Rectifier rewiring blunder

[diegos_den87]

hey all, the name's jake, long time forum observer, first time posting, as thus far all gs issues I've had have been pretty generic and easily routed simply by sifting through the forums(great stuff!) but I've pulled a pretty unique bonehead move this time. I should start by letting you know I have a 79 gs750L. I recently burned up my rectifier while riding. I was stranded and resorted to pulling out the rat's nest of wires rear of the battery, and found that by bypassing the rectifier, I stopped blowing fuses and was able to ride it home. I ordered and recieved a new rectifier(Electrosport), and now I can't recall exactly how it was wired before. I have my main ignition line connected to an insulated red wire connected to the fusebox, how does the red wire from the rectifier tie in here? I would really appreciate any help, thank you for your time.

[Suzuki_Don]

WELCOME, first of all it would help if we knew how many wires your rectifier has and what colours they are.

Generally there are three wires that go to the alternator/generator which has AC current coming from it to the rectifier. The rectifier then rectifies the AC to DC and also regulates it to the correct charging voltage required to keep the battery fully charged.

Apart from the three wires already mentioned there will be another two wires at least. One will join to the red wire in the harness to charge the battery (usually red coming from rectifier) and the other wire is a ground wire, usually green. This wire earths to one of the rectifier mounting bolts and then tees off to go to the "-ve" battery post.

Some rectifiers also have a sixth wire, which is a sense wire to detect battery voltage within the wiring harness and controls the amount the rectifier charges the battery.

Hope this helps.

[BassCliff]

Greetings and Salutations!!

Hi Mr. diegos_den87,

Here's a diagram we use when installing a later-model Honda r/r unit on our bikes. If yours has only 5 wires then disregard the 6th wire connecting to the brake line.



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[chuck hahn]

So..in Cliffs diagram what color is the wire that goes to the brake light switch..am i reading it as black? Then the green goes to any frame ground..correct?

[tom203]

So..in Cliffs diagram what color is the wire that goes to the brake light switch..am i reading it as black? Then the green goes to any frame ground..correct?

I'd run the green to a good ground and make sure this ground has good contact to battery negative. The sense wire to brake light switch is probably black- but I have some that use a brown sense wire. The sense wire will be smaller gauge in any case.

[chuck hahn]

I just want to double check how i rehooked the wires up after i did the frame off clean up on my 78 1000 C. I took it for a long ride today and stopped to get my lotto tickets. When i came out, the bike cranked really poorly. I had riden maybe 40 or 50 miles at this point. Rustybronco wired it in originally and it was perfect all last summer, so i think i may have not gotten something right here. I will also double check that the grounding is good..may have to scrape a bit if paint from a spot to be sure its all grounded well. I am primarily concrned with where the black or (as some had mentioned) brown wire goes..

[chuck hahn]

Tom..sense wire..what color is it?

[chuck hahn]

Ok i have been in the searches and i think Chef cleared up my questions.
So the stator hooks to the 3 yellows from the r/r
Green to the mouting screw AND piggy backed to the (-) battery terminal
Black is the "sense" wire and that goes to the (-) batt also..OR any switched curcuit..hook in the negative leg of the circuit.
Red goes to the (+) battery terminal with a fused 15 amp link...Do i got this right now?

[tom203]

Ok i have been in the searches and i think Chef cleared up my questions.
So the stator hooks to the 3 yellows from the r/r
Green to the mouting screw AND piggy backed to the (-) battery terminal
Black is the "sense" wire and that goes to the (-) batt also..OR any switched curcuit..hook in the negative leg of the circuit.
Red goes to the (+) battery terminal with a fused 15 amp link...Do i got this right now?

No, the sense wire ( no matter what color) goes to a positive switch source like rear brake switch. When ignition is on the brake light switch gets power, but it doesn't feed the brake light till you apply the brakes. The sense wire needs to "sense" the positive side of the battery to help the R/R decide what to do.

[chuck hahn]

Thanks Tom..that makes ( pardon the pun ) SENSE now..

[tom203]

Thanks Tom..that makes ( pardon the pun ) SENSE now..

While I'm here; if the red wire from R/R is going direct to battery (not into harness) , you might want to up fuse size to 20 amp, in case you turn your signals on while your ipad is charging.

[chuck hahn]

I dont use any gadfgets when riding..just me and the wind. I got the Duaneage R/R.. Likem said..dale wired itm in and it was perfect al last summer. I may have hooked something up wrong when i did the frame off clean up this winter..dont know but i still got a lot of learning to do as far as electrical and carbs go. I thank you for the Sense wire clarification.

[tom203]

I dont use any gadfgets when riding..just me and the wind. I got the Duaneage R/R.. Likem said..dale wired itm in and it was perfect al last summer. I may have hooked something up wrong when i did the frame off clean up this winter..dont know but i still got a lot of learning to do as far as electrical and carbs go. I thank you for the Sense wire clarification.

No gadfgets! me neither,but that 15 amp fuse is just about at its limit. Figure 7 amps for ignition, 6 amps for lighting and you might just hear the wind stop.

[chuck hahn]

LMAO..I was planning on fuseing it anyways..One thing you never wanna hear is the wind stop!!!!