Stator and R/R Replacement on a 650G

[rustyspoon]

I recently got my 1981 GS650G, and it came needing a valve adjustment and a new battery. After installing a new battery and taking care of the valve adjustment, I went on a shakedown run to see if there was anything else that needed work. Turns out, I found out why it needed a new battery. It needed a jump when I stopped for fuel after about 30 minutes of riding, so there's an issue with the charging system.

After looking through the Stator Papers and the How-tos on BikeCliff's site I took my multimeter and found that the charging system does nothing at all with the following Quick Test results:

1) Key Off - 13.02
2) Key On - 12.51
3) idle 1500 RPM - 12.78
4) at 2500 RPM - 12.78
5) at 5000 RPM - 12.78
6) Key off - 12.98

Great! Next step is to check the Stator and the R/R and see which one needs replacing! Except I have no clue where the R/R is on this bike, all the examples I can find are for bikes will 750 CCs of displacement or more. I can't find a unit with a heatsink behind the battery box, nothing looks even remotely close to the units shown in the the How-tos and other threads. And for some reason the wires that come off the Stator (I think. It's the rightmost bundle off the starter cover) go to three different places?

I would greatly appreciate any help on where to look for what I need.

[Rich82GS750TZ]

Feel free to do all the testing you want, and you should, so you know what’s going on, you’ve already figured out you’re not charging. But you would do well to replace the RR and the Stator. There are a few good replacement stators available from Caltric, Electrosport, and Rick’s. I haven’t read anything bad about any of them. I got an Electrosport, and no complaints after 5 years. But get a genuine Shindengen SH775 RR. I have a link in my signature about sorting my charging system. It’s a common story, I just happened to document it all with all my questions and a lot of great instructions from a lot of smart people here.

Your original RR was mounted to a plate either under or on one side of your battery. This image is from the electrical parts fiche on partshark.com for the ‘81 GS650G. Most of the online OEM parts sellers use the same fiches.

[Redman]

my 650G, brand new, less than a week old, died on side of road.

Eventually found that the R/R ground wire, which was connected to inside bottom of battery box, was broke off , (apparently when battery installed)..

Grounding of the R/R ground wire has proved to be a potential problem again and again.

[tom203]

Remove battery….behind here is a plate shown in Rich’s parts layout. R/R is on bottom of this plate , ignitor is on top. Best to remove two bolts holding this plate and swing it up so you remove the r/r….swingarm makes it impossible otherwise to remove it. But first you can do the stator tests by just unplugging the r/r and see if stator is at fault.

[Mr.humbucker]

R\R on the GS650G is mounted on the underside of the air box with the CDI above it. You can see it and access it from the battery box side by removing the battery and battery box. lots of screws and bolts to remove but pretty easy overall to get at and remove and replace.

My two cents of advice or suggestion is Save yourself the trouble of testing these old components (assuming they're original) and buy a Caltric stator, a new stator gasket and a SH775 (USED GENUINE, not a Chinese copy and be sure jt isTESTED) regulator rectifier off eBay and you'll ride happily for many km's to come. I am in the midst of restoring my third GS650G over the past three years and each one needed a charging system overhaul. The original equipment gets old and fried and was not great to start with. I am just up the road in Kamloops and happy to help where I can.

[hank2]

On my GS650G, I was able to mount an SH775 in the same original location and mount holes as the original R/R. It just barely fit as it's slightly larger.

[igoldin74]

On my GS650G, I was able to mount an SH775 in the same original location and mount holes as the original R/R. It just barely fit as it's slightly larger.

Did you have to rewire it? By the looks of it it seems that sh775 comes as a box with two sockets.

[hank2]

Did you have to rewire it? By the looks of it it seems that sh775 comes as a box with two sockets.

I used the Triumph harness that many have used for years. Someone just recently posted the Triumph part no. again. T2500676 That fits the sockets on the Shindegen SH775. For the attachment to your charging system, you'll have to dissect the wiring bundle and adapt it as necessary. As I recall the Triumph bit is not too expensive, or least it hadn't been. I think it was from an older triple model. Need a fuse or circuit breaker in the mix too. Not so many years ago, the SH775's were $44. new from Polaris. It's plenty good enough for the low output of our old GS's. Newer bikes use the higher amp SH847.

[rustyspoon]

R\R on the GS650G is mounted on the underside of the air box with the CDI above it. You can see it and access it from the battery box side by removing the battery and battery box. lots of screws and bolts to remove but pretty easy overall to get at and remove and replace.

My two cents of advice or suggestion is Save yourself the trouble of testing these old components (assuming they're original) and buy a Caltric stator, a new stator gasket and a SH775 (USED GENUINE, not a Chinese copy and be sure jt isTESTED) regulator rectifier off eBay and you'll ride happily for many km's to come. I am in the midst of restoring my third GS650G over the past three years and each one needed a charging system overhaul. The original equipment gets old and fried and was not great to start with. I am just up the road in Kamloops and happy to help where I can.

Thank you very much! I was able to find it easily with these directions! With the heatsink pointing down, a visual inspection wasn't enough to locate it.

Based on the advice of numerous people, I believe I will be replacing both the Stator and the R/R to simplify matters. With that said, the price of a new R/R has gone up dramatically - Talking to the local Polaris dealer has resulted in a quote for $340 CAD for a SH775, and looking at the list of sources compiled by Steve in this thread gets me prices in a similar range - the cheapest one was $215 USD.

I was able to find an upgrade kit from RM Stator here that includes all the hardware required to wire in new connectors and eliminates the need for the Triumph wiring harness.It was recommended to me by a customer service rep that assured me it would be a suitable replacement for Polaris Part # 4012941, but I would be much more comfortable if it also had the Forum Seal of Approval^TM. I know that you can find used and tested series regulators on eBay, but I'm not interested in doing a roulette of chance on it being a genuine Shindengen part. I know that a number of people on this forum have trusted RM Stator with their bike's stators, but I haven't heard of anyone using their R/Rs. Any thoughts?

[Rich82GS750TZ]

There isn't much chance of getting a dud used SH775 if you know what to look for. The proper SH775 in white lettering in the top fin is usually a dead give away. Nessism typically has several of these on hand that he's tested on a running bike. And maybe he'd be willing to ship to CA. You should ask him.

[Grimly]

I was able to find an upgrade kit from RM Stator here that includes all the hardware required to wire in new connectors and eliminates the need for the Triumph wiring harness.It was recommended to me by a customer service rep that assured me it would be a suitable replacement for Polaris Part # 4012941, but I would be much more comfortable if it also had the Forum Seal of Approval^TM. I know that you can find used and tested series regulators on eBay, but I'm not interested in doing a roulette of chance on it being a genuine Shindengen part. I know that a number of people on this forum have trusted RM Stator with their bike's stators, but I haven't heard of anyone using their R/Rs. Any thoughts?

If that's a genuine series regulator (and I doubt very much if they're lying about that), then it's an ok price for the kit. Not a genuine Shindengen, but worth a roll of the dice, especially if it's coming from a reliable source, with warranty.

[Nessism]

Here is one for sale on eBay.ca

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/275967228860

I can see the SH775 lettering on the top fin, but since the seller is selling two, I'd message him to make sure it's the real deal before paying.

[Mr.humbucker]

Thank you very much! I was able to find it easily with these directions! With the heatsink pointing down, a visual inspection wasn't enough to locate it.

Based on the advice of numerous people, I believe I will be replacing both the Stator and the R/R to simplify matters. With that said, the price of a new R/R has gone up dramatically - Talking to the local Polaris dealer has resulted in a quote for $340 CAD for a SH775, and looking at the list of sources compiled by Steve in this thread gets me prices in a similar range - the cheapest one was $215 USD.

I was able to find an upgrade kit from RM Stator here that includes all the hardware required to wire in new connectors and eliminates the need for the Triumph wiring harness.It was recommended to me by a customer service rep that assured me it would be a suitable replacement for Polaris Part # 4012941, but I would be much more comfortable if it also had the Forum Seal of Approval^TM. I know that you can find used and tested series regulators on eBay, but I'm not interested in doing a roulette of chance on it being a genuine Shindengen part. I know that a number of people on this forum have trusted RM Stator with their bike's stators, but I haven't heard of anyone using their R/Rs. Any thoughts?

RMStator folks are top drawer and a Canadian company which eliminates some issues/cost of dealing with eBay sellers in the US as shipping and the dollar exchange can drive up the overall price. Having said that RMStator stuff isn't cheap. They are VERY good to deal with and have VERY good YouTube videos on most electrical components for our bikes. Based upon their quality service and great stators , which I have used with no problems, I would have no issues using one of their R\R ... But I do prefer the SH775 at the end of the day. Lets face it I doubt you're going to be putting a ton of kms on this build so I'm sure that the RMStator R\R will fit the bill just fine.

[rustyspoon]

After some consideration and some math, I have decided to go with both a stator and a R/R from RMStator.

With a SH775 running somewhere around $45 USD plus shipping, and the Triumph harness being $37 USD plus shipping, the cost difference between the SH775/Triumph vs RMStator is about $40USD. Not to mention the shipping from eBay or Triumph would most likely be to a US PO Box that I then have to spend gas and time plus a package fee to pick up. What tips the scales though is that buying more than one product from RMStator gets you a "volume discount" of 15%, which in this case ($139 USD Stator + $139 USD R/R) works out to being $41.78 USD. This makes both options the same price, but with one coming all in one package within the week and the other being in multiple packages over the next three weeks. Plus the aforementioned warranty.

With that being said, I was wondering if anyone might be able to provide some insight into the wiring process? In following the wires from both the stator and R/R, I've found that two of the wires from the stator go to the R/R through a 4-pin connector that also contains the positive and negative out from the R/R, while the third wire from the stator goes into a wire bundle that runs all the way up to the handlebars. I assume that this third wire is the output for the third phase of the three-phase stator that runs up to the headlights as per the stator papers, should I circumvent this third wire altogether and simply route all three from the stator into the R/R?

[Rich82GS750TZ]

Triumph adapter, last I checked is $11.40 plus shipping from this vendor:

http://www.adeptpowersports.com/oem-parts/triumph-link-lead-regulator-t2500676-part.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI0sSuyqnx-QIVhdezCh3TCgtaEAQYASABEgL1ovD_BwE

There are cheaper, lesser quality connectors available on eBay, Amazon and other places. I went that route initially, then later bought the real-deal Triumph connector.

But, whatever. You don't actually need it. Some folks just put female spade connectors on the ends of all the wires that connect to the SH775 RR, then pot them in w/ a high quality electrical safe goo. Nessism has a special aerospace product for this but I'm sure you could find something off the shelf.

You will have to cut off the original connectors from the original RR and Stator regardless of which aftermarket stator and RR you go with. Get good at crimping. Good crimp tool and authentic good quality bullet connectors can be has at: https://www.vintageconnections.com/ - this is good stuff.

You can, and should leave the wiring that goes into the harness out of your revised wiring of the stator to the RR. (the White w/ Green tracer and the White w/ Red tracer). just tape them up out of the way.