Help please Acto rider 28H

[jonnybikes]

Good afternoon new here, have problem i cannot solve , I need help
Now pulling out hair (whats left of it)
Foolishly left ignition key on and drained battery flat
Jumped with another battery but all that is heard is solenoid tapping
Checked solenoid, when shorted, mower starts, so not solenoid
Check ALL connections but solenoid still taps when all connected
Any ideas ?
Thanking you in advance

[Mick]

Hi jonnybikes, and welcome to TGMF

Normally when the solenoid jumps in and out rapidly like a machine gun it's down to a battery which is down on power, or a bad connection or earth.

If the battery is low, as soon as you turn the key and the solenoid switches the starter motor on the motor absorbs most of the power and there's not sufficient power left to hold the solenoid in. So the solenoid goes into a loop jumping in and out. This can happen even if there enough power to turn the engine by shorting across the solenoid.

So make sure the battery is good, and check the terminals and earth connection either where it bolts to the chassis, or directly on the engine, just follow the negative lead and see where it bolts to. 

[jonnybikes]

Thank you so much for your reply
Have used my fully charged van battery , checked all connections but solenoid still sounds like machine gun
best wishes
Jon

[jonnybikes]

Update
Charged mower battery overnight
Old fashioned charger not automatic
Mower started this morning despite being jumped yesterday with fully charged battery

[Mick]

Jon, glad to hear that. 

I'm also a fan of the old style battery chargers, they will at least try to charge a dead battery.  Whereas the modern digital or smart chargers just switch off when they detect something they don't like.