Charging circuit drawing too much current

[KE4AVB]

It is optional wiring just like the stator brake is optional. I did one these CV15 last year so I know exactly how Kohler wired the stator including the optional lighting circuit. Matter of fact it was the same model of Craftsman according to my records.

I given up anyways myself. I need to clear my head for tomorrow's hack wiring harness on another Cub Cadet. I am beginning to hate DIYers with their hacking of the wiring harnesses. 5 machines this month alone. Takes a half to full day to straighten them out at times. Then the equipment owner gripes like heck about the bill but I not doing it for free. They kinda shut once tell them what new harness would have been plus the time to install it.

The Super Z was a real pain to straighten out. It wasn't charging the battery but the PTO clutch wasn't draining the battery either; just the operator was having to charge the battery every few weeks.

[Arkie]

While on the subject of Kohler engines, what is the most user friendly place to download FREE service manuals for their engines?

for example this CV15.

and yes about hacked wiring, but bad enough with hacked OEM wiring harness, even worse when someone has changed the wiring harness and wire color codes no longer match the model number of the machine and the donor wiring harness has been hacked and the safety interlocks, etc, no longer protect the operator. Usually when all is restored to normal, you then find out it was hacked because of a failed safety switch or relay that the hacker could not locate, so more trouble shooting to find the original issue.

Can take up lots of time even for a electrical service tech.

[KE4AVB]

I use Kolherplus but owners/and other tech can download both owners and service manuals from https://kohlerpower.com/en/engines/manuals

Usually when all is restored to normal, you then find out it was hacked because of a failed safety switch or relay that the hacker could not locate, so more trouble shooting to find the original issue.

Or when they install the wrong safety switch but because it looks similar. I repaired one last year where they bypass the brake/clutch switch and installed the wrong safety for the pto lever. You could get off the mower with the deck engaged it could mowing until it hit something like the customer new car. Insurance company wasn't happy.

[Arkie]

I use Kolherplus but owners/and other tech can download both owners and service manuals from https://kohlerpower.com/en/engines/manuals

Usually when all is restored to normal, you then find out it was hacked because of a failed safety switch or relay that the hacker could not locate, so more trouble shooting to find the original issue.

Or when they install the wrong safety switch but because it looks similar. I repaired one last year where they bypass the brake/clutch switch and installed the wrong safety for the pto lever. You could get off the mower with the deck engaged it could mowing until it hit something like the customer new car. Insurance company wasn't happy.

Thanks for the Kohler link.
FREE Kohler service info not as easy to find on-line as Briggs.

Why not add that link to the downloads, manuals and links on this site for Kohler info?

[KE4AVB]

Why not add that link to the downloads, manuals and links on this site for Kohler info?

Done.

I also added a link to Kohler Plus as they have re-open the guest login feature, just don't know for how long. With the last software upgrade they completely locked me out but now I have full access to the site. Just surprise what a couple phone calls can achieve. My work is so much easier now with it as I need access to the service related docs.

[rms59]

Update....

Looks like you guys are right. I'm beginning to hate tractors.

The diagram for the CV15S shows a 2 wire stator but when my brother ordered it, it showed a 3 wire. Not sure what will come in but it should be in shortly.

Before I retired I was an electronics design engineer of tank monitoring systems that hung on gas station walls. The one thing I was a stickler about was making sure that the field techs had schematics and wiring diagrams that were model specific, clearly marked with accurate wire colors, every connection went where it was supposed to go, and that connectors had every pin number labeled.

What bugs me is that the schematic/wiring diagram that came with this Craftsman shows a stator that has two windings with no tap (dotted or otherwise) to show a yellow wire and no wire colors. Hanging a wire from the operator relay into thin air labled "Stator Brake" never would have been approved by me in my working career.

I feel sorry for the small machine tech who is new in the field and having to read some of these diagrams or work on a machine that a DIY got to first.

Anyway, when we remove that old stator I'm going to disect it to find where that other wire went to.

[KE4AVB]

At least there was a schematic diagram. And the AYP/Husquarna Craftsman wiring is showed only from the mower side things most times which is why we need the engine electrical schematic. Not all manufactures will use every option even if it is present.

Some of the equipment we work on the OEMs don't provide us with good schematic and even when they do provide a wiring diagram it just layout of connectors and wiring without any actual usable info. Cub Cadet is one of them but there are others too. Just drive us crazy tracing problems. THe last time I getting a schematic from Cub Cadet they didn't have anything the mower's wiring other than a harness part number.

Some of the equipment that I work on had all one color wire with tiny numbers imprinted. It was like digging through a plate of long spaghetti. And when you got a couple hundred wires it gets very time consuming to do especially when a mouse chews a wire in two. I have even seen a few John Deere mowers with numbered wires.

And like Arkie said those that just slap in any color wire for repairs cause problems too. It one of the reason I have so many different wires on hand and that I save old harnesses for the other colors so I repair as close as I can to original, if nothing else to help out the next tech. 40 yrs now working electric and electronic problems.

[Arkie]

ONAN SERVICE manuals will really spoil a guy.

Electrical and even mechanical Troubleshooting info is usually a ladder diagram style. (tells what to check next if reading are correct or incorrect and several of their wire looms have numbers imprinted into the insulation on each individual wire as to their termination points on the schematic diagram and the equipment.

Yes, some lawn tractor owners manuals do not even match the engine manual electrical diagrams. Confusing even for electronic techs, and electricians and usually leads to Bubba hacking the wiring just to get a run.

[38racing]

I could not get a schematic for the white zero turn I'm rebuilding. Found a good one for a slightly different model which was clearly not mine. All MTD could offer me was a specification diagram.

[rms59]

Back again... Hopefully my links work. They work in the preview.

The long awaited stator came in and it's a 3-wire with a small diode located midway in the sheathing. I wanted to, but couldn't make myself, cut into that sheath and mess it up just to find where the third (yellow) wire emanated from. We were in a hurry so quickly installed it and I measured (at WOT) 48VAC on the green wire, aprox 14VAC on the yellow, and aprox 15VDC on the black. We wired the yellow (AC) to the lights, the black (DC) to the battery circuit, and the green to the operator relay (stator brake) shown on the schematic. The Diode (I can physically feel it) is cool, the battery charges, and the lights work. We even disconnected the green wire and noticed no difference in lighting or charging. See this image for old and new. Look at the stator terminations. https://imgur.com/a/EPwtNH9

Now, the OEM stator I removed from the tractor is a 2-wire as I originally thought. I removed the epoxy and wire clamp and there is no indication that a third wire was ever attached to either the green or black since no solder joint or extra crimping was observed. See the image at https://imgur.com/a/mV4zoeD.

In the photo, I separated the two enameled stator wires that connect to the single black so I would end up with two separate stator windings that I can ohm out. One winding goes around all 16 poles on the stator with one end terminating to the black wire and the other end terminating to the green. The second winding only goes around 5 poles with one end terminating to the ground screw and the other end terminating to the same black wire.

So, it seems to me that the black wire from the stator terminated to the anode of a diode along with an external yellow. Then the yellow (AC) went to the lights, the cathode of the diode (B+) went to the battery circuit, and the green (AC) went to the operator relay as a brake. I'm now positive the new stator has no yellow wire tap to the stator coil. It's just a two wire with the yellow tied to the diode anode.

Unless someone can correct me, the schematic, or wiring diagram (shown previously), which shows the two stator "coils" going to ground is clearly wrong. Only one does. Check out this sketch that reflects what I found. https://imgur.com/a/UKT5Cku

I still can't find out what's wrong with the old stator because I remember trying to charge the battery with just the black wire and diode. But hey.... the new one works perfectly.