5 DAYS TO FIX - electrical gremlins - HELP!!!

[BobberDave]

History:
1980 GS 850G

Battery - New
Regulator - not new, not sure if fried (i have a honda one and OEM one)
Stator - unsure as of yet.


ISSUES:
Brand new battery installed. Rode bike.... died once stopped and RPM's dropped low. Had to jump start. Did that all in about a 50 mile stretch a 1/2 dozen times.

ONLY thing drawing anthing is headlight/brake light. I have ZERO gauges. It's a rat bike I built. I'm just SUCKY at electrical.

I'm thinking my stator is fried and PRAYING my regulator isn't or that one of the two will work.

Hook me up guys, I have a BIG ride i gotta make on Friday. And need this bad boy fixed.

Going to remove cover today and view stator. If it's nasty I'll overnight one to me. Replace. Hook to current regulator and pray......

Once I do that I should be able to hook my voltmeter up to battery, run bike and the battery should NEVER drop below about 12.00 correct????

[FLHGSRay]

The first thing to do, (before you take anything apart), is check the stator output. Just simply unplug it while the bike is running and check output with your multimeter. I can't quote the procedure offhand, but it is that easy to check stator output. It's more likely that you're gonna find a bad connection somewhere. Don't mess with the stator unless you can prove that it is bad.

[Guest]

History:
1980 GS 850G

Battery - New
Regulator - not new, not sure if fried (i have a honda one and OEM one)
Stator - unsure as of yet.


ISSUES:
Brand new battery installed. Rode bike.... died once stopped and RPM's dropped low. Had to jump start. Did that all in about a 50 mile stretch a 1/2 dozen times.

ONLY thing drawing anthing is headlight/brake light. I have ZERO gauges. It's a rat bike I built. I'm just SUCKY at electrical.

I'm thinking my stator is fried and PRAYING my regulator isn't or that one of the two will work.

Hook me up guys, I have a BIG ride i gotta make on Friday. And need this bad boy fixed.

Going to remove cover today and view stator. If it's nasty I'll overnight one to me. Replace. Hook to current regulator and pray......

Once I do that I should be able to hook my voltmeter up to battery, run bike and the battery should NEVER drop below about 12.00 correct????

You wanna fix it fast. Replace the stator with a new one and purchase a series RR. Compufire or a SH-775 and be done with it.

[tom203]

I bet you missed this simple quick test as a starter

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?p=1272192#post1272192

Don't assume/pray/hope that your R/R is good- test!

[posplayr]

A rat bike with no electrical loads and a shunt r/r probably fried the stator.

[BobberDave]

Appreciate it guys for the fast response. I was on the right track. Just second guessing myself due to time constraints.

Then again, electrical is NOT my forte'

[BobberDave]

Crap and more crap....

Someone let me borrow $150 buck and I'll gladly have this thing fixed in no time.

I can't find CRAP... .was hopeing I could get both for relatively inexpensive.

Compufire and/or SH-775 is like $100.00 and a brand new stator is little more than that.

JESUS I'm screwed.

[posplayr]

Crap and more crap....

Someone let me borrow $150 buck and I'll gladly have this thing fixed in no time.

I can't find CRAP... .was hopeing I could get both for relatively inexpensive.

Compufire and/or SH-775 is like $100.00 and a brand new stator is little more than that.

JESUS I'm screwed.

buy a $85 stator from Steve, use your existing R/R and only wire in two legs of the stator. Depending on what you striped out (for loads) that might work.

[Steve]

Compufire and/or SH-775 is like $100.00 and a brand new stator is little more than that.

Last Compufire I saw was about $150, but the Polaris SH-775 is about $75, shipped.

buy a $85 stator from Steve, use your existing R/R and only wire in two legs of the stator. Depending on what you striped out (for loads) that might work.

Let me know, I can get a stator out this evening.

.

[FLHGSRay]

Replacing all that stuff won't help one bit if he has other problems. Bad grounds, dead shorts, etc. He could spend all the money in the world and still have the same problem. I say figure out what's wrong first, then do the upgrades.

[chuck hahn]

To test the stator you set the volt meter on AC VOLTS..simply unplug the 3 leads where they hook into the harness. start he bike and put the NEG into one of the plugs and the the POS into each of the others and run the RPMS up to around 4500 and see what the two legs with the POS lead are putting out. Switch the NEG to the next lead in line and repeat the process till youve move thru all 3 leads.


Record what your getting from all 3 leads and report back.

Charge the battery before starting so theres some power to keep it running when you unplug the stator leads.

[posplayr]

To test the stator you set the volt meter on AC VOLTS..simply unplug the 3 leads where they hook into the harness. start he bike and put the NEG into one of the plugs and the the POS into each of the others and run the RPMS up to around 4500 and see what the two legs with the POS lead are putting out. Switch the NEG to the next lead in line and repeat the process till youve move thru all 3 leads.


Record what your getting from all 3 leads and report back.

Charge the battery before starting so theres some power to keep it running when you unplug the stator leads.

That test is necessary but not sufficient. An additional test will improve the odds of proper diagnosis. Test all legs to ground at 5k rpm. There should be no ac relative to ground. This kind of like a built in legged test at 80 vac.

[posplayr]

Replacing all that stuff won't help one bit if he has other problems. Bad grounds, dead shorts, etc. He could spend all the money in the world and still have the same problem. I say figure out what's wrong first, then do the upgrades.

We have to hope he has done a Quick Test by now.

[chuck hahn]

Jim..I am trying to take him ONE STEP at a time so we can see what hes got from the stator..then move on. Like he said he isnt a guru at electrical trouble shooting.

If the stator quick test shows promising numbers then he can do the next thing in line..and so on and so on. But this will for sure eliminate the stator right out of the schute.

[FLHGSRay]

There's no question that you guys know these GS's better than me. I just hate to see a guy wasting money and chasing his tail. All those upgrades can be wiped away by a single bad ground.