</font><font color="blue" class="small">( If your alternator/battery light comes on, is it telling you the alternator is not charging or is it telling you the battery is dead?
<font color="blue">Simply shutting down a pair of them would resolve the problem, </font>
That's what us illogical people need to know. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif
Don )</font>
Don for the answer to that you'd need to check you particular owners manual. I'm sure that many measure battery amperage when it gets to a preset "low" level and that lights the light to alert you. At that point, an idiot light is just what it is described as, it is simply a dumb light that tells you your battery has reached that preset level.
It can't tell you if your alternator is dead. It can't tell you if a mouse chewed the wiring and the alternator is functional but not sending current. It can't tell you that your battery is dead because it has no clue, (after all it is just a light bulb in your dash) however, if you have lights and power it is safe to say that you have some level of function from either your alternator or battery or most likely both.
Typically, a simple shutting down of the offending light would not only resolve the problem but start the process of recharging the battery. The draw down of the battery, if it happens is very similar, in my simple mind, to the way hydraulic systems work. You have a hydraulic pump that is rated at "x" gpm of flow. If you are working the loader it is likely taking all the available flow that the pump is pushing. If you are working the loader AT THE SAME TIME you are ALSO working a Top N Tilt system then the hydraulic flow is split between the 2 and the speed of the cylinders is reduced. Is it likely that you will be operating BOTH at the same time on a small CUT . . . probably not, but if it did occur it would not be for extended periods of time, it would likely be for a few moments. The parallel is drawn to the electrical system, in that you are typically not driving forward and reverse at the same time so you typically don't need 6 55-watt lamps pointing forward and also need 2 55-watt lamps pointing rearward, and have them all lit up. At that point it would be more likely that you'd melt the hair on your head and blind yourself as you rotated in your seat looking both forward and aft. Now all that said, I'm still talking about relatively small cabless tractors here. If we want to move up to a real AG tractor, then I'd probably want a 70+ amp alternator to power 8 lamps forward so I could work the fields at night. I'd probably want 2 to 4 reaward as well so I could see my implement. But then I'd probably be pulling a 12 to 20 foot wide implement and working a field significantly larger than a few acre lawn and a 72" mower deck.
