Voltage Regulator wires overheating - not charging

lantzsharp

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  • / Voltage Regulator wires overheating - not charging
My Craftsman rider 917.272072 with Kohler CV490S wasn't charging. 2-3 volts AC at the regulator, battery voltage 12.x on the DC side. Stator ohms = 0 - .1 or so (cheap ohm meter). I noticed the white (or yellow - its an older machine) AC wires were hot, I followed them to the connector and they were almost burned thru at the connector. I cut both wires knowing that I would just splice them later since the connector was badly burned. After I cut the wires: 28 volts AC, 14.4 volts DC. Ammeter is showing positive now, vs negative before. Hopefully the pic comes thru where I show the burnt connector and cut wires, but anyone else have this problem, and what causes this? Thanks.
 

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ILENGINE

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  • / Voltage Regulator wires overheating - not charging
Loose or corroded connections are a symptom of high resistance. High resistance causes heat which melts the plastic. Could also be a high amp draw, but that should of blown the fuse before cooking the connector.
 

lantzsharp

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  • / Voltage Regulator wires overheating - not charging
Loose or corroded connections are a symptom of high resistance. High resistance causes heat which melts the plastic. Could also be a high amp draw, but that should of blown the fuse before cooking the connector.

I wasn't clear, it only charges with the wire(s) cut. I just spliced them back together, and AC volts down to 2, DC volts at 12.3 and wires getting extremely hot again. Disconnect them and AC volts at 23+ and DC volts actually over 15. The wiring diagram shows the Operator Presence Relay 2 as the next in line - do they go bad, and what happens if they do?
Thanks,
Lantz
 

bertsmobile1

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  • / Voltage Regulator wires overheating - not charging
Now I am confused.
What did you cut and where did you splice it back together ?
There should be 1 or 2 wires coming from the stator,
'They will either go to a rectifier to be converted to DC or one will have a diode in it to make pulsed DC for recharging the battery & the other will pass AC to the headlights.
These 2 wires should never be joined together regardless of wiring system.
When measured between the 2 wires ou should see a bit more than 28V AC which will end up being a touch over 12V DC .
Either one of these wires should read 1/2 of that ( 14V ) between themselves & the ground.

You know what you mean because you are there doing it with the mower right in front of you.
We ,are sitting here in front of a screen trying to understand what your words mean.
 

ILENGINE

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  • / Voltage Regulator wires overheating - not charging
Bert, He has a short, and it may be in the melted electrical 6 pin connector between the engine and the mower. From the picture that thing isn't coming apart any time soon. Or the 6 pin connector could just be the weak point in the system, He needs to find the short that is causing the heat issues and then put the wiring harness back together and it should also fix the charging issue.
 
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