I have a question about GS starters

[Road_Clam]

Hey all. Over the past season, I was noticing my 1100 starter was seeming to loose some torque. I had an older questionable battery, so I replaced it late in the spring. The bike seemed to crank over faster, but still not really what I think it should be. I just recently charged up my 1 year old battery to 100%, and last night slapped the battery in and to my frustration, my engine still cranked over slow, and eventually drained the battery. I have not done any further tests, as it got dark, and my bike is in a storage facility with no light, so I gave up. My question is has anyone experienced a GS starter that will crank over, but is overloading the battery by an excessive amperage draw? If my battery tests good, I think I might have to go starter shopping...

 

[gaillarry]

I had a similar problem and the starter was the problem. Pull the starter and bench test it, you may find it draws to much power. In may case the starter was full of rust and the brushes were shot. A good cleaning and new brushes brought it back to life.

 

[chiphead]

Yeah Clam, take that puppy apart, clean the armature. I think there is a minimum brush length on the brushes but I'm not sure. If you can find the spec and they're still long enough, clean the contact surfaces lightly and put it back together.

 

[Joe Nardy]

A couple other things you can do to help your starter turn over faster:

Install a relay to cut power to the headlight when the starter button is pressed. This gives you an additional 55 watts of power to assist the starter.

Install a relay to send system power directly from the battery rather than passing through the ignition switch. The ignition switch has small contacts which can drop a volt or more from your electrical system. With this setup the ignition switch activates the relay which then provides system power directly from the battery through the much larger contacts of the relay.

After installing these two relays on my '83 1100E the starter turned over faster than ever and the headlight, taillight, and indicator lights were brighter than ever.

Leon (Focus Frenzy) provided me with diagrams for these mods. They were also posted here a couple years ago. I think I still have the drawings and could post them if anyone wants them.

Thanks,
Joe

 

[Road_Clam]

Hey thanks guys for the input. Obviously my first step is the basic battery tests for static and load, so after that it's on to the starter for an inspection. Lastly can you remove the starter out of the recess without removing the carbs? thanks
Rich

 

[hampshirehog]

I'll bet it's either your brushes underlength and / or a mucky armature. I'm not sure what the minimum brush length is on your bike - probably around 7.5mm which is pretty much a standard for Jap starter motors - but one usually gets shorter than the other. A quick polish of your armature (soft polish and cloth) and you'll see a great difference.

Again, not sure with your model, but you can often get the starter out with a bit of a fiddle

Wally

 

[jimcor]

Hey thanks guys for the input. Obviously my first step is the basic battery tests for static and load, so after that it's on to the starter for an inspection. Lastly can you remove the starter out of the recess without removing the carbs? thanks
Rich

On the larger bikes I remember reading a post saying that starter removal was possible without jerking the carbs. No such luck on the 550s tho'.


You hip to Stocker's Starters, right? Parts and complete motors, also a good cross reference: www.stockers.com Good guy, decent prices, fast service even though he's on the left coast.

 

[Steve]

Install a relay to cut power to the headlight when the starter button is pressed. This gives you an additional 55 watts of power to assist the starter.

I like this idea and will likely add it to my wife's 850 over the winter. \\/

I do, however, have a problem with this statement:

Install a relay to send system power directly from the battery rather than passing through the ignition switch. The ignition switch has small contacts which can drop a volt or more from your electrical system. With this setup the ignition switch activates the relay which then provides system power directly from the battery through the much larger contacts of the relay.

Just where is this relay going? "...to send system power directly from the battery ..." to where? If you are thinking of the starter, there is already a relay that does that. It's called a solenoid for some odd reason, but every vehicle with an electric starter has one.

If you are thinking of installing the relay between the battery and the fuse box that supplies the rest of the bike, that did not come through very clearly, but it is a good idea.


.

 

[bwringer]

I might also suggest that, once your starter is sorted, you make sure the carbs are rebuilt and calibrated correctly, the intake system is perfectly sealed (if stock), and the ignition system is in excellent shape.

That way, the lightest tap on the starter button fires up the bike immediately. A properly tuned GS starts instantly, hot or cold -- you don't even hear the starter.

 

[Joe Nardy]

Just where is this relay going? "...to send system power directly from the battery ..." to where?

To the entire electrical system. The stock setup passes the 12 volts for the entire electrical system through the ignition switch. By installing a relay properly the ignition switch's only real function is to energize the relay. The 12 volts for the electrical system then is supplied through the relay's much larger contacts which drop significantly less voltage than the tiny contacts in the ignition switch. On my bike and one other that have had this relay installed the electrical system voltage rose at least one volt. This means one more volt to the lights, coils, horns, etc.

If you are thinking of the starter, there is already a relay that does that. It's called a solenoid for some odd reason, but every vehicle with an electric starter has one.

This relay does serves a similar function. The starter solenoid is basically a relay. It allows a small amount of current to energize a coil which pulls much larger contacts together. The much higher current directly from the battery then passes through the large contacts of the solenoid to power the starter motor. This means the large current does not have to pass through the starter switch and much smaller wire can be used to connect the starter button to the solenoid. Again, the relay I proposed does the same thing, except for the rest of the electrical system.
Thanks,
Joe