# bATTERY DRAINING



## small engine (Oct 14, 2010)

I think i already figured this out. This is my aunts mower and she said the battery keeps dieing. I put a known good battery in it and their is no draw whith the key off. So i then started the mower and checked the red wire coming from the stator. At idle and full speed its at 26.2 volts. So wouldnt this point to the other battery being bad thanks for your time.

Engine Model Briggs 445677

Type 0413-E1


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## justin3 (Apr 10, 2007)

You need to check voltage across the battery terminals when it is running, If you are reading 26 volts across the battery, then you have a problem with your voltage regulator. Charging voltage should be 12-14 volts. No more then 15 volts.


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## small engine (Oct 14, 2010)

Ok i was letting the mower run today for about 30 minutes and i had the deck on it has electric pto, and then shut if off and sure enough the battery was dead, i am going to charge the battery and test it again and will let you know thanks and what wire should i use to check the stator output, i was testing the red wire


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## duffer72 (Jul 23, 2011)

Have the blades cut off while you are mowing? also have you checked for a blown fuse in the system? definately sounds as if the charging system isn't working.


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## small engine (Oct 14, 2010)

no they havenot cut off, but when i ran the mower for a half an hr and i shut it off the battery was dead, then i let it sit for a couple and then it started but hardly, then i was driving it to my barn and the pto wouldnt kick on since the battery was so dead, im thinking the voltage regulator is out, since the stators are less common to brake


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## 30yearTech (Sep 14, 2006)

If your getting 26 volts DC out of the regulator, then that's way too much voltage. Check the AC coming from the alternator and make sure it's working, if your getting more then around 14 volts DC from the regulator, then it's probably the problem.


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## small engine (Oct 14, 2010)

The Their was two black wires that went to the regulator,and then a red wire that came under the flywheel, i couldnt get any reading from the black ones so i tested the red one, should the two black ones be coming from the stator


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## 30yearTech (Sep 14, 2006)

Depending on the type of charging system your engine has, the alternator leads from the stator will be black. With the engine running you should get AC voltage at these 2 wires. This will plug into a voltage regulator (usually 2 yellow wires) and you will then have 1 rectified DC voltage wire (red) coming from the regulator. If your not getting any AC voltage from the 2 black wires then the Stator is likely bad.


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## small engine (Oct 14, 2010)

Ok i will go and check this out thanks alot !


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## small engine (Oct 14, 2010)

On my dovm i put the setting to ac voltage and couldnt get anything, it was under 1.0 volt do i take the ground lead and ground it and just put the positive lead to one of the black wires or do i put the ground lead on a black wire and the positive lead on the other black wire thanks


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## 30yearTech (Sep 14, 2006)

It should work either way, the only difference is you will get a lower value if you just test one side at a time. What your looking for when you attach a lead to each of the black wires at the same time with the engine running at or around 3600 rpm's is somewhere around 28 volts AC. If your not getting anything, then the problem lies in the stator or perhaps the magnets that are attached to the flywheel.


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## small engine (Oct 14, 2010)

I guese i will be pulling the flywheel tomorrow and will let you know what i find


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## small engine (Oct 14, 2010)

I went out and tested the voltage from the two black wires , i had it on the ac setting and it was about 30.5 at full throttle(as high as the throttle on the mower would let me gow with the lever not the governer)


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## 30yearTech (Sep 14, 2006)

small engine said:


> I went out and tested the voltage from the two black wires , i had it on the ac setting and it was about 30.5 at full throttle(as high as the throttle on the mower would let me gow with the lever not the governer)


That should be alright, plug the alternator into the voltage regulator and test for DC voltage out of the RED wire.


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## small engine (Oct 14, 2010)

I went out and unplugged the red wire, i then put it on 20 dc voltage and tested the red wiring thats coming from the voltage regulator, it was under 1.0 volts , it was about .13, but i went and did the same test on my mower that has the same regulator setup and it was about .16 not a big difference so im thinking i might be putting the dovm on the worng setting, i always for get what symbols mean what, in the pic the setting its on is the setting i used i belive thats dv voltage correct me if i am worng and let me know if you have a clue what the problem is


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## 30yearTech (Sep 14, 2006)

Test your battery with the same settings and see what kind of reading you get. 

Was the engine running at top speed when you tested output from the voltage regulator?


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## small engine (Oct 14, 2010)

i forgot the pic


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## small engine (Oct 14, 2010)

yes the engine was running at top speed


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## small engine (Oct 14, 2010)

i tested the battery when it wasnot running and it was 12.6 volts, then tested it when running and it was 12.46 volts running


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## 30yearTech (Sep 14, 2006)

small engine said:


> i tested the battery when it wasnot running and it was 12.6 volts, then tested it when running and it was 12.46 volts running



With the engine running you should be showing close to 14 volts DC from the regulator and 13 + volts at the battery. I can't explain why your getting such a low reading even on the engine that's good. 

Can you post a picture of the Voltage regulator that's on your engine?


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## small engine (Oct 14, 2010)

Here is the pic, the think thats also confusing me is it has a low reading on my mower that has a known good charging system


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## dehrhardt (Apr 1, 2009)

When you test the output of the voltage regulator, you must have the red output wire of the regulator connected to the wiring harness. The voltage from the battery runs the circuitry in the regulator until it starts producing voltage on its own


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## small engine (Oct 14, 2010)

ok, good news i put on a spare regulator , that i had from another mower i scraped and i put it on and let the mower run with the deck on for about an hr and the battery is still charged, i noticed that the engine turned over way faster than before so i would say its fixed thanks alot everyone for the help


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## small engine (Oct 14, 2010)

i did go back with the volt meter and had the new voltage regulator hooked up and measured the battery voltage and its was 30 something volts


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## 30yearTech (Sep 14, 2006)

30 volts is way too much voltage at the battery. You might want to try a different VOM to be sure that the reading is correct.


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## edkedk (Nov 5, 2009)

You can check your voltmeter with a small 9 volt or a AA, AAA, C or D battery. You should read about 9 volts and about 1.5 volts on these batteries, respectively.


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## Lawns4Life (Nov 6, 2011)

that meter looks hard to tell when measuring DC voltage.. maybe it was on the wrong setting??


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## 30yearTech (Sep 14, 2006)

Lawns4Life said:


> that meter looks hard to tell when measuring DC voltage.. maybe it was on the wrong setting??


This is an old thread from 2011, the OP is likely not going to see your post unless they are a regular on here.


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