Cleaning up underseat wiring. Stator Loop?

[Downs]

It's tight up against the fuse box. The only way for it to rotate at all would be for the other screw on the fuseblock to fall out. Because of this threadlocker has been applied to both screws. And since this is a new install ill be keeping a close eye on it.

Any other mounting spot on the electrical panel would have required relocation of either the starter solenoid or fuse block. Moving the flasher relay around didnt give me enough space.

[Steedracer]

Correct. The original charging system was sized so that the output of one stataor leg would power the bike, one leg would power the headlight and the third leg would charge the battery and handle any surges, like brake light and turn signals. When you turned the headlight OFF, the shunt-style R/R was forced to spend a lot more time in shunt mode, which would overheat the stator. By disconnecting one leg of the stator when the headlight was OFF, it minimized the overload through the stator.

Just as a side note: I think the 650L that my son owned may have been one of the very first '82s off the line, and still had an '81 switch assembly on it. The switch was there, but it was blocked off internally so it would not move. I removed the block, which restored proper function to the switch. Because the switch was there, the stator loop was routed through it. I found it interesting that voltage at idle was just a bit higher with the headlight ON than it was with it OFF. Evidently the one stator loop puts out just a little bit more than the headlight requires, so it raises the voltage and charges the battery just a bit better.

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Steve, just a quick question on the headlight switch loop. On my 1980 GS1100LT, I’ve got the headlight loop (no switch; my headlight is always on). If I simply plug the stator lead that goes to “the loop” into the R/R, do I need to do anything else (like tape off the now un-used terminals, the G/W going out and the w/r coming back in to the R/R)? I’m pretty sure I have a bad R/R and will be ordering a compufire series. I have spent a lot of time reading threads, stator papers, quick tests, etc. I do need to do some more testing. Thanks for answering the question about what is needed when bypassing the headlight switch loop.

[Steve]

If I simply plug the stator lead that goes to “the loop” into the R/R, do I need to do anything else (like tape off the now un-used terminals, the G/W going out and the w/r coming back in to the R/R)?

No need to do anything with either of those wires.
They are simply a few ounces of dead weight that have no electricity running through them.

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