what did you wrench on today??

[Shin-Ken 1074]

Nice group effort in tracking down the problem.
Any thoughts on what would have caused this "ground" to go bad?

Hi Steve, two contributing factors for the bad earth.

1) A build up of road grime, dust and rust over many years under the reg/rec earth point. Yes, regular cleaning of the earth point would be the way to go.

2) Suzuki using the electrical panel as the earth point for the reg/rec. The panel is mounted on rubber grommets with only the M6 bolt threads making contact with the captive frame nuts, not much contact area as well as being a good grime trap.

By installing an additional earth wire from the electrical panel to the frame it provides a solid contact point and a good quality circuit, earth problem solved and now the reg/rec is providing power like it should.