troy built engine swap

I replaced a kholer courage engine that had gone bad with a briggs and stratton , an older engine but it runs good. I think the voltage regulator is not working right. It has burned out both headlights and the battery has gone bad. the battery is about a year old and has been kept on a battery keeper and it has gone bad also. except whenever it is in use. the mower is at our other home that we do not get very often so I cannot just go out and look at it anytime. My question is will the regulator from the kholar engine work on a briggs? I have my doubts about it and think I am looking at a new regulator from b and s. Everything else works fine. Thanks for the advice.

To my knowledge there is no regulator. What most call the regulator is actually just a rectifier to convert the AC current from the stator to DC. The voltage is controlled by the stator windings. Most of them charge at a very high voltage, high 14s to 15 volts with the engine at WOT. Should be two wires feeding the rectifier, check the AC voltage between them, should be in the 28-30 range. Then check the DC voltage, should be half of the AC. Only thing you can do if it's too high is replace the stator, or lower the high RPM setting.

You can't use the Kohler regulator on the Briggs.

I don't know what is going on, but you may have an issue with the wiring on the replacement engine not being compatable with the wiring on the tractor.

Even with your Briggs engine numbers, I still couldn't help you, Briggs put all 4 of their larger charging systems on the parts breakdown for many years and you had to verify from what was on the engine itself what charging system you had.

I replaced a Kohler Courage and Kohler Command, 20 and 17.5 hp respectively, with BS V twins 20 and 18 hp. Everything matched up plug to plug, pin to pin, and worked just fine, zero problems except I was changing from a side mounted carb to front mounted so the throttle/choke cable had to be longer....no big deal. The muffler had to be dual inlet so that had to be changed but ebay had used ones for a great price and being sturdily built devices, buying used is not a gamble....and a couple of gaskets. I don't recall measuring the exact voltage, just the fact that when running the voltage was over 12.75 volts my reference for full charge under my operating conditions.

My mowers were L110 hydro and Husqvarna 20xx46 hydro, both vertical mount engines on a 10" standard bolt circle that accepts single and V twin engine designs.

As others have said, don't figure on a regulator necessarily. With one you will be running 14-15 and without above 16 at full rpm with a fully charged battery in both cases as others have said. Usually the mower isn't used so long that the battery becomes overcharged if urban usage......more like runs down from lack of running-charging. On rural like mine, a regulator helps keep the electrolyte in the battery.

I don't know if it applies to your swap or not but I happened to have and electric start Troy Bilt Horse tiller in the shop late yesterday with a Briggs engine. Issue was it was not charging the battery. Testing showed it was sending 27V AC back the charging wire. There was an inline diode in that wire and it was shorted. 27V AC would certainly blow your headlight bulbs. Check voltage with your meter set to AC.