GS1100ES Battery indicator

[hearnold1983GS]

I'm thinking of buying a 1983 GS1100ES, but the battery indicator light stays on all the time. I was told that it has a new battery, but that the battery is a Wal-Mart brand band and not the factory installed one and that is why the indicator light is on. He mention that the Wal-Mart brand battery is missing something that would turn the indicator off.

Does this sound right?

Also the fuel guage dosen't work, any ideas what could be wrong with this?

Thanks,

Howard

[isleoman]

Not to worry, that battery is just fine. The previous owner is correct. If you want it to work properly (have the light go out) you have to buy a Yuasa battery specific to the GS1100. It has a little electrical wire that come out of the top and plugs into your wiring system. It monitors fluid level not battery charge. You can run your bike just fine without it but you need to pay more attention to the fluid level in the bike without it. Which is the case for just about every other bike on the planet.

The fuel gauge could be a case of the two wires not being pluged in. Lift the rear of your tank and find the wire that comes from the fuel sending unit and make sure its plugged in. Go to bike bandit or mrcycles for a schematic from the part fishe.

[hearnold1983GS]

Thanks

Thanks for the quick reply. The bike has 34k on it and I know that is a lot of miles, but everything seems to work fine except those two small things, battery and fuel gauge.

Howard

[bonanzadave]

Connect the loose wire from the missing Batt sensor to the + battery post. The light will go out.

[Steve]

The bike has 34k on it and I know that is a lot of miles, ...

Only in some circles. :shock:

In our garage right now:
the '82 650 has just under 36,000,

the '82 850L has 56,500, (just came back from Nebraska, heading to West Virginia this weekend \\/)

the '86 Venture Royale has 30,000 (my son has only had time to ride it about 12,000 miles in the last 3 years, due to school and out-of-state summer jobs),

and my 2000 Wing with 121,253 miles.

Sold my '84 Voyager 1300 last year with just over 93,000 miles on it.


If you stop and do the math, 34,000 miles in 24-25 years is only about 1400 miles per year. If it was owned by a 'weekend warrior' type, that would be 50 miles a weekend for 28 weekends or 100 miles a weekend :shock: for 14 weekends. Sorry, but I ride that far to meet the guys for coffee to decide where we are going to ride that day. It's not unusual to put on 300-500 miles on a day ride, pretty much on a whim. 8-[

By the way, no problem with the battery light. As others have mentioned, it is merely a battery that does not have the adapter for the electrolyte level indicator. You can connect the sensor wire to a switched 12v source or remove the light until you get a battery with the adapter. Personally, I would diable the light and use a sealed battery.

.