Dead battery on Grasshopper

[whateg0]

My dad has 2 Grasshopper mowers. He has had a heck of a time keeping the battery charged. Now he just has a trickle charger on the wall of the garden shed and he hooks each up when it gets pulled in. Then they just run off the battery. He has replaced the voltage regulator on both a couple of times and it seems to fix it for awhile, but then the battery starts running down.

Has anybody else had a similar experience with these mowers? I'm sorry, I don't have the model numbers handy or the engines, but I do know they are gas. I'm not sure how much they have changed over the years, but based on the Grasshopper website, I'd say one is a 600 series and the other is a mid-mount, but they all look fairly similar. If they haven't changed engine choices too much, I would guess they both have Kohler engines. I do know the engines are very similar, maybe the same.

So, any ideas?

Thanks!
Dave

 

[Redneck in training]

We had similar issue few years back. It was caused by coroded stator winding in the generator on the Kohler engine. The dealer told me it was a common issue after few years of operation.

 

[Iplayfarmer]

It's tough to diagnose online. I have a kohler engine with intermitent charging issues, and it's due to a loose fuse connection. Occasionally I have to jiggle the fuse to get the connection back again. Maybe some day I'll replace the fuse block to fix the problem, but for now the ten seconds a month or so to jiggle the fuse isn't costing me much.

You may check the connections throughout the charging system. I could see a scenario where replacing the voltage regulator jiggles some corroded connection, but it re-corrodes after a short time.

 

[whateg0]

Yes, troubleshooting via the web, phone, or email is a challenge. I know. I do it 8-10 hours a day with customers and service centers around the world. My goal here was to get some ideas of common causes of this particular issue on these mowers, or to find out if it is common. I'll have to check next time I go up there and see if there is a corrosion problem on any of the connectors. I suspect checking the armature is a bit more involved than I want to get into right now. I have enough of my own projects.

Dave