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'flashing' lights with turn signals (weak ground??)

  • Thread starter Thread starter kenora_guy
  • Start date Start date
I don't understand whats going on.. does everything pulse to the turn signal, or to the motor? WTF??

Crank the idle to 5k and whola, no pulsing...?

Start with a fully charged battery...
 
I think I understand what's going on, but this statement puzzles me:
kenora_guy said:
Headlight on and the opposite front signal flashes (i.e. dims) to the pulses, same for the headlight (pulsates) and brakelight too. ...
Click to expand...


It is somewhat normal for other lights to dim a bit when the turn signals are on, especially if the engine speed is low and charging output is low.
Look at it this way, normal loads on the bike are:
headlight - 5 amps
tail light, running lights, instrument lights - about 2 amps
two coils, at about 4.5 amps each - 9 amps

Yes, it takes about 16 amps of current to keep the bike rolling under normal circumstances. Each turn signal bulb is about 2.5 amps, so it's like turning on another headlight bulb, or adding another 33% of the running requirements, but intermittently. Yeah, the system is going to struggle to keep up with that. Since our charging systems don't compensate for load like an alternator can, the lights will dim a bit when the signals come on.

The question I have about the quote above concerns "Headlight on and the opposite front signal flashes..." What I think he means is that when the left signal comes on, the right side running light dims. Yeah, it's normal, see my explaination above. Ensuring you have good connections in your power and ground wires will be good to minimize the flickering, but it will not be eliminated altogether.

.
 
81GS1100, Like Steve said, the turn signal on the right side pulls down the running light intensity on the left, the brake and the headlight. The same (reverse) for the left,,,

The horn works fine. 1157's in the front and brake and 1156 were in the rear turns... I swapped out the 1156's for ones that used about 1/2 the power and surprisingly even though the rated CP is half, it doesn't affect the intensity (i.e. they are still as visable as with the 1156's). The rear turns are stock the front are vetta...
 
Last edited:
kenora_guy said:
81GS1100, Like Steve said, the turn signal on the right side pulls down the running light intensity on the left, the brake and the headlight. The same (reverse) for the left,,,
Click to expand...

Ahhhh, gottcha.

Start all tests with a fully charged battery~!

Yeah, I would test the charging voltage to the battery as well as the charging amps.

Clean all connections as well as the blub socket.

Try running it with a charger on the battery and see if that helps...

But to a point even the best system will show dimming in the other lights around the bike. If its that noticable that they will not pass it for saftey reasons Im guessing something deeper.
 
81GS, The battery is brand new although just because it's new means a whole lot of nothing,,,

I already tried the signals while jumping from my van with **very little** improvement...
 
81gs1100 said:
But to a point even the best system will show dimming in the other lights around the bike. If its that noticable that they will not pass it for saftey reasons Im guessing something deeper.
Click to expand...


Yes, some dimming when the signals flash is perfectly normal. What in the world leads you to believe that it won't pass inspection? Very few motorcycles produce full charging voltage at idle.
 
Bwringer,
Q-what would make me think no pass inspecton?
A-the mechanic who did the inspection who also rides

JC- can you go thru the test light routine for me once more... I'm not quite getting your meaning/direction, BUT it sounds promissing and much faster than what I have been doing...
 
If it's just some dimming, get your inspection done somewhere else. That mechanic is pretty clueless.
 
Test lamp = jumper\|?

Test lamp = jumper\|?

OK JC, that's what I thought you were discribing... I guess my question is that if the test light would show the fault, why wouldn't just the simple heavy duty jumper I made up do the same???

If I jump to a known solid ground (ie the engine, since all grounds are taken from it) wouldn't the weakly grounded item imeadiately improve when properly grounded thru the jumper AND possible even spark as the jumper is connected/ disconnected especially if the item is under load (ie a badly grounded tail light may ark if the brakes were applied while the jumper is dis/connected)???
 
Good point, punn intended

Good point, punn intended

JC, Sharp pint makes a LOT of sense--something I'll add to my jumper...
 
UPDATE & Stator Q

UPDATE & Stator Q

Well my GS550L passed her safety today. She still has something amiss in the electrical department. In order to sneak her thru the re-inspection I ran LEDs in the rear turn signals to reduce the load and the pull down on the front opposite running light. There is still dropout but not noticeable unless concentrating on the light at a close distance.

Last night I put my amp clamp on each leg of the alternator and on the battery cable. I was surprised to find that each leg was about 6.5 amp output @ RPM (6.5x3=19.5 amp) but only 1.5 amps was headed to the battery with the headlight on low+running lights (.95 amp on high!).

So I am planning on working my way thru the Stator Papers and this winter as well as rewiring the majority of the bike.

However, I do have a question. I skimmed the S-Papers about a month back before buying my GS and was wondering if there was anything beyond stock that could be done to the existing alternator to ramp-up the output beyond the factory specs (eg over-winding the stator)... As far as can I tell Suzuki never intended any electrical add-ons and I would like to be able to add some without concern...
 
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kenora_guy said:
Last night I put my amp clamp on each leg of the alternator and on the battery cable. I was surprised to find that each leg was about 6.5 amp output @ RPM (6.5x3=19.5 amp) but only 1.5 amps was headed to the battery with the headlight on low+running lights (.95 amp on high!). ...
Click to expand...
Please don't rely on just the readings from your amp clamp. :eek:

You may have had only 1.5 amps headed to the battery, but that's all it needed. How much was headed to the ignition switch? THAT is where most of the current goes. The whole bike runs on what goes through the ignition switch, unless you have done some mods, like the coil relay mod or a headlight relay mod, both of which bypass the ignition switch for the heavy loads. For a complete picture, you need to know how many amps were coming out of the regulator, how many amps were going to the battery AND how many amps were going to the rest of the bike. That is one advantage of a simple voltmeter, compared to an amp meter. It gives a quick picture of the whole system, rather than just one leg of it.

.
 
The stator output is AC in 3 phase. Whatever you read is not simply added together, you have to determine the RMS value and consider the 120 degree difference in phase. It most assuredly ws not 20 amps from these stators.

Goldwing riders add belt driven alternators to their rides, not possible on the GS. The charging system is allegedly rated at 250-300 watts depending on what book you refer. The 15 amp main fuse says it all and the wiring probably would not safely handle much more than that.

The GS is a fine machine with a bullet proof engine, but a power plant it's not.
 
Same thing on my bike!!!

Same thing on my bike!!!

my bike did the same thing. it ended up being a 30year old ignition switch struggling to power all the lights @ the same time. I wired in a relay to power the headlight and It is ALOT better. It was really noticable on rides home from work @ 11:00p.m +. now I don't really have to worry about the pulsing.
 
Ignition switch makes sense...

Ignition switch makes sense...

Monzanick, thanx for your insight. I ordered new ignition switch this morning off ebay. While I wondered about the switch at one point early on being a possible culprit, that didn't prompt my order... The one one my girl doesn't want to lock the steering. If the new ignition switch solves both problems, will be really getting my $30 worth...

Steve wrote, " How much was headed to the ignition switch? THAT is where most of the current." Great point... silly me... still thinking of 4 wheels.

Duanage, yes I realize it's not RMS when measuring each leg but if I remember correctly, it's not too far afield at such low voltage (80'ish V) and current... Using the lower of your 2 numbers (250 watts) , that's 18.5 amps... @ 300 watts thats 22.2... either number isn't too shabby given the limited needs a bike, just don't add to load...

Again, I put out a plea to anyone who knows about altering the alternator to increase the output current... another 5-7 amps would go a long way to helping my power requirements...
 
duaneage said:
Goldwing riders add belt driven alternators to their rides, not possible on the GS.
Click to expand...
Not to hijack the thread, but that only applies to the 1000, 1100 and 1200 Wings. They all came with stator and r/r systems like the GS has.

The 1500 and 1800 Wings come with true alternators that are driven off the back of the engine. The stock 1500 model alternator is rated at 40-42 amps, but some of them fail prematurely, so we put in an aftermarket unit that is based on a Saturn alternator that is rated at 90 amps. :eek: (That's what mine has. :D) The 1800's stock alternators are rated at about 90 amps and have not given much problem.

.
 
Sorry JC, I wasn't ignoring you. Just goes to show how long I was writing the post for!!! Thanx for the DeoxIT tip... not that I'll be using on my ignition but I have been looking for a good electrical cleaner lube and the last place on the planet I would voluntarily walk into is a Crappy Shack (ooops Radio Shack)... it falls right down their brothels, bath houses and jail cells--well maybe somewhere in between jail and... LOL.

Q: do you ever use the DeoxGold or the DeoxIT in a squeeze tube... I was thinking that the squeeze tube might save me some rewiring if I pulled apart the bullets connectors and the main plugs and gave each male a bit of lube before putting each back together... or would the spray DeoxIT do just as well???

KG
 
Well I swapped out the original ignition switch with a new after market one with no help... I still have slight pull down but I can live with it...
 
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