grounding

[catbed]

i have only two wires going to my negative post of my battery. a fat one which i think is frame ground and a thin black with a white stripe on it. does this sound right?

im going to add a ground from the R/R but i dont know where to connect it. do i just connect it to the mounting bolt?

thanks in advance.


(((((((((((pics appreciated)))))))))))

[maclariz]

i have only two wires going to my negative post of my battery. a fat one which i think is frame ground and a thin black with a white stripe on it. does this sound right?

That's what I got on my GS400.

im going to add a ground from the R/R but i dont know where to connect it. do i just connect it to the mounting bolt?

I found with the new R/R unit that the grounding via the airbox was appalling. I just ran a wire from the R/R ground to a ring connector on the battery earth - guaranteed earthing for the R/R and that way the battery actually charges! Bonus!!!

[Dave8338]

Conect it with a circle type crimp on clip that fits over the pinch bolt on the battery. The black with white stripe wire is for the starter solenoid.

[Redman]

Yes, Could run the better ground wire to the R/R mounting bolt, or could run it to the R/R ground wire. Look for the black wire from the R/R, is a short one, just goes to a bolt nearby on the battery box. Could run your new/better ground wire to that same bolt, may be easier to get at than the R/R mounting bolt.

.

[posplayr]

1981 Gs750ex

When I first got my bike , I found wires that had gotten toasty and a ground wire between the mounting plate and the battery box ground (tied into the harness) had smoked. I went through all of my electrics including using the stator diagnosis flow chart.

As described in this link, the R/R doesnt seem to regulate as well unless the housing is grounded. So in order to establish a good ground for both theselinoid, and the R/R I ran individual wires to insure grounds.

See picture attached for what it looks like but here is a point to point:




a.) ground wire from solenoid housing (see back screw) to the right R/R mounting screw.

b.) The R/R ring lug to the R/R mounting screw.

c.) The R/R ring lug to the battery ground.

This insures that the solenoid and the R/R grounds are all tied directly to the batt and don't rely on rubber grommet grounds.

FYI I also fashioned a R/R heat sink out of 1" copper tubing. Use a hammer to flatten and shape . Both are just slightly over 6" so you need about a foot on copper pipe. I used smallish stainless screws to bolt to the frame right above the R/R using the R/R mounting plate holes and two small holes drilled through the frame. The round stuff is EMI gasket material (wire mesh) to get better heat conduction to the frame. I also later used some heat sink grease. The frame is actually a very good heat sink. I was previously getting about a 20 degF delta between the frame and the R/R but have yet to measure that after paining all with Por -15 and adding the HS grease.

This setup is both electrically and thermally well grounded. :-D

Good Luck

Posplayr
I




Final product (whoops still have the Electrosport to install). I'm not worried as long as the connections are all good, that is the biggest issue for corroded and loose bullet connections.

[kichigai]

That sound like a great tip! My ground has always been bad. I may have to try this! Thanks.:-D

[posplayr]

Sparks and Magic

In undergrad EE school, we had a power enginning class that was refered to as "sparks and magic"

See more discusion on power and grounding here.

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=120748

Posplayr

[JTsGS650]

That heat sink for the RR with the copper tubing is a great idea! Well done.

[posplayr]

Well I did not invent the heat sink

and actually it is pretty obvious from an EE perspective as heat is the major gremlin for most electronics :shock:. I have seen other approaches to use a computer fan which just did not seem like it could be very effective (especially the small computer fan susceptibility to dirt). I did see another GS member show a heat sink for the R/R using some spare flat copper stock. I guess my contribution would be the fabrication of a similar item with the 1" copper tubing and how it mounts. It takes a little attention to detail to get the right fit.

I will report on the temperature performance once I get a chance to measure it. [-o< I previously measured the frame temp v.s. heat sink temp but it was before having the heat sink grease and before I painted with POR-15.

Thanks.
Posplayr