81 GS850G voltage goes down as revs go up?

[Guest]

I have a new battery in my gs and checking running voltages today with my Fluke meter I'm getting 13.8 at idle, on the battery terminals, but rev to 4K rpm and it actually drops to about 13.2! Let off the throttle and I see it spike to over 14 but then back down to 13.8 to 14.0. I've cleaned the Stator and R/R connectors and I can find 2 grounds so I cleaned them. I think there is supposed to be a third? Next I'm going to try to bond the 2 grounds, I can find, to the same point on the solenoid mount, as only one is there now. One other observation is that the voltage at idle is pretty steady but start to slowly increase the throttle and the voltage kind of hunts around. Say from 13.2 to 13.9. Doesn't seem rock steady that I'm normally used to seeing.

Any other ideas?

[posplayr]

Decreasing voltage with increasing RPM (measured at the battery) is probably dirty connections. To confirm this measure the voltage drops in the revised Phase A stator pages. If you have large drops it is because of dirty connections. If you have no drops then the stator is likely bad.

http://www.thegsresources.com/statorpapers4.php

[jdvorchak]

Thank you. If I have time tomorrow I'll run the tests. I suspect a dirty connection but will test everything and clean up the fuse block. I knew I should clean the fuse block before posting but thought I'd ask.

[bwringer]

Damn near every electrical problem on a GS starts with dirty connections.

[posplayr]

Damn near every electrical problem on a GS starts with dirty connections.

As per your observation, this link should help most of the uninitiated

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?237763-Recommended-Products-for-Preparing-Electrical-Connenctions&highlight=

[jdvorchak]

I think I got this one solved. I had to clean everything I could find. Performed the Stator AC voltage checks but noticed that some of the stator wires, White with Green stripe, and it's return wire, White with Red stripe, connectors were burned up pretty badly. That is the one stator wire to the R/R that goes up in the loom for some models that have an on/off switch for the headlight. When the headlight is on that leg of the stator is hooked to the R/R for more wattage. Well this was a very simple fix. I just unplugged the stator/reg wire and plugged them into each other. Effectively taking that mystery connection out of the circuit.

I hope you can see the burned connectors, Before:


Bypassing the unneeded mystery connector in the loom:




To finish up I taped the free ends of that mystery connector. I never leave a bare wire dangling:




Yeah I did a better job of taping the bare ends but that was after I took the pic.

[posplayr]

I just unplugged the stator/reg wire and plugged them into each other. Effectively taking that mystery connection out of the circuit.

While this would seem to be a good thing the reality is that you probably solved nothing by doing it including uncovering any "mystery loop".

I you read GS Charging health you will see that removal of the head lamp loop is a standard recommendation, however what you appear to have done is done nothing to actually in improve the worst of the connections. (i.e. the crimps). So you have the same resistance with the same current doing the same thing.

Cut out those old crimps and solder them direct or if you have to get a weather pack connector and solder those crimps.

[jdvorchak]

Thanks for the advice...

[jdvorchak]

I am familiar with cut and solder, especially on the Honda Goldwings, where it is SOP to cut that 3 yellow wire connector out and directly solder the stator wires to the R/R. I should/will go back and solder the wires directly. Thanks again for reminding me that in the 70's and 80's they didn't use "environmental" electrical connectors.

[OldVet66]

Just to make you feel better, I have two bikes with wiring that looked like that with burnt connections when I got them, a '78 GS1000E, and a parts bike ('79 GS1000E) with about 4,600 miles on it. Both had burnt up stators. You can probably expect that you may have to replace yours too but you will never know until you do all the required harness maintenance and tests. It's a good time to plan in a Series R/R upgrade at the same time. FYI, I used my old stator against good advise because of the coloration when I installed the Series R/R. It lasted a year before it went, but it didn't hurt the R/R at all. Replaced the stator and it's still going strong years and many miles later.

[jdvorchak]

while I found a few used stators on ebay, I would never install a used one unless they were no longer available. I did find this but have no direct experience with the Brand

http://www.ebay.com/itm/STATOR-SUZUKI-MOTORCYCLE-GS850G-GS850GL-31401-45111-31401-47030-/360608676811?hash=item53f5f3bbcb:g:T3cAAMXQKAtRNe-p&vxp=mtr

Also found Ricks but at almost 3 times the price?

[jsandidge]

while I found a few used stators on ebay, I would never install a used one unless they were no longer available. I did find this but have no direct experience with the Brand

http://www.ebay.com/itm/STATOR-SUZUKI-MOTORCYCLE-GS850G-GS850GL-31401-45111-31401-47030-/360608676811?hash=item53f5f3bbcb:g:T3cAAMXQKAtRNe-p&vxp=mtr

Also found Ricks but at almost 3 times the price?

Don't know if he's still doing it or not, but member Steve was selling re-wound GS stators for a reasonable price. I've installed one along with a series regulator, and it works great. Just look up Steve in the member registry and send him an e-mail or pm and ask.