another STATOR, R/R inquiry

[igotcenter]

Hey boys,

I just gotta know, what is the weak link in the GS charging system...
Is it the Stator? Is it the R/R, the wiring?


Does the stator malfunction and kill the R/R?

Does the R/R malfunction and kill the stator?


Or is it just a crap R/R

I know having a good battery, proper grounds and clean connections are key points, however with a perfect set up a new battery new R/R new stator Perfect grounds ect. What is most likely to fail?

My theory is that Suzuki used a poor R/R w/o enough heat sync. given that these bikes rev to around 9500 rpm... the faster you rev the engine the more juice is put out by the Stator and in turn the R/R has to work harder to regulate and rectify power and gets hotter and hotter causing it to burn up. and because it is not noticed right away the R/R starts sending power back to the stator and burns up the stator because it has no heat dicipation capabilities.

am I right?

if not please "rectify" me.

[Jaguarjoe]

Well, on my bike, the stator was fine but the R/R had a shorted SCR in it. So I would say the R/R is the weak link.
I think you're right about the RPM deal. At high speed that little R/R has to eat a lot of power from the stator. Then it returns that power to the stator which creates lots of stress on it.
Everybody loses at high RPM's.

[txironhead]

The regulator toasts the stator most often. There is a fix. Do a Honda/Shindingen regulator conversion. Do a search here for "Honda regulator" and there will be a ton of posts, some with pics and step-by-step instructions on how to do it. Your bike will be happy for many, many miles.

Took me about 20 minutes to do the swap. My regulator came from a CBR600. And if your bike has the loop circuit to the headlight switch, bypass it, you won't need it with the Honda regulator.

[Nessism]

My guess is that the R/R is the weak link as well. Dumbest thing is that the ground cable goes from the R/R to the rubber mounted battery box. Suzuki messed up with that design. Extending the wire and taking it directly to the neg. post on the battery is the best thing you can do. Next thing is to just ditch the entire R/R for something more modern. I picked up a late model R/R from a CBR600F4 off ebay for $27 shipped. Very easy conversion - or keep it on hand in case you need it.

[SqDancerLynn1]

THE weak link is the grounding circuit!!! The Honda reg is a better unit- re: it uses a better gauge of wire. FOR ALL bikes it is recommended to add a ground wire from the reg mounting bolt direct to the battery- use a 10-12 gauge wire. A bad ground will make the reg run HOT, kill it in short order. New regulators have the same problems

[igotcenter]

THE weak link is the grounding circuit!!!

I Said in a perfect scenario, what is the weak link? we all know that poor conections,grounds and such are wiring nightmares.... from hell, all the ground circuts on the gs bikes suck. everyone has at one point or anther has had Stator R/R problems of some kind, I'm just asking what everyones opinion on the system is.

does the stator burn the R/R or the R/R burn the stator? from what i gather looks like everyone has R/R issues first making it the weak link...

in theory a stator should never burn up unless it gets hot or polarity is fed backwards.

so does everyone agree that the stock Suzuki Regulator/Rectifier is junk? Swapping for a crotch rocket type R/R conversion tells me that the stock Suzuki R/R just can't handle the juice produced from the stator at high RPM's unlike the R/R's used on crotch rockets that have enginges that in the case of the yamaha R6 rev to over and above 17,500 rpm. and they have even smaller stators than the GS bikes do.... so the argument that the Stator is too small on the GS models doesn't hold water. right? I believe that there is nothing wrong with the GS charge system other than suzuki's poor choice to use a generic R/R and a ground to the rubber mounted battery box "Duh", many including myself have the R/R grounded directly to the Battery and have still burnt up R/R's and a Stator. so there is still a weak link somewhere even with ensuring good grounds and soldered wiring conections.

I vote that the R/R is the lead to all of our problems.

What do you guys feel?
I'd really like to hear everyones opinion on this.

Thanks,
Gary

P.S. This site is insane, it's like a bunch of addics hooked on GS! Just gotta get your "FIX" lol.
It's Great!

[walt]

From reading all the recent posts, I agree that the r/r stock ground wire is were most of the problem lays. That and corroded wire connections. Both of those are what I found on my new to me '83 GS1100ED. Here is something you can do if the r/r output is up the the factory standards. It's illegal, but use an H4 80/100 watt headlight bulb. That will increase the electrical load and drop the r/r's output somewhat. SqDancerLynn1 is right on the mark about adding a wire from the r/r ground wire to the neg. batt. post. A bad r/r is what kills the generator. The generator windings overheat and short out. Sometimes the shellac coating is damaged by vibrations, not to common to our bikes. Also over time/high mileage the magnets can get weak and reduce the AC output, but that is rare.