Light bulbs blowing battery not charging 2320 JD

[SCody]

I have a JD 2320, The battery light came on. I did the normal first checks. Pulled the ground wire off the battery, the tractor shut down. So, I replaced the alternator, no change, then replace the voltage regulator, still the same. Then I realized all the lights where blown, except for the dash lights. Metered out the light, found they where getting around 20volts. Checked out all the ground wires looked for broken/ chaffed wires. Even had a few people look at it, they left scratching their heads. Can anyone give me a solution to this Lightmare?

 

[Roadworthy]

For whatever reason your regulator isn't regulating. Look for a bad or missing ground reference. Clean battery terminals and connectors, reinstalling tightly. If you can move them they're not tight. Follow your ground lead to the frame. Clean and tighten that connection. Measure your battery voltage to ensure it is twelve volts or a bit above. It would not hurt to have the battery load tested to be sure it's in good shape. If the battery is in the circuit you should never see twenty volts. It is possible a rodent was working on your wiring in a concealed location and wiped out a ground reference, perhaps on the voltage regulator.

 

[SCody]

I did everything that you mentioned so far. I checked all the ground wire that I can find (3) the tractor starts without a problem, but shuts down when I remove the Neg terminal. I was told by the JD dealer Mech. to check the glow plugs, to make sure the power dropped off at the end of their cycle. And it does. I may need to get a copy of the wiring diagram and go through it wire by wire.
Thanks for your input, I will go over it all again.

 

[Roadworthy]

From what I can tell (never having seen one) yours is a pretty basic tractor, probably with no computer. If the tractor dies when you lift the ground wire that probably has to do with how the fuel shutoff solenoid is wired. Try to determine how the voltage regulator is referenced to ground. You may have a ground wire broken internally. The Triumph in the picture wouldn't charge the battery at one point. It all looked good but on closer inspection I learned that although the wire made connection to the alternator the conductor itself had broken at the connector, though the insulation was intact giving the appearance of making a connection.

 

[nyone]

I did everything that you mentioned so far. I checked all the ground wire that I can find (3) the tractor starts without a problem, but shuts down when I remove the Neg terminal. I was told by the JD dealer Mech. to check the glow plugs, to make sure the power dropped off at the end of their cycle. And it does. I may need to get a copy of the wiring diagram and go through it wire by wire.
Thanks for your input, I will go over it all again.

Stop removing the ground lug when it's running. You could damage the charging system and in thinking that's what happen.

 

[SCody]

Explain how that will damage the charging system, as far as I know on all the vehicles, lawnmowers, tractors, forklifts and many other battery started engines, as long as the electrical system is working correctly, pulling the neg terminal it still should keep running. Is there something in the JD 2320 system that is different then other systems?

 

[RandyT]

Explain how that will damage the charging system, as far as I know on all the vehicles, lawnmowers, tractors, forklifts and many other battery started engines, as long as the electrical system is working correctly, pulling the neg terminal it still should keep running. Is there something in the JD 2320 system that is different then other systems?

Some of the new charging systems require a minimum voltage to close the electronic contacts on the voltage regulator. Which means if you remove the battery cable it shuts down the regulator and therefore you have no output to power the electric components it kills the ignition. Also you have to be very careful with removing the battery cables on modern equipment while it is running because it can create voltage spikes, and destroy the ECU.

I know of one mower shop that lost a ECU and a diagnostics laptop due to a voltage spike. Cause was they were running the mower engine with the pto clutch engaged and disengaged the electric clutch and the slowing clutch created a generator effect and resulting voltage spike damaged the ECU and the techs laptop. Most of the newer EFI mowers have a diode between the two wired going to the electric pto clutch to recirculate the electricity generated instead of feeding it through the electric system and the computer.

 

[ruffdog]

Explain how that will damage the charging system, as far as I know on all the vehicles, lawnmowers, tractors, forklifts and many other battery started engines, as long as the electrical system is working correctly, pulling the neg terminal it still should keep running. Is there something in the JD 2320 system that is different then other systems?

For some vehicles like Suzuki motorcycles from late 70s to 1990, the charging system demanded that you have a great ground. If not, the regulator/rectifier could get cooked. If the rectifier is bad, your charging system may start sending AC volts out through the wires and will burn stuff up like lights etc. If only one leg diode is bad, it may be about 20 acv.

 

[Milton Allen]

I have a JD 2320, The battery light came on. I did the normal first checks. Pulled the ground wire off the battery, the tractor shut down. So, I replaced the alternator, no change, then replace the voltage regulator, still the same. Then I realized all the lights where blown, except for the dash lights. Metered out the light, found they where getting around 20volts. Checked out all the ground wires looked for broken/ chaffed wires. Even had a few people look at it, they left scratching their heads. Can anyone give me a solution to this Lightmare?

Explain how that will damage the charging system, as far as I know on all the vehicles, lawnmowers, tractors, forklifts and many other battery started engines, as long as the electrical system is working correctly, pulling the neg terminal it still should keep running. Is there something in the JD 2320 system that is different then other systems?