Extra grounds

[wymple]

So, as I'm now the owner of a 1981 GS850G, I need to cover the bases on known problems. The stator woes can be lessened by running better grounding, I am told. So, where are the optimum spots to put extra grounds?
I would not want to be a few hundred miles from home with a dead bike knowing I should have taken this simple precaution!

[GSX1000E]

I typically add a ground from behind the solenoid to the battery, one from the battery to under the front battery tray mount and another from the regulator to the rear battery mount.
I clean the paint off the frame and use external star washers sandwiched under the battery mounts. All of my bikes have no other modifications to the factory charging system.

[posplayr]

See high performance grounding

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=140109&highlight=high+performance+grounding

[wymple]

Thanks guys

[850 Combat]

I typically add a ground from behind the solenoid to the battery, one from the battery to under the front battery tray mount and another from the regulator to the rear battery mount.
I clean the paint off the frame and use external star washers sandwiched under the battery mounts. All of my bikes have no other modifications to the factory charging system.

Pretty much what I've been doing too. I also like to hard wire (solder and shrink) the stator wires to the R/R wires. I also have been going to Honda (Shindengen) R/Rs. In future, I will begin to upgrade those to the more modern type, although I have had zero problems with the Honda units.

[tfb]

I also like to hard wire (solder and shrink) the stator wires to the R/R wires.

I'll second that. The 'bullet' connectors are OK when clean and new, but after a few years you get problems. In fact I've removed as many of the old connectors as I reasonably can from the wiring looms of my bikes... soldered joints (with the heat-shrink wrapping) are trouble-free.

[GSX1000E]

I have also been replacing the factory battery to engine ground with new cable and star washers as the 30+ YO wire tends to be corroded and has too much resistance. Just more "insurance"

[Cassius086]

A question:

After reading thru the old "Ground Loops" thread, and the "High Performance Grounding" thread, I somewhat understand the need for separate grounds, etc, but what gauge wire should be used for the R/R mount to frame ground strap & for the Bat (-) to R/R mount? 8? 10? 12?

[Steve]

12 gauge would probably work just fine, but I would probably use 10.

.

[Cassius086]

Here is my planned grounding set up, based on what I have read:

1.) R/R (-) lead to an R/R mounting point.
2.) R/R mounting point to a frame ground.
3.) Battery (-) to R/R mounting point.
4.) Battery (-) ground strap to engine.
5.) B/W ring lug from harness to front battery box mount
6.) B/W ring lug to starter solenoid ground.

Am I missing something? Anything that should be changed or omitted?

[GSX1000E]

I did leave out a few details as I kind of thought that it went without saying... I also chase all threads, take a fine wire wheel to all used bolts, add penetrating oil or dielectric grease to threads, use new SS bolts, etc.

[Cassius086]

I have been chasing threads and replacing factory bolts with stainless cap head bolts as I go along (anti seize applied before install, of course).

[Rob S.]

Thanks, GSX1000e

I've copied and pasted your three posts on grounding. They're not copyrighted, are they?

[posplayr]

Here is my planned grounding set up, based on what I have read:

14 ga 1.) R/R (-) lead to an R/R mounting point.
2.) 16 ga R/R mounting point to a frame ground.
16 ga 3.) Battery (-) to R/R mounting point.
4.) Battery (-) ground strap to engine. OEM/STOCK
16ga5.) B/W ring lug from harness to front battery box mount This is superfluous but doesn't hurt anything
6.)16 ga B/W ring lug to starter R/R Mounting point (solenoid ground).

Am I missing something? Anything that should be changed or omitted?

Read this thread. It is pretty straight forward describing Single Point Grounding (SPG) applied to your GS. The grounds only need to be 16 ga although the R/R(-) from the SPG should be 14 ga.

The big wire from engine case to battery(-) is either 8 ga or 10 ga and excluded from the list.

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=220690

Here is a detailed power and grounding analysis if you install a SSPB. The ground side uses a Single Point ground strategy which doesn't require the SSPB and would apply to your situation. You can see that the SSPB basically implements power distribution in an analogous way to how single point grounds operate on the negative side.

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showpost.php?p=1965992&postcount=4

Note on wire sizes you can always go bigger, so size shown are maximum ga size (or minimum diameters)