HDS2135 12HP Kohler-Battery Charging light indicator on panel comes on when mower ON

Hi again,

Well after getting my 2 year saga of fuel delivery straightened out, I rolled the Cub out to mow last evening, turned the key and NOTHING, not even a 'Click'.

Now I know batteries die but this is only the 2nd year on this battery and I've been getting the full 3 years fairly consistently with any replacement battery.



I was able to get 'er running with my handy 12 volt charger, but the thing I noticed that leads me to post a question is: Whenever I would engage the mower pull-switch the Battery Charge fault light on the front panel would come ON. As soon as I disengaged the mower, it would go OFF...

So, I'm wondering now, if instead of a dead battery, am I actually dealing with a faulty charging system. I can't say I've every noticed the Battery Charge fault light come on before when I would jump a dead battery.



So my questions are (and Packardv8, I sure hope your stopping in occasionally and see this post...)

1. What do I need to do before buying a new battery?

2. I thought I could test the charging output to the battery with a voltmeter but what kind do you need and what scales do you use besides 12v DC?

I have one of those little Radio Shack pocket voltmeters, if that would work

3. Also thought about pulling the battery and having Advance Auto do a load test on it to see if it was bad or not - at this point I'm suspecting the battery is not bad but that whatever charging electronic-gizmo Cub Cadet uses between the flywheel voltage regulator and the battery might need replaced.



Thanks for your help

greynold99