Rode bike with only two legs from stator!

[supergrafx]

Okay, in my frenzy to finally ride my bike after going through the electricals, dismantling the boots and putting o-rings in them and replacing the throttle cables (lubing them too), I rode my bike and like an idiot turned the headlight off while doing so. I had replaced the reg/rec with one of the honda units from Duanage, so from other threads, I've gotten that I should keep the headlight on at all times since the third stator leg is no longer connected to the loop. I had cut down the two extra leg cables down and put some liquid electrical tape on the exposed copper tracings.

Anyways, I was sick yesterday so I didn't ride it then but was excited to ride it to work this morning. Well, I go to start it up and notice it will not start. The headlight and turn signals do not come on and the only thing showing up are my oil pressure and neutral idiot lights. I initially thought, ok, bad battery. I then went to look for the multimeter and noticed I left it on, so the batteries to the multi-meter need to be replaced. I then went for the battery tender and to my shock, after only 5 minutes of charging, read that the battery was fully charged.

I rode the bike for only about 10-15 minutes on Monday evening. Could have I fried the stator by keeping my headlight off?

[SqDancerLynn1]

No it shouldn't have hurt it. I have done it lots of times on my 850

[GQROD]

Doesn't the R/R shunt the extra voltage to ground? preventing such an overload?

Blown Main or headlamp fuse?

[reddirtrider]

Doesn't the R/R shunt the extra voltage to ground? preventing such an overload?

Blown Main or headlamp fuse?

Yes it does. Which is why, if you mod your bike so that the third stator leg is on all the time (not just when the headlight is on), you should have either the headlight on an additional electrical load. Why? Because you are generating more unused power which must be shunted to ground through the R/R. This electrical power is dissipated in the form of heat.

Just keep in mind that every mod has consequences.

It's unlikely the stator is fried. As was stated earlier look for fuses blown, or do the electrical check.

[supergrafx]

No it shouldn't have hurt it. I have done it lots of times on my 850

Cool, thanks SqDancerLynn1

Doesn't the R/R shunt the extra voltage to ground? preventing such an overload?

Blown Main or headlamp fuse?

I only have the one main inline fuse since my gs is an earlier model (77 gs550). I checked the fuse last night and the fuse did not blow. I replaced it anyways since I've heard that a fuse can blow but look totally ok. I moved the r/r ground to the battery negative instead of the frame, seeing if it would start up magically to no avail. See below: there is some success in my further ventures afterall. Thanks GQROD

Yes it does. Which is why, if you mod your bike so that the third stator leg is on all the time (not just when the headlight is on), you should have either the headlight on an additional electrical load. Why? Because you are generating more unused power which must be shunted to ground through the R/R. This electrical power is dissipated in the form of heat.

Just keep in mind that every mod has consequences.

It's unlikely the stator is fried. As was stated earlier look for fuses blown, or do the electrical check.

reddirtrider: I played around with the connections in the headlight bucket last night and believe something was shorting the electrical system because when I moved the cables around in the headlight assembly the idiot lights and headlight would reset, power would cut off and I would here a click from the area where the main inline fuse is. I sealed off every connection I could that perhaps might cause a short kinda half arsed with liquid tape to see if that made a difference. Did all that, left the excess wires out of the headlight bucket for the meantime and then hit the turn signals. When I did that, power cut off again, and for a long time. I thought perhaps I killed the solenoid starter or some other component for sure since this time when I jiggled the wires around the headlight assembly, nothing happened. Gave the system about 15 minutes of peace and then put the key in again, everything came up this time. To be safe, I unplugged the front and back aftermarket turn signals. Still nothing. But after those 15 minutes had elapsed, the system came up again. I rode the bike to work this morning even though I believe there must still be issues with the electrical system.

How do I get the headlight on a seperate load RedDirtRider? I am at work right now but rememeber the H4 Headlight (I think it is stock) having a yellow wire for the high beam, white for the lo, and a black for the ground. The ground is spliced to at least 3 sources including the headlight. When I did Duanage's mod, I cut the I believe white w/ red tracer and white w/ green tracer near the fuse box like shown in Basscliff r/r tutorial and sealed them with electrical liquid tape. The same wires attached to the left hand turn signal/light switch, I connected as usual to the harness thinking these still needed to be connected. However, from doing searches on the subject, I see that the loop concerning the third leg of the stator makes it's way through the bike differently from earlier GS's compared to GS's 80's and up. I appreciate all your help.