why does this wire go there ??

[dennis roy]

I'm looking at the wiring diagram for my 82 850 and see a wire that comes from the "alternator" and goea all the way to the headlight bucket and turns around and goes to the r/r. What the hell were they thinking? Is all that REALLY needed?

[chuckycheese]

Stator

I'm sure someone will describe it far better than I ever could but I'm pretty sure it has to do with the stator phases and the fact that the stator is set up to work properly when the headlight is on.

[dennis roy]

It doesnt connect to anything though. It goes to a plug with a few other wires, jumps to another wire in the same plug and that wire goes back to the r/r.

[DanTheMan]

It's a resistance wire, made to keep the proper resistance in the charging circuit so the stator doesn't burn itself up. Removal of the wire will cause overcharging, unless you can determine the resistance of the wire and solder a resistor into the circuit to replace the wire. as long as it's working, don't fix it!!!!:-D

[focus frenzy]

older mainly pre-1980 bikes and bike sold in other than US countries have the ability to turn off their headlights.

when you turn off the headlight you free up over 50watts of power.

the charging system on the GS and many other bikes regulate charging system output by shunting excess power to ground. factor in the extra 50+ watts that would have to be shunted to ground with the headlight off and Suzuki felt the regulator could not hold up for long before it over heated and failed.
so instead of using a regulator with larger cooling fins and better components they would just run one leg of the stators output up to the light switch so when lights are turned off it cuts off one leg or 1/3rd of the stators output.

Suzuki also didn't want to waste money on having to make harnesses for just the American market so Bikes sold here have the wiring for that switch but not the off switch so the stator leg that went to the switch is there it is just jumped so it comes back down without going to anything.

it is best to bypass it and just wire it direct to the R&R.

[Matchless]

As far as I know that wire was used to switch the 3rd phase from the alternator via the headlight switch. It was not the most successful thing at that time and they eliminated the switch on later models and just bridged the wire. The wiring stayed the same due to the loom design.
It is suggested that the bridging is done by unplugging the two wires running to the front from the stator wire and from the regulator and just connect them directly. That loop can cause problems as the connectors tend to weaken with age and it is not unknown to see a connector that shows that it had overheated at some time.

Edit: Focus you beat me to the reply by 30 seconds!

[dennis roy]

That's what I wanted to hear. I'm in the process of fixing the wiring harness now. I saw a few melted plugs under the gas tank and traced the wires that were so hot to the headlight and the charging wires.

[Steve]

It's a resistance wire, made to keep the proper resistance in the charging circuit so the stator doesn't burn itself up. Removal of the wire will cause overcharging, unless you can determine the resistance of the wire and solder a resistor into the circuit to replace the wire. as long as it's working, don't fix it!!!!:-D

I have NEVER heard that before. :shock:

Yes, every wire has some resistance, but that's not why that wire is there. Focus Frenzy explained it about as good as it needs to be explained. \\/

The best thing you can do is to find the connector from the stator to that wire, then where that wire returns to the r/r and connect the stator directly to the r/r.
That eliminates three connections that have the potential of going bad.

.

[chuckycheese]

See!!

I'm sure someone will describe it far better than I ever could but I'm pretty sure it has to do with the stator phases and the fact that the stator is set up to work properly when the headlight is on.

See....I was right!!!:-D