Vern

Member
I have a 2009 CC GT2542 lawn tractor.
One of the "Head Lights" fell out the other day & when I tried to put it back the socket broke.
I ordered 2 new ones & per the sales man I bought 2 LEDs to put in thinking the heat from the old bulbs hsd made the sockets brittle. I put it all together & it works fine.

Then I got to thinkin, the previous tractor was a JD LT133 & the book said "if a bulb burns out replace it soon as they are a part of the electrical system & the amperage draw is necessary to proper charging of the battery."

Since the LEDs don't draw as much amperes, am I over charging the battery?

Neither tractor had a switch for the lights so they ran whenever the tractor ran.

Vern
 
DOES THAT MAKE SENSE TO YOU?

A properly designed charging system does not need any current draw to maintain a fully charged battery. The regulator is supposed to sense whether the battery needs to be charged. If the battery is not fully charged, then the regulator will send current to the battery until it reaches the state of being fully charged. At that point, the regulator will shut off the current flow.

Most tractors have a headlamp switch to turn the headlamps on or off. If you turn the headlamps off, are we to believe that the electrical system will not recharge the battery? I think NOT.
 
Not having a wiring schematic, I couldn't say for sure. But manufactures have been know cut corners to save on production costs (i.e. Omit the regulator.) That said the tractor in question may not have a regulator or the lights may be required to reduce the voltage to an acceptable level to supply a poorly designed regulator.
 

I have my mom's Ford LT 75 lawn tractor, it dates back to the 1970's. The charging system has one diode to provide half wave DC for charging the battery. There is no regulator used. The tractor did not come with lights so adding lights could result in under charging the battery. The opposite problem you are concerned about for your tractor.

You stated the previous JD LT133 required working lights however, what does the manual state for the current tractor concerning lights? If the tractor has a voltage regular you should be okay with the LEDs. Without a regulator then, yes, the battery could be subject to over charging.
 
The tractor with the potential problem is NOT a John Deere. It is a Cub Cadet garden tractor powered by a Kohler CH20 Horizontal V twin with a regulated 15 amp charging system. Why you would give any weight to a John Deere manual when working on a Cub Cadet boggles my mind. About all you accomplished was to confuse yourself and some of the people replying to this thread. Use the LED' without any worries and order the proper service manual for your CC GT.
 
I don't want to muddy the water any more, but I see so many Cub Cadets running around with no headlight panel in them at all I don't think having the lights disconnected or missing causes any battery charging problems at all.

And Probably they did not put out enough light to do anything worthwhile mowing in the dark anyway.

I bet there are also Deere lt133s out there with no headlights and no charging problems either. No hood on them either.
 
[b:a4c31c49b4]JD LT133 & the book said "if a bulb burns out replace it soon as they are a part of the electrical system & the amperage draw is necessary to proper charging of the battery." [/b:a4c31c49b4]


Has John Deere actually gotten that stupid to attempt to make people think that a burnt out head light will cause the battery to overcharge hereby forcing people to buy JD replacement bulbs??

I know people here have completely stopped buying anything John Deere to farm with due to the stupid way John Deere has made it nearly impossible for anyone to fix a broken down tractor without taking it to or having a "certified" JD people do even the simplest repairs.

Been running a Husqvarna GTH2754 for over eight years without head light bulbs or even the sockets in the housing without a problem.
 
Thanks to most who replied. I don't think 1 guy read my whole post.
I'll run it the way it is 'till something happens.

Vern
 
(quoted from post at 21:35:37 07/07/17) Thanks to most who replied. I don't think 1 guy read my whole post.
I'll run it the way it is 'till something happens.

Vern
Hi Vern I read your complete post and I think several other did also, what we are trying to get across to you is your comparing apples to oranges tha Cub and John Deere have to completely different charging systems, the Cub has a Kohler with a 15 amp alternator that is controlled with a 15 amp rectifier voltage regulator and it will not over cjarge the battery no matter how low the amperage draw because the voltage regulator controls the amps.
The John Deere may have had only a 3 amp charging system, the 3 amp systems do NOT have a voltage regulator they have a diode in the ac stator wire that converts the ac to dc (as posted a half wave rectification0 and that system depends on the system load to regulate the amps/ in reality the battery is the regulator.
GB in MN
 

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