Wiring Question: 21 HP Intek. Can Charging Wire go to Battery or must go Key Switch

[rarebear]

HELLO,

My first post..

Wiring Question: 21 HP Intek. Can Charging Wire go to Battery or must it go to Key Switch then back to Battery?

I am worried it will discharge battery if it goes direct to battery..

I made a new wiring system for my old Snapper with a 21 HP Intek and everything is fine but want to know if I need to run it though the key switch and not the battery..

Thanks

 

[ILENGINE]

It goes directly to battery. It is not recommended to run through the key switch. Kohler has told their techs that if they have a mower come in with the charging going through the key switch clip the wire and move it to the starter solenoid.

Mackie and I had a heated discussion about this about a month or so ago. There is a slight drain to the battery due to the required grounding of the voltage regulator, but it will take like a year to drain the battery down to where it won't start the mower.

 

[rarebear]

Thanks,

I seen wiring diagrams showing both ways and didn't know if armature had a slight ground..
when I get every thing squared away I'll post some pics and how to add 21 hp to an old Snapper..

 

[Mad Mackie]

Hi rarebear,
ILENGINE got me up to speed about the charging systems on larger engines.
I do very little power equipment servicing anymore, just a few cemetery machines and my own.
My 2008 Scag Tiger Cub/30 HP Briggs commercial Turf engine and my 1989 Ingersoll 4018 GT/18 Vanguard both are wired with the charging system output going to the keyswitch. Having done a amperage draw check on both machines, which measured about 1.4 Milliamps, after I used a working multimeter, ILENGINE knows what I did wrong!!!! My Bad!!!
I am going to remove the charging system output wire from the keyswitch and connect to a good place in the battery positive on both machines.
Last summer I was mowing a friends place and got caught in some brush that turned off the keyswitch on my Scag. I turned it back on and as I was attempting to unsnag the machine, the keyswitch got turned off several more times. When I got the machine home and checked the battery voltage, I found that the regulator/rectifier had failed, probably due to cycling the keyswitch on several while hung up in the brush. This was an operator problem, not a machine problem!!!LOL
Just looked at some wiring diagrams for some Scag models and only a few have been changed to direct battery connection.
Mad Mackie in CT:smile::biggrin::laughing: