Wire on my 82 GS1100

[Anonymous]

Well, after getting my money and keeping it a while, Bike Bandit.com emailed and said they were refunding my case because the wiring harness which they assured me they could get, was discontinued.

So, it is back to the old drawing board.

What kind of wire makes up the harness? Is it THHN, TFFN, 19 strand, 64 strand?

I am at a loss..
HELP PLEASE !!!!

[Anonymous]

Is your bike an 82 1100E? I don't know about the wire type, but have you tried www.RonAyers.com for the harness.
I got one through them @6 months ago for the 82 1100E

[Anonymous]

Well, they said they could get it for me... Then they called their supplier, and sure enough...DISCONTINUED.

Thanks for the direction anyway, I really appreciate it. It was one of a few places I had not tried yet.

Thanks though...
Any other suggestions or one of you tech heads could tell me what type of wire to use.. PLEASE...................

[Anonymous]

check out painless wiring they may not have a specific fit but they do make universal sets. they also might be able to build to your specs if you can give them dimensions

[argonsagas]

You can always check e-bay, but why do you think you need a complete new harness?

Unless it has been burned, or a prior owner has done some garbage work to it, repairs may be possible.

I don't know the type of wire used, but there are at least three gauges used in the harness. (it may vary depending on model) Gauge ranges from 22 to 16. Apart from burn damage or lousy work by an owner, the most likely problem to encounter is poor connections. These can be cleaned up or replaced.

There are several splices within the harness, and some of the wires leading from the splice are spliced again.....and again. There can be a fair amount of resistance because of the multiple splices and thin gauge wires, which , with the poor connections, makes it harder for electricity to travel anywhere.

Since you inquired about wire type to use, it appears you have little or no fear of doing the work yourself. Clear off the tape carefully, and follow the leads, checking every connection as you go. Replace anything that is damaged. If you don't have a matching coded wire for one you need to replace, record what you have used, then put the info in your shop manual.

A small warning....don't get carried away with using larger diameter wires. If you get too much in there, you won't be able to bend the resultant bundle, and space is REALLY tight in some spots.

[Dark Jedi]

Get a wiring diagram, and pull everything off the bike.

Roll your own, from good wiring, making good clean soldered connections.
Time consuming, but well worth it for reliability.

Get several small spools of multi-colored wires, and try to match the diagram for future ease... I didn't, and troubleshooting would be a nightmare to anyone else that tries to work on my bike.... 8O

[Anonymous]

I read a good article on wiring a while ago that said to use marine wire. It has more braids in it and is much more resistant to the elements. I'd like to post the link but I can't find it, it was on an airheads website. I think an airhead is a BMW...hehe

Steve

[Hoomgar]

Call dealers as well. Anywhere, they don't have to be close to you. If they have it they will let you pay and ship it to you.

[Anonymous]

Wire on my 82

Okay..
Went and bought 100' each (minimum quantity) of 16 different colors of 14 and 16 gauge GPT (general purpose thermoplastic) marine grade stranded wire. So, if any of you guys need to do any wiring work, let me know..... I have plenty.

Anyway, got to work on it and things were going pretty well. Bought a NEW manual, and took the snhematic to kinkos. I got them to blow it up 5 times, and laminated it. So again, if any of you need that... let me know !

We are basically replacing all of the wires, between components. What I mean is.. You have the turn signal switch in the handlebar. Off of that, you have the plug. From the plug on, is where we are replacing all of the wires. It seems that most of the problem wiring, was what was under the tank and back. We are of course soldering EVERYTHING, and then heat shrinking it.

Question: I noticed on the schematic, it show 2 wires going from the stator, to the rectifier. Then the positive going on to the battery-fusebox. Then the 3rd leg wire from the stator, runs off through the system. Would this not be putting 75 AC volts of power, out into my electrical system?

On the new Electrex Stator and RR I purchased, it says connect the 3 yellows of the stator, to the 3 yellows of the RR and the red to the fusebox-battery. This is the CORRECT way, right?

Another question:
Inside of the speedometer, odometer, it says there is a "distance sensor", according to the schematic, all I can figure is that this is what operates the turn signal cancelling relay. Does this thing really cancel the signal, based on how far you have rolled, versus a elapsed time ?
In the beginning of this deal Saturday, I gave serious thought to crating the thing up and shipping it off to Japan. I thought for sure ANYONE over there could have had more success than me. 8O

But it seems to be coming together just fine now. (I think)

[Hap Call]

Re: Wire on my 82

Question: I noticed on the schematic, it show 2 wires going from the stator, to the rectifier. Then the positive going on to the battery-fusebox. Then the 3rd leg wire from the stator, runs off through the system. Would this not be putting 75 AC volts of power, out into my electrical system?

I don't understand why they did that..they also did it on my '81 model. All it does is go through a connector then returns to the R/R. I would just wire directly to the R/R and skip that possible trouble spot.

On the new Electrex Stator and RR I purchased, it says connect the 3 yellows of the stator, to the 3 yellows of the RR and the red to the fusebox-battery. This is the CORRECT way, right??

That is correct. I connect to the Positive pole on the battery. Electrically speaking it is the same place or "node".

Another question:
Inside of the speedometer, odometer, it says there is a "distance sensor", according to the schematic, all I can figure is that this is what operates the turn signal cancelling relay. Does this thing really cancel the signal, based on how far you have rolled, versus a elapsed time ?

I believe it is distance related because if you are at a stop light you would have to keep resetting the turn signal until you completed the turn, if it were time based.


Hap

[Anonymous]

Hap:
I think they did it because in some countries it is illegal to ride with headlights on during the day. This means some bikes come with switches, even today. Peru or Bolivia has a headlight law like this despite the safety factor. Even in Central America people will flash their lights at your if your driving around with them on during the day.

Cheers, Steve

[Dark Jedi]

I actually like that the switch is present, just disabled. Ire-enable it so I can turn of the light while I fiddle with things.

That battery will do a lot more cranking with the lamp off. Better cold starts,too.

[Anonymous]

I guess I am lost. :? At what point did we start talking about the head lights ?
I mean, if there is a way to disable my headlights, especially while starting the bike, working on it, etc, I would sure like to know it.

Thanks for your replies guys !
Keep them coming please.

[Anonymous]

The Regulator/Recitifier wire that runs to the front of the bike has something to do with the headlight. You can simply cut the wire from the stator and the rectifier and join them together so that you can bypass 10 feet of wire.

Steve

[focus frenzy]

I guess I am lost. :? At what point did we start talking about the head lights ?
I mean, if there is a way to disable my headlights, especially while starting the bike, working on it, etc, I would sure like to know it.

Thanks for your replies guys !
Keep them coming please.

the wire you refer-ed to goes to the light switch on bikes sold outside the USA and pre-80 American bikes.(with some exceptions)
the charging systems on our bikes use permanent magnets and put out full power all the time, the regulator regulates the charge rate by shunting excess power to ground, on bikes with the switch to turn off the headlight Suzuki routed one of the output legs from the stator to the light switch so that when the headlight was turned off, (freeing 50/60 watts of power) the switch also cut off one of the three legs (outputs) from the stator so the regulator didn't have to shunt the extra output to ground, possibly over heating it and causing premature failure.

Suzuki uses the same main wiring harness in all the bikes regardless of where it was sold, the differences are in the sub harness to the light switch. pre80 and bikes equipped with light switches the wires run to the switch where there is contacts for switching it on and off, on post 1980 American bikes there is a jumper loop close to the sub-harness connection with the main wiring harness.

you can use a small relay to disable the headlight when the starter button is pushed.
you can go to a auto parts store and ask for a fan relay for a 89 Oldsmobile cutlass. this is a common automotive relay.
on this relay there are five terminals, 87, 87a, 30, 85,and 86
you will need to tie in a signal wire to the out put from the starter button, this should be the green with yellow stripe wire, connect this wire to the 85 terminal on the relay, then run a wire from the 86 terminal to a good ground, next cut the black with white stripe wire coming from the plug for the head light bulb and extent the wires so they can reach the relay, connect one to the 30 terminal on the relay and connect the other to the 87a (not the 87) terminal.
this will cut off the headlight when you push the starter button !