Lights Went Out/High Charge?

[topherbarnett]

So I'm fairly sure I have an electrical issue, but I'm too much of a noob to really know what issues to search for. Here's what I know:

-The headlight, tail light, and neutral light all went out when I was running the bike at a pretty high RPM (not sure exactly how high b/c my tach is really slow moving) The left blinkers still work, but the right ones do not come one and the indicator on the cluster stays lit.
-I have a brand new battery fully charged at 12.96V
-I reved the bike up and hit just above 17V at the battery

I guess the questions would be, is 17V too high for the charging system, what else should I check, and is there a separate fuse box for the lighting on a '78 GS550 or did I just blow all my lights?

Thanks for your help and patience while I try to get this hunk of metal back on the road.

-Topher-

[Larry D]

17v is way too high. It should be about 14.3 and steady at 4000 rpm to redline.
Sounds like you have R/R (regulator/rectifier) issues. Not sure, but, your bike may have seperate units. Later models have the R/R as one unit.

Read through the Stator Papers. Get a multimeter.

http://www.thegsresources.com/gs_garage.htm

[BassCliff]

Hi,

Check, clean, repair as necessary, every electrical connection and ground for the entire wiring harness, from headlight bucket to tail light including the fusebox. Your bike will love you for it. Check your fuses. Go through The Stator Papers. It's possible that you'll need a new r/r, blinker relay, headlight, etc. Your voltage output is too high. There should be a manual for your bike on my website, or one that's close enough to help. There's also lots of information about electrical stuff, stator and r/r replacement and testing, etc. Get a multimeter and read up. Go through your "mega-welcome" again. Keep us informed.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[topherbarnett]

So I'm pretty sure I need a new regulator. My R/R is two separate units like Larry mentioned. Do I have to get something specifically designed for my ride or can I go with the universal 12V regulator from Elecrosport found at http://www.electrosport.com/products/product-detail-556.php?

Thanks,
-Topher-

[tkent02]

First go through the tests in the stator papers so you know exactly what is happening before you buy parts, almost always failures are caused by bad wiring and connections first, which directly causes the failures of the other parts.

[Skateguy50]

basically they are saying yes that is your issue but there are other issues that caused it, so if you replace it you will just kill the new one until you get all the wiring cleaned up proper