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GS Charging System Health

Thank you guys for the thorough walkthrough. I am a horrible auto electrician, excelling at letting the blue smoke out, but not so good at getting it back in. This resource will definitely help get my GS running right. Cheers!
 
forgive me, as i am a little confused. im sure youve covered every issue or question i have but im a little slow(lol).

here is my issue, the r/r wires keep getting burnt at the connections. i have the r/r black lead going to the - terminal on the battery. volts sit at 12v idle and climb to 12.4 at 5k rpm's. battery does not charge past 12.4.

what ive gathered is, its best to solder the 5 connections and use shrink wrap. as well as send r/r black wire (-) , the return, as close to the r/r as possible, such as the r/r mounting bolt.

did i get that right? and what else am i missing?
 
forgive me, as i am a little confused. im sure youve covered every issue or question i have but im a little slow(lol).

here is my issue, the r/r wires keep getting burnt at the connections. i have the r/r black lead going to the - terminal on the battery. volts sit at 12v idle and climb to 12.4 at 5k rpm's. battery does not charge past 12.4.

what ive gathered is, its best to solder the 5 connections and use shrink wrap. as well as send r/r black wire (-) , the return, as close to the r/r as possible, such as the r/r mounting bolt.

did i get that right? and what else am i missing?

I would suggest following GS Charging Health and then proceed to the Quick test. If you post the results I will help diagnose what is going on.
 
well, thats what im asking about. its alot of info and im getting confused. solder connections/ground as close to reg rec as possible. also there isnt alot of play in those harness wires, soldering those arw going to be near impossible


I would suggest following GS Charging Health and then proceed to the Quick test. If you post the results I will help diagnose what is going on.
 
annd i dont know what this means
"all of the return current wires can be tied securely together at a single point. Here are the connections

  • #1: Ground R/R(-) to case and side plate
  • #2: The shortest wire to a frame bolt
  • #3: The shortest wire to the Battery (-)
  • #4: Connects to the (B/W) harness negative ring lugs (typically the one attached at the solenoid mounting bolt). You can leave the other harness ground ring lug (B/W) where it normally is picking up the battery box ground."
 
well, thats what im asking about. its alot of info and im getting confused. solder connections/ground as close to reg rec as possible. also there isnt alot of play in those harness wires, soldering those arw going to be near impossible

I think "close as possible" is in reference to less than 1 foot of 14 awg wire between SPG and R/R(-).
 
annd i dont know what this means
"all of the return current wires can be tied securely together at a single point. Here are the connections

  • #1: Ground R/R(-) to case and side plate
  • #2: The shortest wire to a frame bolt
  • #3: The shortest wire to the Battery (-)
  • #4: Connects to the (B/W) harness negative ring lugs (typically the one attached at the solenoid mounting bolt). You can leave the other harness ground ring lug (B/W) where it normally is picking up the battery box ground."

Item #1 is: the wire to the SPG from the R/R(-). Again it can be located anywhere as long as the length of wire between it and the R/R(-) does not exceed 1 foot of 14 awg wire.

The SPG collects up all return currents (from #2,#3 and #4)and then sends then to wire #1.
 
spg is just a ground? what are the retun wires? i know that the black (-) on r/r is a return. i dont know what the other return wires are. there are the 3 alternator wires going in, one power (red) going out and one return. see my brain doesnt work right.



Item #1 is: the wire to the SPG from the R/R(-). Again it can be located anywhere as long as the length of wire between it and the R/R(-) does not exceed 1 foot of 14 awg wire.

The SPG collects up all return currents (from #2,#3 and #4)and then sends then to wire #1.
 
image.jpg it appears i have one of my alternator wires going into the harness and one of my r/r wires going into the harness. if i correct this, attatching the 3 wires to the r/r, then i will have two unused wires in the harness, a red/white with female bullet connector and a white and green with male bullet connector. what are the for?

i know yall keep reffering me to the posts already made, but i am asking for it to be spelled out a little better. im missing the theory. do i do anything different with the r/r's + redwire? right now its going to the harness....

i had the r/r - black wire tied in to the battery.
and what i should do is tie this to the mounting bolt on the r/r. and from this point make another lead to the frame,another to the battery, correct? according to the ground loop diagram and charging system health photo.

but on the high performance power and ground page, its suggesting my r/r- goin to the solenoid and from the solenoid to the batt-,harness,and a ground to the frame.


as of now my batt+ has one lead to solenoid and one to the fuse box.
the batt- has one lead going to a ground on the motor and one lead to the r/r- black wire.

what should i do?
 
also i should add, the only 3 wires that are cooked, are the 2 alternator wires that were actually hooked up to the r/r, and the one r/r lead that should have been connected to the alt wire but instead was connected to the w/r in the harness. ugh
 
View attachment 44825 it appears i have one of my alternator wires going into the harness and one of my r/r wires going into the harness. if i correct this, attatching the 3 wires to the r/r, then i will have two unused wires in the harness, a red/white with female bullet connector and a white and green with male bullet connector. what are the for?

If you compare your wires to the schematic for your bike you should see the three wires that come from your stator. (hint one of them is yellow). These three wires go straight to the R/R. What ever they were connected to you can ignore. THis will leave G/W and W/R spare.

Again if you compare this picture to the schematic you should notice that at least two of the wires were changed apparently by a PO. specifically the white and blue and possibly the red.
After you run the stator wires direct to the R/R you are eliminating the G/W and W/R from the circuit. They are now spare wires until you do something with them they are also not powered.
i know yall keep reffering me to the posts already made, but i am asking for it to be spelled out a little better. im missing the theory. do i do anything different with the r/r's + redwire? right now its going to the harness....

If you can not read the information and formulate a question then you are probably never going to get the "theory". If you can formulate a specific question and there is hope. The only answer to the only question above in "No"! But as with all connectors and especially the ones between battery and R/R you have to make it clean.


i had the r/r - black wire tied in to the battery.
and what i should do is tie this to the mounting bolt on the r/r. and from this point make another lead to the frame,another to the battery, correct? according to the ground loop diagram and charging system health photo.


but on the high performance power and ground page, its suggesting my r/r- goin to the solenoid and from the solenoid to the batt-,harness,and a ground to the frame.

In the post just above it says the SPG can be any where as long as it is within 1 foot of the R/R(-). Are both these locations within 1 foot of the R/R(-)? If yes then you have your answer.

as of now my batt+ has one lead to solenoid and one to the fuse box.
the batt- has one lead going to a ground on the motor and one lead to the r/r- black wire.

what should i do?

You should take the information provided and draw a schematic of the connections. Attached is an example that someone else finally drew after I recommended it several time. Either modify this one for your bike or draw you own. Note colors and wire size; in this case wire size is omitted and it is confusing.


Schematic_GS1100ESD.jpg
 
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also i should add, the only 3 wires that are cooked, are the 2 alternator wires that were actually hooked up to the r/r, and the one r/r lead that should have been connected to the alt wire but instead was connected to the w/r in the harness. ugh

Take note: darkened connectors are because of dirty contacts/crimps NOT because of small wires.

The suggestions in GS Charging Health tries to minimize the number of connectors between the R/R harness and the stator wires (which are the ones you see burned).

If you maintain the headlamp loop by not connecting the stator direct you will melt all connectors that follow the circuitous route through the harness before finally arriving at the R/R. Once you do this those wires are free for other purposes.

The battery and ground connections usually do not burn, but they still can drop voltage. The voltage drops are generally not because of wire size as long as you are using at least 16 awg. Some R/R's as I recall seem to have little 18 awg ground wires on them which is not good but when you switch to a new Series R/R you should be able to put an adequate 14 awg R/R(-) wire onto your R/R that runs to the SPG (which is less than 1 foot away).
 
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