making sure I understand the stator, R/R, and ignitor

[Anonymous]

I'm planning on making a trip up to the bike parts dealer tomorrow morning to pick up a replacement ignitor for my 450. Before I do tho, I just want to make sure I understand how everything works first. Yes, I did search, but would like to clarify a couple points.

First, a background. 82 GS450L. Lights start flickering with RPM, seems to run OK still. Get on freeway, wind out in 2nd gear, bike dies. Almost restarts with a massive backfire. Find blown low beam and taillight (high beam and brakelight fine). I'm about to go out to the garage to test things one more time, but it appears that the R/R failed, allowing too much voltage to go the ignitor, killing it. Perhaps it's also passing AC voltage.

Now, if I understand this correctly, the ignition is dependant on battery voltage to start and run the bike. As such, I can disconnect the stator and R/R from the system, and the bike will still run, correct? Or in other words, a bad stator or R/R should not directly cause a no-start/no run condition. As the crank turns, it passes magnets by the signal generators, which run a signal to the ignitor. Ignitor uses this signal to send a bigger signal to the coils, which fires off the spark plugs.

I can test the ignitor by disconnecting the signal generators, and using the leads from my multimeter, attach one lead to each wire going to the ignitor. When I remove the negative lead, the plug should fire.

Now, given the blown bulbs, and the no start condition, it's a fairly safe assumption that excessive voltage killed the ignitor, and the coils should be OK.

My plan is to pick up an ignitor and replacement R/R. If it turns out to be something else, I figure those are good spares to have on hand regardless.

Oh yeah, and any R/R with 3 yellow wires and a red wire should work, right?

[focus frenzy]

first, the signal generators generate a low voltage pulse that the igniter uses to trigger the coils, the igniter controls the ground side of the coils.
the coils have constant 12+ volts on them all the time the key is on, this allows current to build up in the coils.
if you had a voltage spike high enough to blow out the lights, the igniter box is toast.

now for the bad news, there is a 99.995% chance you won't be picking up a thing at the dealer, it would be beyond good luck if they had any of the parts. (unless you already ordered it)

[Anonymous]

when I say dealer, I mean used parts yard. I know the guy that runs the place, and I've already called them up. He's fairly certain he has one, tho I have to go search his bins of parts. He hasn't failed me yet, so I really doubt this will be a wasted trip.

[rustybronco]

Hello eric? I don't know about the ignitor i have not had any experence with one yet so my advice is to search this board and see what you come up with. I do have some have experence with R/R and in my opinion you my use ANY R/R that is for a larger size bike (750-1300 cc) that has 3 wire input from the stator and has a red output wire(these are grounded through the R/R case ) you should get at least a 5 wire R/R some R/R come with a sixth wire that is a voltage sense line hooked up to a circuit that is hot when the key is on.
I have a shendengen sh530-12k on my gs850gz that is a six wire R/R from a kawaski (am i allowed to swear ?) I didn't hook up the brown sixth wire and it works perfect! what i would look for is a R/R 3-4 times larger is size than what was on the bike that has a 3 wire input and at least a black and a red output, when you get to working on your bike make sure ALL connections are C L E A N and tight. you may have to lengthen the wires or change the terminals but it should work, a sh232 from a honda (there i go again) seems to be a popular upgrade regulator, Check the stator papers on this sight on checking your charging system also Electrex has a site that you can read up on diagnosing the charging system it shows you how to check you stator for voltage output, and resistance of the coils (to each other and to ground) also it will show you how check the R/R with it off the bike so one may check a R/R at the previously enjoyed motorcycle resting home. Do not replace you regulator without checking the rest of the charging system FIRST.
Dale