682 just turned 5000 hours

[CubCadets]

Earlier in this thread someone wondered how many hours will get put on if the key is left on. I have a mower with a 25hp kawasaki vertical shaft engine and 350cca battery, that this just happened to last week. My little girl was playing around it one evening, and then saturday when I went to mow, the key was on and the battery was stone dead. It had 53 hr more on the meter than it did before.

I know it wasn't a new battery and it's a different ignition setup, but I thougt it was interesting. I guess maybe I should pull the keys in that yet too.

[Mudrig150]

Originally Posted by CubCadets

Earlier in this thread someone wondered how many hours will get put on if the key is left on. I have a mower with a 25hp kawasaki vertical shaft engine and 350cca battery, that this just happened to last week. My little girl was playing around it one evening, and then saturday when I went to mow, the key was on and the battery was stone dead. It had 53 hr more on the meter than it did before.

I know it wasn't a new battery and it's a different ignition setup, but I thougt it was interesting. I guess maybe I should pull the keys in that yet too.

Originally Posted by Terry C

Key has been left on several times is my guess.

One misplaced wire and my hour meter is hooked to the charging system and not the battery, so I can be sure about the hours. It's been like that for years now.

[Farmall450]

Originally Posted by farmall fred

I can believe it. I have a friend who has a Farmall 560D that has well over 8000 hours on it and until a couple of weeks ago it had never had the head off of it or the bottom end apart. He bought it new and has used it on his farm since. A number of years ago he added a M&W turbocharger when he was working a lot of ground with it. He takes very good care of his equipment and services it regularly. He has the engine down as it developed a knock and is getting it rebuilt. I think with proper care and use 5000 hours on a KT-17 is possible.

Farmall inline tractor engine /= Kohler lawnmower engine

Liquid vs aircooled
Meant to last several thousand vs meant to last a thousand

[cubs-n-bxrs]

That sure is a crap load of hours. Really surprised the KT hadn't cashed it's chips in long ago. Earlier this year I bought a JD325 for next to nothing for the ag tires that was on it for my JD 140H3. The machine had 4600 hrs on it and it still ran barely. That thing was flat worn out. It was used to mow a cemetery with. Turned around and sold it for what I paid for it. Free ag tires.

[jbrewer]

Originally Posted by john hall

EBuy a NEW battery, stick it in a Cadet, turn the switch on, and leave it until the battery goes dead. Then we would know once and for all how many hours leaving the switch on can add to the hour-meter. .

Mr Ohm and his law can determine the current thru the coil after measuring the primary resistance in the coil. From there one can make a fair guesstimate of the time it takes to deplete an XXX amp hour battery.

It's going to take a long time on a new battery.

I think it's really cool to see such a neat old engine still chugging away

[sorner]

Originally Posted by cooperino

Well.. simple math here..

365x24 8760 hours per year x 35 years equals 306,600 total hours

5000 hours divided by 35 years is 142 hours per year. Depending on where the machine is and how many acres to be cut... Lets say West Virginia might have 8 months of grass growing season.

142/8 equals roughly 18 hours per month of an 8 month cutting season..
So 4.5 hours per week which would be about 3 acres every week for 8 months.

This is assuming the machine is not used at all in the winter months for snow plowing.

So now the question is to see how close this equation is. How many acres does he really have?


EDIT LOL well for get that math.. just saw 4000 of it was done in 5 years.. Yeah thats a lot of cutting

I was told there’d be no math.

[RLause]

If the engine came to rest with the points open, the coil would not draw current.

[Gompers]

Originally Posted by jbrewer

Mr Ohm and his law can determine the current thru the coil after measuring the primary resistance in the coil. From there one can make a fair guesstimate of the time it takes to deplete an XXX amp hour battery.

It's going to take a long time on a new battery.

I think it's really cool to see such a neat old engine still chugging away

The current will decrease as battery voltage drops though. Also, not sure how much voltage the hour meter needs to run (guessing not very much) or how much current it draws. There's also the resistance of the wires to account for.

Easiest way is to just measure the runtime, but I'm sure if you knew the discharge voltage curve of the battery you could do some calculus and figure it out.

[jbrewer]

Originally Posted by RLause

If the engine came to rest with the points open, the coil would not draw current.

Agree..... it's the luck of the draw.

[ol'George]

If it would of been the regular clock style meter, the induction coil that winds the run spring, only pulls a spark for a split second.
IIRR the wound spring lasts a couple of minutes till the points contact again.
If the area is quiet, one can hear the clock ticking and also the snap when the coil pulls the run spring tight.