Wiring harness

[Steve]

At the very least, click HERE to get one of the best wiring diagrams for an 850. It has the easiest-to-read color schemes. Yes, it is for an '80 850G, but all the colors are the same. Might be a few detail differences, like the aforementioned 3-pin connector at the tail light, but I'm sure you will be able to figure it out.

Just in case you have not yet been give the keys to the "library", click HERE.

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[BadMonk]

Just opened the wiring diagram and ... OOOHHH COLORS ... NICE!! It even has a little magnifier thingy. Excellent for old eyes. Thanks!

Oh yeah, I got a set of library keys. Lots of good reference material. I can't imagine the amount of time, energy and work to put all that together. I'm grateful. If it weren't for things like that I'd probably have given up a while ago. But no...now I keep plugging along. (My last work of art - haha - was a Kawi ZN1100. The electrics went due south and it was a real journey. That's why I was looking for the easy way out with a new harness. I wanted to roll that bike off a cliff but it didn't start so I couldn't even make it to the cliff.)

[Steve]

Just opened the wiring diagram and ... OOOHHH COLORS ... NICE!! It even has a little magnifier thingy.

That is probably my favorite wiring diagram for a GS. Other models or years will have some differences, but all the colors are pretty much the same.

As an example, the 1100 harness you are considering will have a bunch of extra wires going to the instrument panel. There is what amounts to a computer there that controls the warning lights. Those wires only exist on the 1100 and its little brother 750, but no other model that I know of .
- Starting in '82 on bikes 650 and larger, there is a warning light for the side stand. Those wires are not shown on this diagram, but they are relatively easy to identify.
- Bikes smaller than 850 do not have auto-cancel turn signals, so the few wires that are shown on this diagram will not be found on those bikes.
- I think it was in '81 that some of the larger bikes started coming with dual-intensity bulbs in the front turn signals for use as marker or running lights. Those are not shown in this diagram.

Many other differences in equipment, but the colors for particular functions are all the same, so you can be assured that any time you see a yellow wire with a green stripe, it goes from the starter button to the solenoid.

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[BadMonk]

That diagram in color will be handy to have. Although I didn't want to do it, I'm going to give the original harness a try. It's not been hacked and corrosion, from what I can tell at this point, isn't too bad. I'll be in a better position about what to do after a good cleaning.

I ordered an updated (Honda) R/R from Duane B. on the forum. The other core contacts like the battery and stator are surprisingly decent. (Same with the fasteners on this bike. They all came out easily. None were stripped, rounded, drilled, etc. unlike other vintage bikes that I worked on.) At this point in time, it's probably the least intensive option. And if it doesn't work out for whatever reason, I can then try adapting another harness...whether it's another 850GL harness, 1100E harness or something.

My last bike started this way then went to a complete rewire journey...ugh. Now, the 850 wiring is a dream compared to the '84 Kawi ZN1100 where the engineers went bonkers when formulating that system. So, I'll re-read #11 above and give it a shot. Thanks guys.

[nastyjones]

You could rewire the bike yourself. This is the easiest explanation I've ever seen on how to rewire your bike.

http://www.bikeexif.com/motorcycle-wiring

[GS1150Pilot]

Along with the above post, Dime City and a few others offer basic Sparck Moto harnesses that can be tailored to your specific needs for around $200.

[BadMonk]

As I mentioned, I've done complete rewiring on other bikes and not doing it on this one. The easy bare bones diagrams can be cheesy, in my opinion, and lead one down a rabbit hole if you're as good with electrics as I am. (Sarcasm) Sparck Moto is more like $300 for a complete harness that mimics OEM.

[posplayr]

You could rewire the bike yourself. This is the easiest explanation I've ever seen on how to rewire your bike.

http://www.bikeexif.com/motorcycle-wiring

I commented on that "Guide" about two years ago. Look for solidstatepowerbox.com

This write-up represents a noble effort to give the reader enough information to feel confident with the undertaking. There are a lot of simplifications here, which may or may not be what you really need. For example, the author describes a harness design with a single "back bone" that means a single fused circuit. While the older bikes pre 1980 many times came with a single fuse, most UJM's post 1979 had at least 4 fuse circuits (SIGNAL,HEADLAMP,IGN, Accessory). In fact the m-Unit identified would provide all of these circuits and is designed specifically to not design as the author has described. There doesn't seem to be any notions for installing the m-unit in the article so the mention of that product here is strictly for window dressing. The m-Unit is specifically designed to avoid wiring the bike as described.
One other dangerous omission of the article is the recommendation to hook the R/R directly across the battery without a fuse. This is a serious error!!! In the event the R/R were to short out you would have the very real probability of a fire.
I should also mention something that perhaps may not be completely clear to the readers, that is that the author actually described both field controlled charging systems as was originally installed on the bike shown and then also recommended a change to an after-market Permanent Magnet (PM) style (non field controlled ) alternator. The Ricks R/R was for the aftermarket PM style alternator only.
If you choose to use a PM style alternator (either as OEM or an aftermarket unit), I would STRONGLY recommend a Series type R/R (such as the SH-775, Compufire CF55402 or one of the CycleElectric 600 series models. With a web search you should be able to find a variety of discussions on Series v.s. Shunt in many of the popular motorcycle forums. The GS Resources is one of them. Unless I'm mistaken, the Ricks unit shown is a Shunt R/R which has been the bane of 95% of the motorcycle world for decades. Some SHUNT units are better than others (in particular the SH541 regulator with voltage sensing) but the Series models leave them all in the past behind. (see GS Stator in the signature of posplayr at the GSR).