I would like to completely gut out and rewire all the electrical on my murray riding lawn mower. Can someone talk to me and give me the lawn mower wiring 101 course? How does all the wiring work? What keeps the battery charged? Perhaps someone can give me a few reference websites I can visit and learn about it. I have spent some time searching the boards as well as websites and have not found much that teaches you about the basic wiring of a riding lawnmower. Any help would be great!
Garry
Nothing personal, but I would have to suggest that anyone who has to ask, and can not figure it out by disassembling the mower, should not be trying,
BTW the first step would be to get the repair manual for the mower. Finding one may be just a little easier than finding some of the parts you are going to need.
Why?? Given the questions you're asking, like "How does all the wiring work?", I think that you better think twice before it all goes up in smoke. MLD
"MLD" wrote in message news:krtUc.3814$de4.2154@trndny07...
Agree; somewhat easier, and harder in some ways, for someone competent and familiar with rewiring/repairing auto electrics! I guess we are not aware of your level of experience and training? But you should know what you are doing; too easy to burn out, say an expensive generator/alternator for example. My son has just modified a 1986 vehicle from automatic to manual, has changed the fuel injected motor to a supercharged model and by the way, the car had and still has an electronic instrument display. Inevitably he ran into various items that had to be analyzed and resolved because of the differences, not only in the wiring harnesses but also the range of conditions and outputs of the various sensors to the engine computer etc.! BUT; he has some eight years experience, teaches electronics and is competent self taught auto mechanic with a buddy who is a machine shop instructor! Even if you see the rewiring job as a straightforward 'one wire for one wire' there is a chance of using the wrong gauge or even wrong temperature of wire insulation? I agree with other posters; if you have ask such a basic question, don't go at it! Why does it need rewiring anyway? If you 'must' go at it suggest you first get the correct manual, although they are sometimes not easy to read if you are not used to that product line and compare it to the existing wiring (it may differ!!!). Even then it won't tell you everything. I guess a comprehensive lawn mower manual might cost $20 to $40? Not familiar with that company's policy concerning such material though. BTW.We've seen 200 watt car stereo systems that have been wired up with thin gauge' bell wire' bought at the local supermarket by someone 'following the instructions' and then the owner wondering why it doesn't work My opinion.
Joseph,
Only way to be able to learn anything in life is to try. If you fail, you learn from your mistakes. Or better learn from the mistakes that others have made themselves. Anyway I guess there is an obvious difference in people. I am willing to take moderate chances in order to learn. I have the Briggs & Stratton interactive repair manual and it really doesn't explain at all how the engine is wired. It only describes the parts which I am aware of what they are... finding parts is no trouble at all either... I wasn't aware that there was a shortage of electrical wire? LOL. Nothing personal. :)
BTW the first step would be to get the repair manual for the mower. Finding one may be just a little easier than finding some of the parts you are going to need.
Why??? Why not??? Am I going to die? No.... worst that can happen is I will be buying another used crappy mower for $75.00 which will last me
5 years like this one did. Asking for someone elses expertise doesn't mean I am not capable of doing the work on the mower. If I did not have any confidence in myself I would not be interested in learning how the wiring works.... nor would I invest the time into trying to find someone on usenet and attempt to pick at their brain for information, and lastly I wouldn't try to attempt to re-wire the mower.... however, I do have confidence in my self and I am investing the time into finding someone in usenet that is an expert, and I will re-wire my lawn mower and pimp my ride! LOLThanks. Garry
Send me payment in the form of cash, check, or money order in the amount of $3000, and I will teach you all you need to know. This is much cheaper than going to college.
Otherwise, replace one wire at a time, and ONLY one at a time, and you cant go wrong.
As for the WHY you want to do it, I will never understand. I have a Murray 38" 12HP rider and is probably identical or very similar. I see no reason the wiring should be bad, and if I had a short I'd tape that wire, or possibly replace that ONE wire. If you are going to rebuild anything, I'd tackle the mechanical parts long before the wiring. I have taken quite a bit of mine apart over the years to lubricate and clean out all the gunk that builds up.
Finally, the battery charges because the flywheel has coils and magnets that act as a generator (or alternator, whichever it is). If you ever pop the cover off the engine, you can see these parts.
PS. Clean your battery terminals. They are the first thing to get crappy.
Well I want to re-wire it primarily to get all the saftey features back. Also all the existing wire is bare or frayed. Additionally I would like to re-wire it to gain a better understanding of small engines as well as electronics. Why not.... anyway I have made a lot of progress with it today. I am almost done. I have completely re-wired the lawn mower, replaced the existing burnt out light bulbs and.... AND installed two halegon automobile lights. This mower has the brightest lights I have ever seen! LOL. Additionaly I have installed and wired an ampre meter as well as a switch that controls how the lights are powered... I can run the lights directly off battery or if the mower engine is running at 3600 RPM I can flip the switch so that the lights receive power directly from the alternator. I have the PTO switch on order... that is the only thing keeping this project from being complete.
On top of that, I have plans to add a 700 Watt power inverter to it and I will have my self a portable generator on wheels. I am not sure if the charging system on the Briggs & Stratton engine can keep up with the useage of the battery, actually think it is doubtful.... so I am intending on making a modification to the drive belt and assembly by adding a car alternator to it which would easily spin fast enough to generate enough power to supply to the power inverter. I will keep you posted.
You guys all have to understand that I don't care if the outcome of any of my projects end in failure.... because in my eyes they never do... something good will always come from anything I do. I might not achieve the original goal intended, but I end with having more ideas based off the original.
Doing the work to learn and play around is just fine, especially if you don't care how it all comes out. But it sounds like you're trying to turn a Ford Pinto into a Honda Accord. Having said that, with respect to your "how do the wires work?" question, just replacing parts and wires will teach you nothing and will leave you just as clueless as you profess to be. Do you want to learn--have you looked at a wiring scehmatic? Have you traced the actual wires and compared them to the schematic? No schematic--have you tried to create one by following and tracing the wires? How can you tap into the existing wires and add hardware (lights, switches, ammeter etc.) without knowing which wires are which or how to connect them--in parallel or in series? You're either putting us on or so clueless that you're brillant. MLD
Ok, I just have to ask. Is there something specifically wrong with the wiring now? And unless it's all been ripped out, you could just replace what's there with new wire a section at at time, without having to figure out exactly how it works.
According to Garry Conn :
To answer your question in a different way than the others do, most equipment like this has wiring harnesses. Batches of wire slung through some sort of wrapping, with bits of wire poking out at various places.
The electrical diagrams are _usually_ just showing what connects to what, not how it gets there, nor how to identify which wire is which, nor what wire size you should have.
You _could_ replace one wire at a time, using the electrical diagram to identify what terminal on what device is connected to another terminal on another device and double-checking with an ohmmeter. But that's slow and exceedingly painful. And you could easily go wrong with the wrong wire size.
It'd be MUCH simpler to buy a replacement harness. Which would be silly to do if the existing harness isn't busted.
[It's actually quite easy to _make_ harnesses, but to do that, you need the original manufacturing instructions to know "what" goes "where" and "how", lots of various pieces of wire, a chunk of plywood, nails, and appropriate cable sheathing material. Plus crimping tools etc.]If you're trying to modify the electronics, then just add new wire and leave the existing harness alone.
But if you have to ask "how does all the wiring work?" or "what charges the battery", I think you need to take a course. There's no way _we_ could give you enough information to be practically useful.
The alternator or generator charges the battery. Somehow that doesn't sound like enough for your purposes ;-)
The wiring harness of my elderly Cub Cadet is having severe problems where it goes near the engine (regulator, headlights, starting solenoids etc). It was getting worn and melted thru, bare wire...
Replacing the wiring (even as a harness replacement) would have been a major expense and/or PITA. So I settled for carefully repairing the exposed/damaged conductors (praying I didn't lose track of what connected to what) with solder and electrical tape.
replying to Garry Conn, Graf wrote: I worked as a mechanic for nine years simply because I needed to feed my family, not because I had any natural talents for it. To this day, it is very difficult for me to puzzle my way through anything electrical for some reason. But I still have all of my tools, and with labor at 80$+ an hour to work on stuff, I'll figure it out. Gary, while I'm not the gut to answer your questions other than to suggest a manual and YouTube, I say Go For It. It's a lawnmower. If it were to get messed up, it's not the end of the world, and you'll learn something in the process. I still have to look through the book to figure stuff out, but I've changed a hell of a lot of parts over the years on my days off.
Graf <caedfaa9ed1216d60ef78a6f660f5f85 snipped-for-privacy@example.com wrote
Not at all uncommon. Mate of mine is brilliant at anything mechanical and can make you a very decent automatic handgun from basic bar stock but is completely hopeless at anything electrical. The problem appears to be that just looking at electrical stuff doesn’t tell you anything much useful about what is happening with it.
Yeah, one of the neighbours kids presented me with a box of bits from the epicyclic gearbox on a bicycle that he ended up with when he pulled it to bits. I had never seen one before and only had a rough idea about how they work but could put it back together again using the wear marks, in the days before the internet had been invented.
A parts replacer ain't a mechanic!!! For electrical work like you are talking about (i did read the whole home moaners thread) you NEED to understand how it was designed to function and what you need to do to make it do what you want it to do.
Trace out the wiring scematic and analyse it so you know what really does what - then decide what needs to be replaced, what needs to be changed, and what needs to be added. Just a hint - no need to switch from battery power ro direct "alternator" power for those halogen lights - and very likely the factory charging system isn't up to handling the lights AND the blade clutch at the same time - much-less the inverter. \ Get a self-regulating auto alternator - add the proper pulley, mounting, etc, and connect IT to the battery - bypassing the flywheel alternator completely. (tryint to run both together is liable to let out the "magic smoke". You don't know about "magic smoke"? Has nothing to do with herbal intaxicants.
Eectrical systems operate on smoke. As long as all the magic smoke stays in the wires things tend to work pretty good. If any of the magic smoke comes out things go downhillpretty quick -and putting the smoke back in as a lot more difficult than putting striped toothpaste back in the tube - - - -
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