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electrical help?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Kbecker3
  • Start date Start date
K

Kbecker3

Guest
I noticed the thread on testing the electrical system... i shall test it to try to isolate the problem... but anyway.. if anyone knows about what is happing to give me an idea on where to start it would be greatly appreciated... i just bought a 1981 suzuki GS 750. noticed when i looked at it the guy kept the light off.. well when i got it home i decided to look at everything and noticed the wires coming off the stator were switched... the white/blue went to the yellow, white green went to white/blue and so on... so i switched them all to match (white /blue to white/blue etc.) and noticed that the clear part where the male/female connectors where kind of melted. so i taped them up for now... but when i started it and turned on the headlight they got very hot and started to melt the tape, but when i turned the headlight off they were fine, i could ride around like that for a while and checked them and they were fine. but as soon as i turned the headlight on they would get very hot again..? was going to take a look at it tonight or tommorow and follow the stator papers flow chart to try to find it...

but if anyone has any ideas it would be greatly appreciated

thanks in advance!
-Keith
 
Hi Keith how are you?

I think many of us here have had problems with the notorious electrical system of our GS's. I don't know much about electrical stuff, but by now I do know a few things...

one- do a search on the forum about the r/r (regulator and rectifier) - these usually go bad on our gs and are often replaced with a new after market one or one of a Honda.

and two - everyone on this forum will likely send you here- read it, learn it, and you will likely diagnose your problem :)

http://www.thegsresources.com/garage/gs_statorfacts.htm

There actually a neat flow diagram to test the charging system.
 
I dont believe the 3 stator wires make a difference where they are. Make sure the 3 connections are clean & solid. Look at all the ground wires and especially the ground point for the R/R. Clean it up good and even try an extra jumper wire from that ground point straight to the battery negative post.
 
Keith,

Yes, the three wires from the stator are interchangable.

My quess would be that the connections are not making good contact, and that is the source of the heat, as opposed to way too much current.

Oh, check to see that you actaully have fuses in the fuse holder, and that someone hasnt put in something else in thier place.

Thoise connectors there at the stator wiring are known for going bad (and the original bullet conectors being margininal when new). Try cleaning them up where the one connector mates up to the other connector. BUt sometimes the problem is where the one wire connects to its oun connector gets corroded. No good way to fix that. Which is why you will hear recomendations to cut off the connectors and solder the wires together. If that seems too drastic for you (cant take apart for getting volt meter readings), you can try using wire nuts rather than soldering the wires together. Use the small grey or blue ones not the bigger red or yellow. Wire nuts are still subject to getting the wires corroded after some time.

I dont have a schematic for the model you have, so I cant make specific further comments, even though the color codes are perrty much the same from model to model.

Hum, I thought that most models no longer had a headlight switch either in 1979 or 80.
But if you have a headlight switch (and is stock), then the switch turns on the headlight..... And also switches in one of the three phases of the stator so that stator puts out more power when the headlight is on. Some people rewire that part of the circuit so that all 3 phases of the stator are being used all the time, even if the headlight is off. Maybe that why some of the wires were moved around.

Anyway, biggest thing I have to say is that the connectors heating up is most probably due to the connector not making a good connection.

Other comments you may hear about adding ground wires from battery to R/R, that is related to improving the charging circuit.

.
Oh, and welcome to GSR.
If these comments help you, then you owe us.
Yep, you owe us posting of pictures of the bike. (jokeing)
So get that bike fixed up and look in Meeting Place for a ride/rally that is near you.
 
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sorry, its a 1981 suzuki gs750 L. i went home last night, and put new male/female connectors on the 3 wires for the stator, and put a jumper wire from the - post on the battery straight to the R/R. but i noticed that only 2 wires getting hot now... the red, and the red/white ones... i beleive one goes through the 15 amp main, and to the battery. and the other one goes to the headlight switch... they only get hot when i turn the headlight on still.

so i was probably going to solder and heat shrink all of the 5 wires tonight when i get home... i was just wondering.... since those wires where getting so hot there (their weakest point at the connecotors) they wont get hot else where and just start melting the wire like say in a switch or somewhere else along the line?

also when i did the test for the stator (ac volts) all 3 wire combinations where putting out the same voltage but where below 60. say 45-50volts at about 5000 rpm.?
 
O.K. last night I tried cutting off the connectors, and twisting them together, and putting wiring nuts on them (if this worked would then solder them together and heat shrink them) but they still get pretty warm/hot doesn't seem like melting hot... do these wires normaly get pretty warm when the headlight is on?

(3 wires coming off the stator dont get as warm now. the red, and the red/white wire are the ones getting warm) if i can remember correctly the red one is the one connected to the r/r, and goes through the 15amp main fuse to the battery. And the red/white wire goes from the regulator to the head light switch.

checked the stator and at about 5,000 rpm it is putting out about 45v AC. havn't checked the R/R yet. do you do this while it is running too?
 
Do not forget to check the ground connections for the headlight, not just the stator connections.
V
 
ok, will check ground connections tonight... also try to look and see if there is any bare wire shorting out those wires.

also didn't mention that the horn doesn't work, when you push the button. but if you jump a ground to the terminal it works, would some corrosion or rust or somthing be in that switch that would also cause the wires to get warm being that it is the same switch control that the head light switch is on.
 
Check all the connections in the headlight basket. They tend to get corrosion and are hardly ever thought of.
V
 
checked all the connections, they look good, no corrosion feel tight. my question is: even if i get a good charge on the battery at the stated rpm levels (2500, and 5000 rpms according to the stator pages (first stator pages test)) i get charging system is good if you go accross the flowchart. but i tried also going down to the RR (test C, or the 3rd test) and couldn't get the diode test to register on the multimeter (good multimeter, Fluke i think you are supposed to get 1.5volts or so) the RR still charges the battery fine (starts up fine, and doesn't discharge after a few days), but the red and the red/white wires coming off the RR still get hot with the headlight on at about 2500 - 3000 rpm.

Could the RR still be bad or going?
 
thanks to the help of this site, and everyone... I beleive i have fixed the heating wire problems. i bought the new electrosport RR, and stator. soldered the connections, and moved the RR up to the front of the bike. As i removed the stator cover and looked at the stator, ( will have to post some pics) it looked like someone who thought that they must have been good w/ copper wire, and epoxy (obviously they were not) tried to re-wind the stator themselves. but they didn't replace the yellow wire, or the green and white wire (which looked burned and where bare and touching eachother) the epoxy job looked horrible. if it were me, i would have thought if i were going to all the trouble to re-wind the stator, that i would have wanted to replace the bare/half melted wires? but oh well... i believe this fixed my wiring problems (also took apart the connectors, cleaned them up and wd-40'd 'em all) so i think i should be all good now.\\:D/

except for the horn is the only thing that doesn't work.? my guess is the switch... any suggestions for taking that apart to get it working?

but anyway i just wanted to thank everyone!:-D
 
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