On tour,my 78GS1000 stopped charging...

[raceman]

l left in the dark of night in full leathers,tucked down in a racers crouch over my tank bag and with clip-ons and rear-sets to perch upon, a fresh motor to power me forward. l returned last night a broken man,crippled and penniless with a bike unloved and not charging.l replaced the battery in las Vegas and checked the charging which showed about 13-14 volts thoughout the rev range.Just before Albuqureque the radar detector started shutting itself on/off and the next time l stopped for gas the battery was dead.Flat dead. l was able to push start the bike and make it the last 100 miles so it must be putting out some voltage.l will never,and l mean ever,take another trip on an unfaired machine. Anyhow ...bad stator? any help appreciated

[t3rmin]

Run through the Stator Papers, man. It's a right of passage. You'll feel better once you've got a non-GS r/r in place. ;-)

[raceman]

hmmm,thanks. ur,what are the "stator papers"? any help appreciated

[Nessism]

hmmm,thanks. ur,what are the "stator papers"? any help appreciated

Stator Papers is on the GSR homepage.

Number one failure in the charging system is the R/R. Check the ground wire at the battery box and extend it over to the battery post. Many of us upgrade the R/R as a matter of course. Do a search and get ready to read.

[SPARKSS]

Sounds like some of the rides I've taken over the years raceman. First....never throw parts at a problem.....learn how your charging system works and then how to troubleshoot it correctly. I say this only because of the way you asked your question. I see lots of talk on this site about never using the stock rectifier or regulator or combination units but I can say that on my 79 GS1000, those have been reliable parts and have never given me trouble. What has given me trouble has been poor OEM connections (they used round bullet-type male-female connectors)......the design of these allows that once they just barely get a little loose or corroded, heat builds at the connection (ohms law) and this further degrades that connection eventually causing an open circuit. A common spot for this to happen is at the 3 stator wires where they feed the rectifier bridge and at the 2 regulator connections which tee off of 2 of those wires.
Other like-connections have suffered the same fate but to a lesser extent. The stator is the source of your charging power and is a 3 phase winding excited by a permanent magnet rotor which cuts across those windings, generating a voltage in them. The stator sits stationary (hence the name) in a heck of a hot and vibrating environment and at best (in it's original form) is of marginal quality. Anything that loads the electrical system abnormally (extra lighting.....or a shorted cell in the battery or any actual short circuits!) causes the stator to dissipate extra heat and it'll often under these conditions.

Basically, you'll be looking for open wiring......touching to see if any connections are hot.......testing the stator output (disconnected) to verify correct AC voltage.....and maybe testing your rectifier bridge and regulator once you know how all this works.

[Guest]

Stator Papers

Get a multimeter and you're on your way.