Barn Find Craftsman With Critters.....Charging question

[Dan693 510]

Free Craftsman tractor I stumbled on while inspecting a rental I have. Has the complete bagger with it.

The guy had it tarped tight as a drum for 2 years but when uncovering it a huge possum ran out.Those suckers had packed at least 3 trash bags of leaves and pine needles under the tarp and all in the tractor. We got the bulk of it off enough to free it up and get it on the trailer.

I rolled it in my shop when home and it sat for about 6 hours. I rolled it back out after that and ANOTHER huge possum came running out. It was nested up in there for the 10 mile ride home and 6 hours in my shop. My apologies to my neighbor who now has a new possum.

 

Question.....I went over the tractor front to back and it runs great. The guy did say it wasnt charging. I put a volt meter on it and it read 12.15 volts.

What should it read when its properly charging?

 

BTW its a Kohler 15 HP CV15S engine..

 

 

[ebinmaine 63,119]

I have no idea what the charging answer is but I just wanted to say that I think it's a good neighbor who can share his possums with other neighbors.

[Digger 66 3,476]

5 minutes ago, Dan693 said:

I put a volt meter on it and it read 12.15 volts.

 

I'll say around 14 v .

Not sure specifically to the small engine world but it is the norm for all other things I wrench .

 

Of that Opossum !

[953 nut 51,673]

2 hours ago, Dan693 said:

I rolled it in my shop when home and it sat for about 6 hours. I rolled it back out after that and ANOTHER huge possum came running out.

I learned that lesson several years ago, nothing goes into my shop until the engine tins and any other cavity has been rid of critters. Don't want to be cornered by a POed Possum, or for that matter even a mouse, hornet, snake, wasp or any other critter is unwelcome in my shop.

[wallfish 15,919]

On the bright side, the Possum will eat a bunch of ticks.

https://www.healthnutnews.com/know-possums-eat-almost-yard-ticks/

[953 nut 51,673]

8 minutes ago, wallfish said:

On the bright side, the Possum will eat a bunch of ticks.

https://www.healthnutnews.com/know-possums-eat-almost-yard-ticks/

Skunks will eat a bunch of yellow jackets, but I don't want them in my shop either!

Skunks are not usually animals you care to have wandering around your property, they can be beneficial when it comes to routing out nests of yellow jackets.

[ohiofarmer 3,157]

To get a better view on whether or not it is charging, Take a battery reading after the tractor has sat overnight.  Then take a reading with the key on. Then startthe tractor and take another reading.  It  just might be that the battery is about gone and will not take a charge. !2.15 is really weak for a resting battery.

 

   Never assume that a battery that isn't taking charge has a bad alternator. Dirty terminals or a poor ground need to be eliminated first..