I have an MTD riding mower with a Kohler OHV175 Motor. It has the split charging system, 1 wire with a diode for the battery and a yellow wire with A/C voltage for the lights. There are no lights on the mower so I was wondering, Can I install a 2 phase rectifier like on a Briggs and Stratton and use both A/C wires to get more charging amperage?
First, Kohler does not make an engine with a model number OHV175, are you sure it is not a Tecumseh? Even if you did what you are saying, it wouldn’t be of much help. Each each be putting out about 13.6 Volts and would need to be hooked in parallel, and if you hooked them in series you would get 24+ volts which would burn up the system. Your stator only has an amperage output of 3A, no way to increase that.
You can do it but it is not worth the effort of doing.
The split system is in fact two different stators wired together.
One provides high current to charge the battery and the other supplies low current to power the lights.
These systems use the battery to regulate and as such tend to boil batteries.
Adding the second feed will do little other than to boil the battery faster.
If you have a power problem, fix what is wrong.
In particular check the grounding of the stator & stator windings.
My mistake, it is a Techumseh motor. The part I was thinking about is a Briggs rectifier/regulator which is set at 14.4 volts. I’m just not used to seeing battery voltage rise so slowly. I know it’s only a 3 amp charging system but with a fresh battery it only gets to 12.9 volts. Why did they use a 15 amp ammeter? It shows very little deflection after starting.
BEcause the same amp meter is used on all models including the electric clutch models that use the 10 or 15 Amp alternators.
Most old mower repair shops will have boxes full of old stators taken of blow ups if you want to upgrade.
Some times you need a new flywheel as well because higher output models use more or larger magnets.
More magnets = higher voltages
Bigger magnets = more Amps
