Hey guys smile

I just acquired my very first ride on mower! I'm over the moon! I got it cheap as it has an electrical issue. It won't charge the battery. Apart from that, she's in great condition!

It's a Victa 4215HXT, with a B&S 28N707-1115-E1.

The charge indicator light on the dash stays on, even with the engine off and key off.

Looking at the wiring, someone has added a second diode in the wiring at the ignition key. I think they assumed the diode on the stator output is dead, but checking it with a multimeter, it seems ok. So I removed the "unofficial" diode from the wiring, but this made no difference.

I do see over 14V from the stator output when the engine is running, so it seems ok. And I think I'm seeing over 14V at the battery terminals with the engine at running speed. Reason I say think, as it's a near dead battery, it's been sitting dead for a few months by the previous owner. I had to jump start it, so it's needing a new battery, and so those battery readings won't be giving the best indication. When I probed it after starting the engine, it climbed slowly but steadily up from 13.5 to over 14V.

I found the manual for it in the manual downloads section of the forum. Luckily it has a wiring schematic, which is PERFECT. So I'll have to try to trace out everything and find if something has been wired wrong at some point.

But I'm just wondering if anyone would have any idea why this is happening. Why it's not charging, and why the charge light is always on, even with the engine switched off?

Thanks! I'm looking forward to this new project of mine! First fixing this fault, then servicing her and doing her up all nice and new smile