shows the actual voltage not a test light.

This is what I was getting to.

Pj

[joallen001]

The battery volts constantly drop as the mower is running. So I know it is not being charged. None of the fuses are blown. I put the voltage regulator on a different mower and it runs fine so I know its not the regulator. If it was a bad wire to the stator wouldnt it show when I am testing with the voltmeter? Sounds like the stator is bad. Should I replace it?

[Ruben Rocha]

I know PJ,
I just wanted to provide more details on checking.

And just FYI for JoeAllen the stator depending on specs should be up around 20+ volts AC. I usually unplug the connector at the regulator and measure between the two wires going to the stator. And again should be at full throttle when you check voltage.

[mowerconsultant]

The battery volts constantly drop as the mower is running. So I know it is not being charged. None of the fuses are blown. I put the voltage regulator on a different mower and it runs fine so I know its not the regulator. If it was a bad wire to the stator wouldnt it show when I am testing with the voltmeter? Sounds like the stator is bad. Should I replace it?

Sounds like you have it pin pointed to the stator.
I would want to make sure before ordering a new stator though.

Pj

[Ruben Rocha]

PJ gave some good advise as well as I tried to add to it.
Swapping a regulator to another machine does not eliminate the issue of a broken wire connection.
I don't know what a stator costs but I would want to make sure it is not something else.
Since to replace the stator let alone the price you need to remove the flywheel to get to it