1650 PTO clutch
 

I just bought a 1650 that's in very usable condition. I noticed that while mowing the battery was discharging. The electric clutch needs some power, but I was surprised that the generator wasn't keeping up. With the PTO off, the ammeter showed a charge. By the time I finished mowing (about 1 hour) the battery, which was new, could barely strat the tractor. Any comments or suggestions?

Sounds like there is a short with the PTO clutch somewhere.

Good luck,
Keith

The Elec PTO under normal conditions would NOT impact the charging system that severe. The approximate current draw is ~3-4 Amps.

To test the PTO, simply unplug the connector. If you electrical system still discharges, then you have a Charging Issue as opposed to an Elec PTO problem.

Try that and let us know.

With the 1650 running, and the PTO switch off, the meter shows a charge. Charge rate is dependant on engine speed as expected, so the generator looks OK. When the PTO switch is moved to "on", the gauge shows an immediate and substantial discharge. I'll pull the clutch wire off and repeat this to see if I can find the source of the short.

MFP8055:

You have one of two situations.

(A) You have a short in the circuit leading up to the Elec PTO
or
(B) The Elec PTO is shorted itself.

See this link for Elec PTO Information.... PTO

Yup, that's how I see it too. I'll pull the connector and see what that shows. Thanks for the link to the PTO diagram. That will be very helpful.

I tried a few things with the electric PTO: With the connector unplugged, the ammeter does not show a discharge condition when the PTO switch is on. My conclusion is that the short (or high current drain) is in the electric clutch itself. Any thoughts on where I should go from here?

The electric clutch is pretty much a replacement item. you can't really work on the electromagnet. The only thing I would check is where the wire comes out of the electromagnet,to the connector, it may have been pinched between the block and the mounting bracket.

Good luck

If you have a fairly accurate VOM or DVM, you can check the resistance of the Elec PTO per the reference link above.

You can actually re-wind the coil. I haven't done it, but if you get the same diameter of wire and get approximately the same number of turns, you can fix that.