more electrical

[steveq]

thanks for the quick reply guys what a fantastic site!if i had discovered it earlier, i would have saved about 6 months of total confusion!!!! one last question and i promise i will never mention it again!!!!!! under the side cover, near the fuse box on my 77 gs 550, there is two black/white stripe wires, presumably earth, that comes out of the wiring harness, one is earthed to the battery box, but the other is hanging very sadly with no where to go- i know that it must be an earth, but where? any info is greatly appriecated at last, people that know how a gs works fantastic! a big aussie "GIDDAY" to you all.

[tfb]

Hmm, if it's an earth, then earthing it anywhere should be fine.

[Steve]

Might check to see that the r/r (rectifier/regulator) is earthed properly.

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[Nessism]

Make sure you supplement that black/white ground on the battery box with an extension wire running off the battery box bolt then over to the negative post on the battery or to a proper ground location on the frame or engine. The battery box is rubber mounted and the ground path is very poor, adding a proper ground wire will allow your charging system to function with much less resistance.

[Redman]

...
.... there is two black/white stripe wires, presumably earth, that comes out of the wiring harness, one is earthed to the battery box, but the other is hanging very sadly with no where to go- i know that it must be an earth, but where? ...
....

Welcome to GSR.

One blk/wht wire (with ring terminal) is connected to the battery box (mounting screw for starter solenoid) to better ground the battery box (and the black wire from R/R usally also connected right at that connection also.) other end of this blk/wht wire runs all thru the wiring harness (and has other blk/wht wires spliced into it) and is connected to frame elsewhere and to batt negitive.

(Many folks recommend running another ground wire from that point on the battery box to batt neg so that the R/R is not relying on all those connections in the wiring harness. But that is not your question.)

You say these two blk/wht wires come from the main wiring harness.

Now about that other blk/wht wire... ah ... er ... another ground wire for some specific device nearby...? What sort of connector does that other blk/wht have?

Most R/R that I have seen have a black wire for the negitive. And solenoid on my GS1100GK doesnt have a ground wire.

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[duaneage]

On most GS bikes there is a loose black wire with a white stripe that is used to ground the starter solenoid, Another smaller lead with a ring terminal is bolted under the solenoid and then the other end (with a female bullet) goes to the aforementioned ground lead,

This is sometimes lost or disconnected. The solenoid will still work for a while but eventually the solenoid loses it's ground connections and the bike won't start. I would make sure a lead goes to the solenoid and is connected to ground at some point.