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I just bought a 1995 JD 425 and I snow blow with it so I added 2 work lights up front and one in the rear. Worked great for about 10 minutes then all went dim and battery was dead. Do these tractors not put out enough voltage to keep battery maintained...

There may be a problem with the electrical system in the tractor or the battery might just be worn out. I would try buying a new battery.
If the lights go out, there might be a short circuit somewhere. The alternator cables from the engine may not be hooked up so the battery will go dead quickly. If the tractor has a fuse box, check the fuses and replace them if they are bad.

Let me know if you have any further questions.

K cool...i will head head out to garage and check...i didn't see an altenator on it

The alternator on your tractor is not like a conventional alternator like the one that is in a car. The alternator is located underneath the flywheel. There should be wires coming off of that location. Those should be the alternator wires. If you have a multimeter, check the current of the wires when the tractor is running. If it has power, it may just be your battery. If it doesn't have power, the alternator is worn out and should be replaced.

Arwing64 said:

The alternator on your tractor is not like a conventional alternator like the one that is in a car. The alternator is located underneath the flywheel. There should be wires coming off of that location. Those should be the alternator wires. If you have a multimeter, check the current of the wires when the tractor is running. If it has power, it may just be your battery. If it doesn't have power, the alternator is worn out and should be replaced.

Click to expand...

No reason to check current when checking voltage is much quicker and easier. I'm not trying to "shame" you by any means, but the words current and voltage tend to get used interchangeably when they aren't the same thing.

Current refers to the amperage of an electrical circuit whereas voltage is... well, the volts. Coincidentally, even though water and electricity are typically not a good combination, water flowing through a pipe is a great analogy for how electricity (in particular with DC applications) works. You can think of the water itself as current (amps). You can put water in a pipe, but unless it has pressure, it's not going to flow, right? In an electrical circuit, voltage is the pressure that causes the amps to flow. Likewise, the more pressure you apply to the water, the more water will flow through the pipe in a given amount of time, correct? Amperage is the rate at which voltage is flowing.

Voltage and current are directly proportional, meaning a drop in one will result in an equivalent drop in the other. This means that, in most cases, you can measure voltage and determine how much current is flowing. If, for example, you're supposed to have 16 volts coming out of an alternator and you only read 10 volts, the alternator is only producing enough current to generate 10 volts of output.

Make sense?

On to the original post: it's possible the work lights you added are drawing too much current for the stator (alternator) to keep up. A quick, simple test would be to disconnect 1 of the work lights and see if it runs longer. If it does run longer (even by a few minutes), disconnect a 2nd light (removing the bulbs will be the easiest way to do this) and see if it runs longer than with 2 lights connected.

If you find this to be the case, buy some lower wattage bulbs. They may not be as bright as you'd like, but they won't kill your engine either.

OK ,
Lets start from the top.
Is it a 425 tractor with a water cooled win cylinder Kawakasi engine ?
Or an EZ 425 zero turn with an Briggs ?

Barney, check your messages

Barney66 said:

Do these tractors not put out enough voltage to keep battery maintained...

Click to expand...

How big are the lights that you added? And how did you wire them?
This mower does not have an alternator like a large tractor.

The 425 lawn tractor has a manual PTO so it will only have a 3 A or 5A alternator.
The 425 Zero turn has an electric PTO so gets a 15A alternator.
This is why I asked the question in the first place.
When it wasn't answered I assumedd that there must also be a full tractor with the 425 designation.

I didn't see any definitive answer given for this question. I too have a 425 tractor, not a zero turn. I want to add lights and a heater to my cab so it's just a little more comfortable when I am snow blowing. Not sure if my stator is on it's way out, but was thinking of putting a regular alternator on it. Is it tough to do this? I have seen them as available for the 445, but not on the 425.

Thanks
Ken

If you put 3 extra lights on that is to many lights for that charging system. I know on the new series of the x there is an ad on alternator kit to put on. To keep up with the draw demand of the lights and for the last person that posted you will also need an alternator if there is one for the 445 it should work on the 425 same tractor except one is fuel injected and other is carb

So.... I have been digging.... found that the Gator has the same FD620D engine as the 425. This also has an optional kit.. John Deere High Capacity Alternator Kit - BM23195. I have yet to find a good picture/installation manual for this. Wondering if anyone had looked at this to see if it would work with the 425/445?

All mower engines have optional larger capacity charging circuits.
On ones with a manual PTO ( Lever ) the alternastor is just needed to top up the battery for starting so it is very small
Next wew get the electric PTO"S and theses draw anything from 3,5A to 7 A so they get a higher output alternator.
Next up are electric PTO'S + lights and these engines get an even bigger alternator and generally a proper regulator rectifier.
In each case it is just a bigger stator ( more windings ) inside the same fly wheel so you just need to replace the stator on these models.
Others fit the bigger stators but eother do not connect the wires or even cut them off inside the fly wheel Japaneese engines tend to be like this ( reduced inventory ).
So before you go spending lot of money, pull the fly wheel and see what is underneath.

By the way, that 425 HAS a electric PTO. The 445 is fuel injected. I used to have one o each of these. But, I do agree that, in my opinion, you are drawing too much current for he size of the charging system.