[adh72]

Question #1: Does anyone know how much amperage an electric pto on a 200 series draws? Already looked at the parts site and did not find anything. I know the stator is rated for 15 amps but I am unsure what the total draw of the engine and charging system is.

The reason I am asking is I want to hook up 3 auxiliary lights (2 Front/1 Back) to the mower for early morning/evening snow plowing. I figure since the pto will be off during this time I can dedicate what it consumes to the lights without the risk of running the battery down.

Question #2: Should I even be concerned about this or is it not an issue?

 

[mikeemc]

I'm not sure but the , My 212 is lever enguaged and the lift is electric. the lift operates only a few seconds , so lights would be on all the time for your use. Most are outfitted with 15amp stators so LED lighting would be the way to go. Very little amp draw.

 

[adh72]

Mikeemc: Thanks for the response. I've considered it but my experience with LED lights is that they are pretty dim. I would hate to buy them and find out they aren't enough for what I want to do.

Re-reading my question I think I can make it more clear. How many of those 15 amps do the ignition and charging systems use?

 

[mikeemc]

It doesn't take much to run the coil. the load would be on the lighting system , it should run 2 55watt lamps with out much drain on the battery.

BTW the 212 takes a car battery so you can get some good power storage and have lots of amps to spare. I put a 750 amp hour battery in mine.

 

[adh72]

Thanks again. Mine has a 640 amp hour battery on it right now.

Looking at the math behind it: 55w lights draw at most 4.6 amps each (55 watts/12volts) This could be lower depending on what voltage the stator is putting out it could be lower. Factory light bar has 3-27 watt GE1156 bulbs which together draw no more than 6.75 amps.

It looks like I have a couple viable options:

1. Run 3 lights like I originally wanted to leaving the factory headlights off. (13.8 Amps)
2. Run 2 lights, replace the factory bulbs with LED bulbs and run a LED light on the back. roughly the same draw as #1 and about the same price if you source the LED's from ebay. Which may not be a great idea.

I will have to think about this a little more.