Basic Battery Setup GS400 79 model

[Guest]

G'day everyone,

Coming to the end of my first bike 'renovation' and unfortunately some of the original photo's i have taken of the battery setup are too blurry.

I have attached a photo of how it looks now but I am sure i have it all wrong. Just need to be told what goes where please, doesnt matter how basic it is.

Could anyone please tell me how can I set this up. Cant read wiring diagrams (not that smart).

Thankyou very much for your time in advance.

Dave

[Steve]

First of all, we are going to have to do some guessing, as we did not get a 400 here in the USA in '79.
Won't matter much, though, as some of the wiring did not change much from the 400 in '78 to the 425 in '79 and the 450 in '80 and '81.

Another item that will have us guessing is your "renovation", as it looks like you have done just a bit more than "renovate".

Looking at your picture, I will start guessing.

1. You will need to connect the negative terminal (the black one) of the battery to the chassis.
2. That large black wire on the right side of the starter solenoid will connect to the positive terminal (the red one) of the battery.
3. The other large black wire (the one on the left side of the solenoid) will connect to the starter motor.
4. There are two red wires also attached to the right terminal of the solenoid. One of them will connect to the output wire of the R/R (rectifier/regulator), the other will feed the single fuse that will feed the rest of the bike.
5. There are two smaller terminals on the solenoid. One of them appears to have a blue ring terminal on it. That one can be connected to the starter button, the other one should have a jumper wire to ground (earth), one of the mounting bolts should work just fine.

That should get you started, let us know if you need any more details.

.

[tom203]

Hard to tell, but those battery terminal colors lead me to believe you are attempting a positive ground hookup. You want the solenoid to be controlling the 12 volt positive to starter - negative battery terminal should be earthed unless you have fond memories of English auto electrics.

[bowgen]

Thankyou Steve and Tom for your prompt reply.

Tom, it is a little messy and I have just splayed the wires out so everyone can see whats happeneing. To be honest, i have no idea of the setup, so thanks.

Steve, very much appreciate your basic (but very needed) reply. I am not letting my pride take over. Just wanted to get it right. I will check out and apply these and let you know how i go.

I have a basic yes or no question tough. The Solenoid here in the picture can with the bike but i also have a smaller one, could i use that or not???

Thanks again men.

Dave

[Steve]

Smaller solenoid will probably work.

Does it have three or four terminals?

.

[bowgen]

Steve, here's another photo

[Steve]

That looks like a stock Suzuki solenoid.

One large terminal to the battery, the other to the starter.

The terminal with the yellow/green wire attached goes to the starter button (it's already the right color ).

.

[bowgen]

Great stuff, your a champ.

Just wired everything up as you mentioned, turned ignition on and blew a fuse.

I will double check things. What should be the next step Steve if everything is wired up properly please mate??

Your help is appreciated believe me.

Thanks again.

Dave

[tom203]

It's a matter of disconnecting connections to find the source of overload. Does this bike have just one fuse (size?) ? I assume this is a kickstart only bike- does it have a magneto style ignition (starts/runs without battery)?

[bowgen]

Thanks for your reply.

It has two fuses. One to the ignition and I think that was 30 amp (isnt that huge?) and the other goes to the starter motor and the same amp.

It has a kick starter and a push button. I did a little test before I disassembled the bike by starting the bike and letting it idle for awhile and then taking off the cable from the battery terminal and it stopped immediately.

Is there anyway to bypass the whole lot and just use the kickstarter???

Thankyou again everyone for your help.

It is still blowing fuses.

Sorry for all the questions too.

Will post photo's of bike when its complete. I like it.

Dave