if you are not familiar with electrical safety, take this to a repair shop. Start the engine. Attach a volt meter to the battery. Increase the engine rpm and observe the voltage. Voltage to the battery should increase to about 13.5 - 14 volts. If you observe the voltage mentioned, the charging system is working.

It is also important to find out if there is discharge when the mower is turned off. With the engine turned off, attach an amp meter in series with the small charging wire that is connected to the battery positive post. Observe the amp meter for discharge. A clamp on meter with DC amperage capability can also be used on the small charging wire.

There are more checks that should be performed to verify the condition of the electrical system. Most small engine alternators are located under the engine flywheel.

This will follow up, for those using the site to diagnose. I did as Blue mentioned and measured voltage running. The battery charged for about 4 minutes from cold startup and then stopped charging; not sure at all why. I bought and installed a new alternator, and that fixed the problem, from appearances. I could spot no obvious damage on the old alternator. Thanks, Blue, for your assist.

The art of Jobbers starter or alternator and generator rewinders is long gone lol . If you looked closely to the armature winding you may have seen a few dark or black spots were the winding were burnt out . In automotive scenerios often it would feel quite warm since they heat is when they begin to fail , hard to use this in your application since close proxcimatey to engine heat . A buddy of mine does some rewinding as a Hobby , learnt it from his Grandfather !