Honda R/R wiring advice please...

[Guest]

I've gone through the steps to check the stator and r/r, and have exhaustively going through the wiring and connections, as well as follow the advice to eliminate the unnecessary staor wiring through the harness and now it's wired direct to the r/r. Ground is to battery negative post, and power output is direct to batt positive with inline fuse. After all that I checked the charging voltage and it read 15.7 at idle and climbing. I went through the r/r testing chart from stator papers and determined that I have a bad diode.

I ordered a eBay r/r for Honda GL110, a Shindengen SH538, which is compatible according to Mr. Matchless's awesome chart. Here's what it looks like:

http://www.stockers.com/product_pics/s1002gla.jpg

When this arrives I would like to be confident I'm hooking it up properly, so I'm looking for confirmation that the 2 reds be twisted together and terminated, as well as the black and green. The 3 yellows go to the stator, and the remaining is the sense wire that connects to a switched 12v like the brake light, but I think I'll use the spare terminal on my fuse block.

Does that sound right?

[BassCliff]

Hi,

At one time I had both red wires twisted together and connected into the harness (through the fusebox to the battery/solenoid) as per stock wiring. Then I decided to split the red wires. I still have one connected as in the stock wiring and the other is fused and connected directly to the positive battery terminal. I get consistant charging this way.

The other connections you discuss will work just fine.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[cableguy]

Thanks for the advice and if it arrives monday as predicted I should be set.

[dueller]

Man that is a SHARP bike! I want to paint mine that color blue someday. It's all rat rod black at the moment (bought that way).....

[spyug]

There are 2 reds and 2 greens (grounds) and a black sense wire. Wire the reds together but for the greens I put one into the ground lead in the wiring harness and the other I wired directly to the negative terminal on the battery. The sense wire I connected (temporarily) to the positive battery terminal.

She now charges at a rock steady 14.9 from about 3000 rpm and up and drops to around 13v at idle.I should have done this mod years ago.

Good luck with it.

Spyug

[cableguy]

Is splitting the grounds better than just connecting both to battery negative?

Dueller- thanks! it's Duplicolor "indigo blue". Silver decals from eBay. Need to redo the clearcoat but it's good enough for now.

[spyug]

Is splitting the grounds better than just connecting both to battery negative?

Somewhere in all the detail on the R/Rs I'm sure I read that it is best to ground through the harness and also directly to the battery. I don't recall the exact reasoning but it made sense to me at the time I read it and I just followed the advice.

Its along the lines of the stock R/R mod that is always recommended i.e. running a second line from the R/R mounting bolts to the battery negative battery pole.

I suppose the doubling up of the grounds and attaching directly to the negative pole wouldn't hurt. What you might try is doing it that way and taking a reading at say 3000 rpm, then trying it the other way to see if there is any difference. I'd be interesting in hearing if there is.

One thing I did note by accident today is that if the sense wire isn't attached, the R/R likely may overcharge, at least that's what occured on my project 550 when I found I had somehow attached the sense to the negative battery pole by mistake.

Good luck with it and let us know how you do it and what you get for voltages.

cheers,
Spyug

[duaneage]

It's best to ground to the frame. All electrical parts reference the frame and draw from it.

[cableguy]

It's best to ground to the frame. All electrical parts reference the frame and draw from it.

Sounds logical. One will go to frame and the other will go to negative battery.Does it matter much where the sense wire goes? My original r/r didn't have one. I have a spare screw terminal on my fuse block, but the common place seems to be the brake light wire upstream of the pedal switch. What are your thoughts?

[Steve]

One thing I did note by accident today is that if the sense wire isn't attached, the R/R likely may overcharge, at least that's what occured on my project 550 when I found I had somehow attached the sense to the negative battery pole by mistake.

Does it matter much where the sense wire goes? My original r/r didn't have one. I have a spare screw terminal on my fuse block, but the common place seems to be the brake light wire upstream of the pedal switch. What are your thoughts?

The "sense" wire is there to provide feedback to the regulation circuits to control their output. Within the capabilities of the alternator, the regulator will do its best to get the sense wire to the designed voltage. If you connect the sense wire to the negative terminal, it's going to be a while before the sense wire sees anything close to 14 (or so) volts there. Same thing if you just leave it hanging freely.

As you mentioned, one of the favorite places is either the feed to the brake line or the tail light wire. The advantage here is that both of these lines are switched by the ignition key. There is a chance for some internal leakage in the regulator, and it might discharge the battery a bit if the sense wire is connected full-time.

Wherever you decide to connect your sense wire, measure the voltage there and compare it to the battery voltage. If you have dirty connections in the fusebox or other connectors, your tail light might be getting only 12 volts, while the battery is getting 14. Since the sense wire is connected to the tail light wire, it is going to turn up the regulator until it "sees" 14 volts on the tail light wire, meaning it's going to have 16 volts at the battery.

If you have done the "coil relay mod", the wire that goes from the relay to the coils is a perfect place for the sense wire, as it is electrically close to the battery, and will have all-new, fresh connections.

.

[Suzuki_Don]

I have found the best solution for the sense wire is to be have it connected directly to the Batt "+" and any leakage that occurs is covered for by the battery tender that keeps the battery at around 13v at all times. I have attached my sense wire to the live side of the solenoid.

[Hoosier Daddy]

Interesting info here, and some key search terms for my future use. Just posting to bookmark. Nothing to see here folks, keep moving...

[bakalorz]

Sounds logical. One will go to frame and the other will go to negative battery.Does it matter much where the sense wire goes? My original r/r didn't have one. I have a spare screw terminal on my fuse block, but the common place seems to be the brake light wire upstream of the pedal switch. What are your thoughts?

FWIW the spare terminal on the fusebox is NOT a switched terminal on my 650 ... it is constant on, thus not suitable.

[cableguy]

Thank you I wasnt aware of that ( although I certainly would have checked). I'll find a good low voltage drop spot.

[duaneage]

When I sold RR replacement kits I used male and female connectors on the sense wire in a Y so the rear brake light switch could be tapped at the orange lead. It was in a good place and nothing had to be spliced, soldered or cut.

If you have low voltage all around the bike as a result of dirty switches buy a can of contact cleaner and perform some maintenance. I've always considered the Coil Relay Mod a band-aid for other problems.