Snapper zero turn lawnmower, battery discharging?

Kow Farmer

Well-known Member
Hello everyone,
This is not a garden tractor question, but I am having issues with my Snapper Z1805KV zero turn lawn mower with an 18hp Kohler Command engine. The mower will die after I mow for 2.5-3 hours at a time. The engine dies, and when you want to try to start it again, the battery is dead. The battery is a 10 month old Interstate battery which was load tested by my Interstate dealer which was found to be at 11 volts last week. Battery was charged fully, reinstalled and tonight while mowing I encounter the same issue as the engine dies (dead battery). I don't know squat about this mower, so I am wondering if there is a charging system of some kind on this mower? It doesn't have an alternator. So what keeps the battery charged all the time? I am very frustrated, and mowing season just started here in Minnesota. Sorry for the stupid questions. I just really need some help please. Thank you very much everyone.
Kow Farmer Kurt
 
Well, being a Snapper like that, it should have a charging system, but apparently it is not working. Do you have a volt meter?

1. check your DC voltage between the battery posts with the engine running.

2. There should be a little electronic box on the side of the engine blower cover. It has 3 wires in one plug on it. This is the voltage regulator.
Remove the plug, start the engine and check for AC voltage between the outside 2 wires. you should be getting about 30 volts AC between those wires. If you do not get AC voltage between those 2 wires (usually white wires) then either your stator has failed or the magnets in the flywheel have come loose and are now stuck to the stator.

3. With the engine off, switch on, check for a voltage between the middle wire and the battery negative post. If no fuses are blown, no bad connections,etc. on the frame of the mower, then you should read about the same voltage as step 1.

4. Check for a ground wire or a ground strap from a steel part of the engine to the case of that voltage regulator. If you are not sure its getting a good ground add another ground wire and check again. (This should probably be step 1 or 2 instead of step 4.)
Start the engine and again check for voltage.

5. Since you have checked battery voltage, checked the stator output, checked for continuity through the mower wiring back to the battery,
and made sure the regulator itself is well grounded, try a new regulator on it.
 
Hi TRK,
No I do not have a volt meter. I was on Google looking at the parts book for this mower. Do you know what the SPDT miniature switch is on this mower? I am curious if there is a switch or something, maybe the solenoid otherwise is bad? Just throwing out ideas. Thank you for replying. You have been a great help.
Kow Farmer Kurt
 
You should get a wiring diagram from Kohler that covers your engine. It probably has a stator and a rectifier/regulator. Should see about 30 ac volts from the stator at the rectifier. Watch where you put your hands with the engine running. Hal
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Check wiring harness on mower for an inline fuse,according to wiring diag for mower at partstree there is a fuse between DC output of battery terminal of rectifer/regulator for alternator on eng and L terminal on ign sw,if this fuse is blown battery won't be charged.As far as toggle sw only toggle sw on mower shown in wiring diag is for clutch,if you bought mower used previous owner may have added another sw in which case it's anybody's guess what it's for.

If you can't find any blown fuses on mower then click on link below & download/save the service/repair manual for your eng,in section 8 it will tell you how troubleshoot charging system on your eng.

After that check if there is a harbor freight in your area,if there is buy one of the low cost ($4-$10)vom meters,you WILL need this to check AC & DC voltages in eng charging system.
kohler
 
If you figure it out please post answer. We bought ours new and have had into shop several times but no one has ever figured out the battery discharging. Thank you
 

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