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Honda SH541 wiring question

  • Thread starter Thread starter Geo
  • Start date Start date
G

Geo

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Hi all..
I'm replacing the r/r on my 1980 GS550E with a Honda SH541-12 r/r. I wanted to use the Mod on Basscliffs' site except for one problem. The SH541 has 8 wires 3 yellow,2 red, 2 green and 1 black. Do I join the 2 red as one and the black as one then follow the Honda r/r mod. :-kI did a search for SH541 wiring without luck.
Thanks much for the help
 
You are close. :clap: :clap:

Join the two reds as one, join the two greens as one, then follow the directions for the mod.

The greens are grounds, the black is the 'sense' wire.

.
 
Steve said:
You are close. :clap: :clap:

Join the two reds as one, join the two greens as one, then follow the directions for the mod.

The greens are grounds, the black is the 'sense' wire.

.
Click to expand...
Oops..I re-read my post.. I meant to write 2 green not "black".:oops::oops:
Thanks for the quick help!
 
Hi,

I have a similar r/r unit on my bike right now. I put one green wire directly on the negative battery terminal and the other on my common frame ground. As for the red wires, I put one into the regular harness connection and the other was connected directly to the positive battery terminal through an inline fuse (15 amp). I know it seems redundant but that's because it is. ;)

Joining the greens and the reds works just fine too.

The black "sense" wire gets connected to a switched 12v source. Make sure that source is as near to battery voltage as possible. I used the tail light wire near the rear brake switch.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff
 
Last edited:
honda has a kind of different thinking when it comes to wiring colors

Green like grass means ground...

black is switched power
red is positive too ? oh my...

I mean kawa has white - then brown
suzuki has orange then orange with tracer colors

but generally black is ground-- not honda 'eh?
 
trippivot said:
honda has a kind of different thinking when it comes to wiring colors

Green like grass means ground...

black is switched power
red is positive too ? oh my...

I mean kawa has white - then brown
suzuki has orange then orange with tracer colors

but generally black is ground-- not honda 'eh?
Click to expand...
It you play with AC house wiring, you'll quickly find that black is the hot wire, so best to try to seperate black color from grounding considerations. Green or bare copper is a better choice when it comes to grounds. Open lots of light fixtures and you'll find green is the ground wire.
 
BassCliff - quick question for you and all due respect...

I am going to get this same r/r. According to your note, you have a neg (green) going to your negative battery terminal and the other to your common frame ground. On my '83 GS550L, the neg from the r/r went to the solenoid and then onward. Do you have a recommendation as to what to do for that solenoid wire? Common ground perhaps?

Further background - I picked up my new project for a song and have been doing tests since I got her. Read the Stator Papers, performed the diagnostics per the flow chart, wasted a week on a shot multimeter and have the r/r problem dialed in. Can't wait to get her out.

Kenosha, WI (Former home of AMC as well as too many bloody Harleys)
1983 GS550L
2001 Jeep Cherokee
2012 Suzuki SX4 (love it)
2 lazy cats
Filthy Garage
 
The solenoid needs to be grounded somewhere - either to good frame ground or your common ground point.
If you haven't got a R/R yet, consider a series one (SH775) for about $70 - there's been new info since this thread was born.
 
Thanks much. Just got my SH541-12 in the mail. (Ordered it before I saw your post about the SH775). The holes do not match up, so I am going to have to finagle something to make it work. Other than that, should be a snap.

____________
1983 GS550L
 
Seldom will the holes line up. I used a drill to slot the holes so they would line up. Worked great.
AFA the grounds, many recommend all grounds going to one place on the frame, then running a wire from that place to the negative terminal of the battery. Minimizes the number of wires hanging off your negative battery terminal.
 
Update - the holes do not line up, but are too wide on the new unit. No drilling will help - I will have to finagle some sort of bracket or new mount. Right now, the R/R is only mounted with one bolt.

But before I make a new mounting system, I want to see if the new R/R is legit. ($10 on ebay...) I wired the thing up, mounting with only one bolt. I wired everything as recommended, using the one mounting bolt also as a common ground.

My problem is this - the voltage now is way too high. 14.4 at idle and 15.5 at 5K rpms. Is it my ****e mount job that is causing the problem, or is for sure a burned out R/R?

All help to this point is appreciated as well as all forthcoming. Cheers.
 
On Wisconsin said:
Update - the holes do not line up, but are too wide on the new unit. No drilling will help - I will have to finagle some sort of bracket or new mount. Right now, the R/R is only mounted with one bolt.

But before I make a new mounting system, I want to see if the new R/R is legit. ($10 on ebay...) I wired the thing up, mounting with only one bolt. I wired everything as recommended, using the one mounting bolt also as a common ground.

My problem is this - the voltage now is way too high. 14.4 at idle and 15.5 at 5K rpms. Is it my ****e mount job that is causing the problem, or is for sure a burned out R/R?

All help to this point is appreciated as well as all forthcoming. Cheers.
Click to expand...


Please tell us you bypassed the factory harness and wired the stator directly into the R/R. Also, that you made sure the R/R is grounded to the battery or a proper frame mount point. Best to check for voltage loss on the power return though the fuse box. The charging system wiring is very problematic, and your bike's charging system won't be reliable until you rewire it.
 
Nessism said:
Please tell us you bypassed the factory harness and wired the stator directly into the R/R.

Affirmative.

Also, that you made sure the R/R is grounded to the battery or a proper frame mount point.

One of the greens to the battery neg and the other to a proper frame point.

Best to check for voltage loss on the power return though the fuse box.

Will do.

The charging system wiring is very problematic, and your bike's charging system won't be reliable until you rewire it.
Click to expand...

Thanks much. Related - a friend of mine just happened to have a spare SH541, so I will able to check if that is the issue. I wouldn't believe that two SH541s would be bad.

I also misspoke before - the sense wire is on the wire that goes to the rear light. (Someone might have been dumb and tried to wire it to the brake light wire after misreading the wiring diagram. No clue who that could have been.) Now it is correct.

Thanks again. Hopefully I can get this sorted tomorrow. Riding days are going to get sparse around here.
 
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