Quick and dirty Pull starter

turbofiat124

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 23, 2011
Threads
83
Messages
288
I must be the opposite. I'd rather have a pull starter on a mower as I would an electric starter. Because batteries these days are crap and cost more than what good battery would cost 20 years ago.

Both of my mowers (B&S 21 and 18 hp) do not have pull starters. But they start easy. Well that is if the batteries are not dead. Then I have to either take the battery off and take it to my garage or run a 100 foot extension cord and my battery charger and charge it for an hour or two.

It would be nice if I could just pull start it like every other small engine I have.

Someone told they think they make a kit to where I can pull start the 18 hp engine but not the 21 hp because of it's size.

I wondered if I could cut or pop of the center of the screen above the flywheel and mount a long threaded shaft (like a thread coupler) in place of the crankcase nut and on the opposite end attach a pulley and just wrap a rope around the pulley a few turns, pull it and start it that way. Like with small engines before they had recoil starters.

Anybody ever done this?
 

turbofiat124

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 23, 2011
Threads
83
Messages
288
I checked the batteries when the mowers running and they are producing more than battery voltage. The batteries have not when dead all summer. All I was saying was next time the batteries do go dead, I would like to have the option of pull starting the engine.

When I had my Snapper, I bought a new battery for it and over the winter, it went dead. I recharged it but eventually it got to where it wouldn't hold a charge for more than a day. So I just used the pull starter until I sold it (for about four years).

One Christmas my father got me this solar powered charger. At first I did not know what to do with it. Then I got the idea to mount it against the window in my yard barn, connect two light sockets in the ceiling using 12 volt RV bulbs and install power points to charge both batteries over the winter. Everything is wired in parallel.

Well after the the first winter, both batteries were dead by spring. I charged them up and mowed all season. After the next winter same thing.

I'm not sure what the cause is. It seems the solar cell is either discharging the batteries. Or because I have two batteries connected together, one is draining the other one.

IMG_20140923_172025940_zps1v6l22rk.jpg


IMG_20140923_173336505_zpsxm9ccrfb.jpg


IMG_20140923_172116429_HDR_zpsm5lwkyrc.jpg


This might be the problem. You would think wood would not be conductive but I wonder if this is salt treated wood and the arsenic used in wood is conductive. Or perhaps when the wood get's wet, it becomes conductive. maybe I should think about insulating what the clamps touches instead of these lag bolts. Either way, the solar cell is causing me more problems than it's solving.

IMG_20140923_172131126_HDR_zpsuu0lcnfg.jpg


IMG_20140923_173255769_zpsnlfch8hs.jpg


IMG_20140923_173311851_HDR_zpszg0a95a3.jpg
 

BlazNT

Lawn Pro
Joined
Apr 26, 2012
Threads
28
Messages
6,973
Without diodes in your wiring you are powering the light bulbs with your battery when the sun goes down.
 

turbofiat124

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 23, 2011
Threads
83
Messages
288
Without diodes in your wiring you are powering the light bulbs with your battery when the sun goes down.

Nope. The light bulbs only burn when screwed all the way in. Plus a solar cell doesnt produce enough amps to power a light bulb. Using diodes maybe the key. Power could be migrating from the stronger of the two batteries to the weaker battery causing both to discharge eventually.
 
Top