Damaged battery charging?/ wiring question

[Anonymous]

Hi,
had a problem with my charging system/ battery on my 83 GSX750 (same as GS700 in the US).
The battery is about a year old and all was working fine until a few weeks ago. Then i noticed indicator relay working slower than normal and headlight not getting brighter when i rev from idle, but very bright at high revs (4500 +)
So i check the voltage across the battery and with the engine off its only 11.5v, engine on its not getting above 12v until 4000 rpm+

So,,,, a few quaestions i hope you guys can help with
1. I assume i need a new battery - i put it on charge but it doesnt seem to hold more than 13v for any time at all on an optimate charger
2.Does this sound like the RR is gone? i will go through the checks when i get the new battery but could it just be the batery causing this?
3. I checked the stator resistances and they all seem fine - ditto to check when new battery fitted.
4. I came across a web site that said you should just change the wiring loom connectors to the lights so it goes through the RR - the link is http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/f...electrical.htm is this correct as well? theres no mention of this in the stator papers

nb, i did leave the bike standing (unstarted) for about 3 months over christmas whilst i was driving thorugh africa in a 1984 vw beetle but thats another story!

Cheers all and well done on an excellent site and forum!
Chris

[Anonymous]

Hmmm
ok, so i checked the charging system,,
RR seems fine, all diodes working ok
all connections to & from battery ok
stator all seemed ok until i checked it, at 5000 rpm and it wasnt kicking out anything like 80v, more like 8v. the resistance checks show ok though
So, new stator on order but can anyone advise, should i change the rr as well?
cheers
chris

[duaneage]

Might be a good idea to change the RR unless your willing to take chances.

[Anonymous]

Thanks, i think i'll try and get hold of a honda one off ebay, can't really stretch to a shiny new electrex one right now!
I assume they generally wire up the same 3 stator wires, + and - across the battery, maybe a switched negative too from what i can read on other postings.
Theres on off a CB400 ending today, that should be up to the job?

Does anyone one know about the link i posted that says you should unplug the wiring-stator link? i'm a bit concerned about blowing the whole lot again and if theres a simple wiring mod, i want to do it!

cheers
chris

[duaneage]

Mine is from a 78 CX500 and it fit right on. Bolt holes matched up, had to make the wires a little longer and I tied the black wire into the orange/white +12 volt wire for the rear brake light switch. piece of cake. My Suzuki RR still worked so I sold it on ebay to cover the honda.

The suzuki regs work, just not as good as the hondas. Note, neither suzuki nor honda made regulators, they bought them from different manufacturers, much like automobile companies do.

[Anonymous]

no load?

You could wait till you get the stator in and do the No Load test again.

Did you say the battery and connectors were fine before you tested anything?

[Anonymous]

Hi, yes, all connectors were ok, took stator out and it was pretty blackened.
anyone know if a cbx750 RR will work, theres one on ebay for peanuts, but they had an alternator, so might be slightly different

[luc8421]

I dunno if you've seen this, but there's a brand new suzuki RR on ebay for about $115 shipped.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=2490346985&category=35594&sspagename=WD1V

[tfb]

Hi there 'oldjallopy',

The link you quote re. changing the standard GS stator/reg/rect. wiring, is to my website. So of course I'm going to agree with myself, no surprises there! Please note that I do not say on my website, that you should "just" change the wiring connectors, because the fact is that by the time this is discovered, the stator is usually a cooked mess -- as you have in fact just found out, from what I read above. But if you want to preserve your new stator for any length of time, then you should change the wiring. That is what I said.

Seriously, the old wiring setup is just plain daft, and it IS talked about to some extent in the Stator Papers 'Primer', at http://www.thegsresources.com/garage/gs_statorfacts.htm, about 1/2 way down the page.

What is indisputable from the many people (here on GS Resources and elsewhere) that I have talked to, is that the old wiring set-up, where the third phase from the alternator is wired via the headlight on/off switch, has simply got to go. Any replacement reg./rect. unit you purchase, is absolutely designed to take all three wires directly from the stator, no two ways about it.

But don't take my word for it (yes, this is the inevitable disclaimer); examine the Stator Papers for yourself, talk to the folk at Electrex or your local motorcycle electrician, and take it from there.

Hope you get things sorted, and that it's all back to a healthy level of zap soon!

Mike.

[Anonymous]

Cool!
thanks Mike,. i was getting a bit confused for a while.
I replaced the stator this morning and she's now charging fine, 13.2 v at idle, up to 14.5 at 5k revs
whilst digging around, i checked the wiring loom and couldnt find a link from any of the stator wires to the lights so i was asking if anyone could shed a little light on it.
It appears that my bike has an aftermarket RR anyway since one of the bolt holes doesnt line up but all 3 yellow stator wires go to it but via the wiring loom not directly. I checked the wiring diagram in my handbook and it shows the 3 wires going straight to the RR, maybe they changed it after 83?
I think i'll try and get hold of a CB/ CX or even Fireblade (!) RR cheap on ebay anyway, just for piece of mind.
I'm also gonna rewind the old stator, just to see how much work goes into making a ?50 part!.
Good job its working now as i start a new job on monday that means a 70 mile commute instead of my current 15 mile one, i think i'm gonna need a bit of reliability!
Thanks for the reply and the website!
Chris

[tfb]

No worries Chris, I'm glad you've got it fixed! I know the pain you've been through (as many with GS/GSX motorcycles do ), but getting it sorted out is a sweet thing indeed!

Yes, I'm not sure when the 'old' crazy wiring set-up was phased out (no pun intended), but I'm sure that as soon as Suzuki figured out that everyone's reg./rect. units were frying, they took appropriate action. Designing that wiring was not Suzuki's proudest moment, I'm afraid.

Sounds like someone has attended to the electrics before you got to them, which needn't surprise you. (My bike didn't have its original stator, although it did have the original reg./rect. with 2 cooked diodes.) 14.5 volts sounds excellent to me, although some folks on the GS Resources seem to prefer something like 14.8 volts. But 14.5 will give you all you need.

If you are going to try connecting a reg./rect. from another make of motorcycle, then you will be encountering lots of different conventions of wire colouring, etc. So to escape confusion, it's a good idea to consult the detailed wiring instructions for all types of bike electrics, which you can find on the Electrex USA website. I think it's downloadable as a PDF.

Mike.