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regulator plug question


steve-wis

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Hello again!

 

I have my new to me snow cab mounted and cleaned up, so I am about ready for anything winter might have left.  I do have one more issue to figure out.  When I got the tractor, the amp gauge was shot.  I have a new gauge installed.  I also replaced both coils on the engine.  Finally, it has a new battery.  After the new gauge install, I started the tractor.  The gauge read a charge of 10 amps for about 5 seconds, then down to 2 or 3 for a few seconds, then to 0.  The battery was brand new and fully charged so I assumed this was normal.  Since then, I have no charge to the battery.  I am thinking the regulator is junk.  My question is:  the wiring plug that hooks to the regulator can go on both ways, and the wires are one black in the center and then two while ones on either side of it.  the harness is twisted some.  Can this plug be put on backwards?  How can I tell which way is correct?  I am attaching a few pics.  

It is a Kohler ch18 twin.

Any help is, as always, greatly appreciated!

Steve

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As long as the white wires are on the outside of the plug you're good.  They are the "AC" wires from the stator.  The center wire is the +12V DC wire, it goes to the battery.  There's also another wire (your's is green) that's the ground wire for the regulator; one end is usually hooked to a regulator mounting bolt and the other end to a blowing housing screw.  

Check the case of the regulator and make sure it's got a good ground.  You might want to remove the regulator and clean all the wiring terminals.

To see if the regulator is functioning OK (it doesn't sound it is), check the voltage of the battery.  Without the tractor running, you should have a little more than 12V (12.5V or so).  With the tractor running, the voltage should rise to 14+V or so if the regulator is working.  If you don't have the increased voltage at the battery, check the center terminal of the voltage regulator connector, it should be the 14+V or so.  

If you don't have the 14+V at the center terminal of the voltage regulator connector, check the voltage between the two white wires.  You'll need a meter that can read AC voltage (not all meters can).  The voltage should be about 30V if the stator is good.

Note all the voltage readings are with the engine running 3000+RPM.  If the engine RPMs aren't high, the stator doesn't put out as much voltage to rectify.   

Edited by PhanDad
are-->aren't. Makes a difference 😳
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You may have lost a flywheel magnet.  Mine had the same intermittent charging problem amongst several other problems.  Once the magnets were re-epoxied, my charging problem was corrected.

Did you remove the flywheel & clean things up when you had the engine out for your coil replacement?  That crank seal is also known to leak over time creating unimaginable buildup around the stator & flywheel magnets.

 

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Shaun,

I didn't have the flywheel off, but the buildup of crud wasn't too bad outside of the flywheel so I don't think the seal is bad.  I suspect the regulator as the previous owner did tell me that the battery he had in it wasn't that old and it was shot, I assume he ran a charger on it alot.

Phandad, I will do the tests next time I am out in the garage.  I am glad to hear that the plug can't be put on backwards, when I had the engine out for coil replacement I hadn't marked it because I assumed it only went on one way.  When I discovered it goes either way, I couldn't tell which way it had been because of the twisting of the harness by the plug.

Thanks for the info guys!!

 

Steve

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