blowing main fuse!!

[Anonymous]

my 1983 gs750es keeps blowing the main fuse! this is especially bad when you're riding home from work on the highway. when that fuse blows everything shuts down, including the bike. i've checked for loose or broken wires and can find nothing. it calls for a 15 amp fuse, which i have been using.
any ideas out there or anyone else who had the same problem.

[Anonymous]

Two things: Have you checked the regulator. It should be reading around 15 volts at all rpms, if not that could be the problem Alas there is no other way to check the regulator. Second how is the battery? they will sometimes give a spike if the battery is not clean between the plates. This is not too likely though. I would suspect the regulator. A new one is about $100 from Electrex. Sorry I have no more suggestions.
:? :? :?

[Anonymous]

fuse

i checked the regulator and it isn't overcharging. cables are tight at the battery.....
i should have mentioned that at the same time the fuse blew my headlight
burned out. i had one of those fancy blue light high intensity bulbs in there. same wattage, though. i replaced the bulb with a normal one and the fuse hasn't blown again. i can't see how my headlight burning out would have anything to do with the main fuse blowing but i thought i'd mention it.

[Hap Call]

Defective manufacturing on the part of the bulb. Try another bulb if you can. There could have been a short within the base of the new high intensity bulb.

Hap

[Anonymous]

Re: fuse

i checked the regulator and it isn't overcharging. cables are tight at the battery.....
i should have mentioned that at the same time the fuse blew my headlight
burned out. i had one of those fancy blue light high intensity bulbs in there. same wattage, though. i replaced the bulb with a normal one and the fuse hasn't blown again. i can't see how my headlight burning out would have anything to do with the main fuse blowing but i thought i'd mention it.

If the bulb blows each time your fuse goes it is saying something specifically Suzuki to you.

The alternator/regulator set up on the GSs is a bit odd in that of the three phases of the alternator, only one phase operates in normal lights-off running. When you turn the headlight on it connects up another alternator wire that turns on the other two phases. This way any excess current produced by the alternator is dissipated into the heat produced by the bulb and does not have to be dissipated by the regulator/rectifier unit. This means the R/R unit can be smaller.

When your bulb blows it probably produces a spike of current that can't be instantly handled by the R/R and it hits the fuse and overloads it. It is because the three phases are now producing but there is no heat sink (the headlight) to take the excess current.

And if you do blow the light each time you blow the fuse, finding out why your headlight bulbs keep blowing is another matter. It is probably related to the alternator and R/R unit. The first thing to do is check every connector on your bike. "Every" means EVERY.

Hope this helps.
Kim