# Battery Size



## film495 (Nov 1, 2013)

engine 12hp kohler 301s

got my battery on the charger over night, starter switch was cheap and stopped working, so I bypassed it with an alligator clip; everything worked good. Until I went out a few days later and found my battery would barely turn over. So, I think this acted like leaving the ignition switch on in a car, and it just slowly drained for a couple days. But, since I think the battery is old (Maybe real old, I didn't buy it - came with tractor), it is a diehard winter hearty auto battery with something like 650 cca. Since I'm not sure if the battery will continue to work, I figured I'd look into how much a new one would be, and I think a direct replacement was like 110$. So, really what I'm wondering is there a battery I could get that would start this thing in the winter just fine for like 40 bucks. I'm not starting a V8. It's a one cylinder Kohler.


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## film495 (Nov 1, 2013)

found in a manual for the motor, it says a minimum of a 32 amp hour battery. sort of tells me someting, but is a common lawn and garden battery going to perform just as good as a car battery? for half the cost?


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## jhngardner367 (Apr 5, 2011)

*battery*

No. Most lawn tractor batteries,today aren't made well,and don't perform as well as they should.
That's why a lot of us (myself,included) use the heavier car type battery. In cold weather, the extra cranking power means a lot!
You should be able to us one for,say a small er car,with 450cca,,although I use a 650cca on my Bolens.


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## film495 (Nov 1, 2013)

charged it over night, haven't put a charger on it since this summer; just charging off the tractor. Seemed to take a charge good. I just have one of those little schumacher chargers from walmart. Put it on the 4 amp turtle setting. One thing I found interesting was putting a volt meter on after the charging, it said 13.5 volts. then on the tractor, when running said 16 volts. with the lights and pto running it reads 13.8 volts off the battery. It seemed to charge right all season so far, I just never saw a reading that high before. I'll run it again tomorrow before the storm to make sure it checks out and see how it goes. Is that 16 volt reading normal? At higher throttle it was like 16.5


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## Mickey (Aug 14, 2010)

Don't know if it is normal for the engine you're working with but 16V is WAY high in my book. If ran at this voltage for long, it would hurt the battery. A more normal charge voltage would be on the order of 14.25V.


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## film495 (Nov 1, 2013)

Mickey said:


> Don't know if it is normal for the engine you're working with but 16V is WAY high in my book. If ran at this voltage for long, it would hurt the battery. A more normal charge voltage would be on the order of 14.25V.


I wonder if it is the surface charge affecting readings from having it on the battery charger over night. The switch I rigged to act as an on/off recently failed so it does make me wonder if that is a symptom of a bigger problem. It was a cheap toggle switch, so it is possible it just failed, or the voltage fried it. I remember taking the same reading this summer and it was 13.84 volts. I'll definitely check this again after the battery sits a while and see how it reads.


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## film495 (Nov 1, 2013)

thinking possibly a bad voltage regulator? I tried to get the surface charge off, ran the lights and let the tractor then warm up good, ran all the implements, shut down. battery then read 12.84 which is what I recall from this summer. At low idle, it reads 13-14 volts. as I get higher up in throttle with no lights and no implements running, it does read up around 16 volts. I actually monkeyed with the switch a little and it seems to work again. Possibly a bad/poor connection in the switch. Anyway, it works and charges the battery so that is good. It makes me wonder if my battery is going to explode or something, that is bad.


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## film495 (Nov 1, 2013)

looking at the wiring diagram, says there should be a wire from my ignition to the regulator, there is not. So possibly this is a wiring issue? clearly the alternator is putting out a charge that is getting to the battery, maybe previous owner connected it directly? or maybe I did by mistake -- eeek


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## film495 (Nov 1, 2013)

It is connected to the positive post from the battery on the solenoid, which relatively speaking means it is connected to the battery. In mucking around I find I can not get any reading on the volt meter that is readable grounding to anywhere but the battery post when the engine is running. it is just all over the place from positive to negative, either testing at the battery, ignition switch etc. weird. reading across both battery terminal jumps around a little, but only 2 tenths of a volt really. not sure what to test next, maybe I can get some ideas? how much is a new regulator/rectifier anyway?

found a new rectifier/regulator on amazon, aftermarket part. will put in when it gets here and see what happens.


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## jhngardner367 (Apr 5, 2011)

There should be 2 wires to the regulator/rectifier,from the engines stator. the center on the r/r,should go to the battery (+) side of the solenoid,to charge the battery.
If you're getting more than 13-14 vdc at the center terminal of the r/r,then it's faulty,and can cook the battery,and switches,or burn wiring .


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## film495 (Nov 1, 2013)

jhngardner367 said:


> There should be 2 wires to the regulator/rectifier,from the engines stator. the center on the r/r,should go to the battery (+) side of the solenoid,to charge the battery.
> If you're getting more than 13-14 vdc at the center terminal of the r/r,then it's faulty,and can cook the battery,and switches,or burn wiring .


I've got a new one and an ignition switch on order.

Question about the wiring, should all the electronics run through the accessory connection on the ignition? Including Regulator/Rectifier? Lights? PTO? Might be better to run the rectifier direct, stator is 15 amp, plus 5 or 6 amp for lights, and whatever the PTO uses, I can see frying the switch, not sure what it is rated for 

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D9TFMXY/ref=pe_385040_30332200_pe_309540_26725410_item

switch doesn't say and amp rating, although, the lights and the PTO would draw from the rectifier, and the draw from and to the battery would likely be less than 15 amps through the switch. I think most of them are rated 20 or 30 amp. I think in a wiring diagram I looked at it showed putting it direct to the ignition wiring, I'll look it up again before I install it.

the R/R I ordered is 15 amp. It said it was for my engine, but I don't really know how to make sure. I don't really get how it works, 14.4 volts at a max 15 amps is 216 watts of theoretical power. 75 for the lights. That leaves 141 to power the PTO, power the coil, and charge the battery.


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## jhngardner367 (Apr 5, 2011)

*wiring*

I run my r/r wire directly to the solenoid large terminal,on the battery side. Pto should run a separate circuit,through a relay,to protect wiring when it engages. 
Lights,etc,can be run off accessory terminal of the switch.
Although you "aren't starting a V8",too small of a battery will cause a voltage drop,when high electrical drains are needed,such as lights, PTO,other accessories are on at the same time.
If the voltage drop is large enough,it can rob power from the coil,causing it to run badly,or die out.


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## film495 (Nov 1, 2013)

the starter switch I got says it is a replacement for
ARIENS 03115200

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D9TFMXY/ref=pe_385040_30332190_TE_3p_M3T1_ST1_dp_1

but it doesn't seem to fit through the whole in the dash, almost - just not quite. maybe I'll try to file the hole open a little. am I doing something wrong here?


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## film495 (Nov 1, 2013)

long story short - I got it working off the new switch, all seems good. the voltage at the battery reads 14.9 when I throttle it up. It is supposed to be set at 14.4 - think this is a cheap part and that's good enough, or possibly I wired something wrong?


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## jhngardner367 (Apr 5, 2011)

No, 14.9 is ok,since there's a +/ - factor of 1% to %5,on most meters.
Just make sure it's at 3200 rpm,since that's what most Kohlers run.


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## film495 (Nov 1, 2013)

jhngardner367 said:


> No, 14.9 is ok,since there's a +/ - factor of 1% to %5,on most meters.
> Just make sure it's at 3200 rpm,since that's what most Kohlers run.


thanks for the feedback. I also read that the regulator can be less efficient when cold, and it was about 15 degrees when I was doing this. either way, 14.9 is better than the 16+ I was getting. I also took a quick look with the lights on and at throttle it was 13.8 and I imagine with the PTO running likely a little lower still. I think that's what kept it from frying the battery, I've only been using it to throw snow, with the lights blaring or PTO running or both, and the extra draw kept the voltage more in check. I also noticed right away that the reading is steady where before it really just jumped around the whole time. 

So, the battery checks out good, the rectifier/regulator is new, and the wiring off the rectifier has new connectors, and all the wiring was rewired to a proper start switch. Started it, tested the switches, turned things on and off - all good.


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## jhngardner367 (Apr 5, 2011)

That's good . Glad it's working for you,now


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