Kohler charging question

Butch(OH)

Well-known Member
A curiosity/fun question for those who have been around Kohlers for a while. My little operation sees 15-20 tractors a year for various repairs and I just had a Kolher command twin powered tractor in the shop for a no charge condition. Ended up it had the same problem as several others. The first one several years ago drove me crazy. A sears Craftsman had the correct A/C voltage coming from the stator, rectifier tested good, wiring tested good. Took a regulator off a known charging tractor and still no charge. Ran a wire directly from the DC terminal to the battery and still no charge. For reasons I cannot remember I used a test wire to ground the regulator to the battery and it started charging. The tractor showed no evidence of it ever being grounded previously and owner claimed to have bought the tractor new, had never messed with it and it charged OK for two years. I passed it off as a quirk and went on with life. Since then I have had three more tractors of various makes in the shop with same engines and same issue, they used to charge, were not messed with and suddenly quit. Grounding the rectifier fixed all pf them You guys who know these engines well know that it is, or was standard practice to mount the regulators to the plastic shroud, none of the tractors had a broken wire or any evidence being grounded previously. I checked Kohlers wiring diagrams and it does not show the regulator housing being grounded. What is going on that requires the rectifiers to suddenly require grounding to charge??? Have any others run into this?
 
Well taking a step to the side. I would think any type of regulator would need the be grounded. Everything I own has grounded units. Three wires are not enough. I do know that on my Briggs twin V engines the regulator is mounted to the side of the engine and I make sure they are correctly grounded. Electrical problems on briggs are no charge or can show up as overcharging. The amp gauge just never comes down. The local mower parts guy is buying regulators for around $30 and they work fantastic. The name on the bag was rondo or something. Charge at 14.5 volts and are steady as a rock. My old 130 deer sytem fried a few years ago and went on Ebay to find a regulator. Contacted the seller about the burnt plug on mine and if he was junking the machine could he send me the plug. Guy was super nice and sent me the entire harness. I changed out the harness and fixed my neutral switch while I was at it.
 
IF the regulator/regulator is the simple older variety and has only a 3 pin connector it's case absolutely positively has to be grounded, somehow.

If it has a 5 or 6 wire connector, one of the leads from there MAY be a ground.

If that's the case, having it quit charging COULD be an issue with one of the terminals in the connector or with the harness or where that wire connects to ground.
 
Hi Bob,
The 4 tractors that were in my shop had the three wire rectifiers and they were never grounded, that I am sure of. Rectifiers werr attached to plastic shrouds in the standard location, no evidense of broken or missing wires. These were not hacked up junkers but one owner from new. Last one was a 20 HP Cub Cadet. They had all charged at one point and quit doing so. Attached is a diagram showing ungrounded 3 wire rectifier.
Kohler Command wiring
 
I guess someone who took the cover off had no clue what that little L shaped piece of sheetmetal with the holes in the ends did so they didn't reinstall it. It grounded the regulator by connecting under one of the regulator mount screws to one of the cover mount screws. A sure-nuff wire is better and I see Kohler has gone back to the green jumper wire they had 15 or 20 years ago.
 
Been grounding Kohler retifiers ever since they started using plastic fan shrouds to fix 99.99% of charging problems.

Most of the newer engines that i have saw come with a metal strap installed to ground them.

I guess like the weak head bolts and electronic ignition. It did not work to good.
 

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