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pulsating electronics???

  • Thread starter Thread starter apcsox
  • Start date Start date
A

apcsox

Guest
so, first a full story, a few months back I was cut off by some ***hole and hit the pavement... both right side turn signals we're screwed up due to this.... I got a set from another 1980 GS for the fronts and wired them in with no problem.... I had problems replacing the rear and ended up using what I had available.... those "beehive" marker lights, usually designed for trailers and such, single wire, same gauge as the stock wiring.... the bolt holes lined up perfectly with the mount on the rear sides of the bike, which I'm assuming the luggage racks or sissy bar is designed to mount to..... no problem there, they worked great, yaddy yadda.... there were two ring terminal grounds that were being held onto the nut holding the stock rear turn signals, which I just used a bolt in that place and tightened down to properly secure the ground............

anyways... I was a dumbass and forgot I left the key in the bike.... the battery died..... so, i charged it and tested it at work, battery was fine...... this being the same day as installing the rear turns.......... anyways, left work that night, and I noticed that all my lights lightly pulsate now........ I don't know where to start searching for my problem........... any ideas?
is there a main ground anywhere near the rear of the bike? where do the two cable grounds that bolt to the stock turn signals go to?
 
Greetings and Salutations!!

Greetings and Salutations!!

Hi Mr. apcsox,

Once my lights started pulsating. It turned out my stator was going bad. First try cleaning ALL of your electrical connections and grounds including the fusebox and ignition switch. Corrosion and resistance is your enemy. Then test your charging system via 'The Stator Papers'. I'm glad you found us. You'll find lots of GS lovin' on my website. Now let me say howdy...

Here is your very own magical, mystical, mythical, mind-expanding "mega-welcome". Please take notice of the "Top 10 Common Issues", the Carb Rebuild Series, and the Stator Papers. Now let me roll out the welcome mat for you...

Please click here for your mega-welcome, chock full of tips, suggestions, links to vendors, and other information. Then feel free to visit my little BikeCliff website where I've been collecting the wisdom of this generous community. Don't forget, we like pictures! Not you, your bike! :D

Thanks for joining us. Keep us informed.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff
 
first are you ok from the spill? I hate hearing stuff like that.
all the lights or just the headlight? shock will damage the filliment wire inside the bulb itself and vibration will have it doing weird things that effect other systems.

in my experience when your bike hits the ground it is time to do a little more inspection all over the whole bike the shock from impact will do hidden things that are weird to say the least. and baffling to say the worst. light bulbs- battery- stator.... start at the front and completely check everything for obvious issues. look inside every bulb and check filliment wires etc... after that is the tough job 'cause it's the hidden things are hard to sort out and find.

front to back top to bottom every wire and connection there are only a hundred or so. well maybe not that many. 1 goofed up marker light can make for weird symptoms that you would think are not related.
 
It is almost surely an indication of impending failure of either your stator or your R/R. Your electrical output is varying in amplitude when it should be straight DC voltage. Your lights indicate that condition by pulsating brighter and dimmer. Read the stator papers and work your way through the recommended checks. I know basscliff said his was a stator failure, but I've experienced those symptoms with an R/R failure. Check them both.
Don
 
Ill check into the basscliff pages, thank you.............
I'm fine from the spill, it was over four months ago.... it's just I can't narrow down what happened if it was from the new lights or not since I killed my battery accidently on the same day >_<
 
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UPDATE........ I began doing the stator testing from the bikecliff pages...... so, after replacing the old stock connectors from the three stator wires, the electronics don't pulsate anymore..... but the weird thing was one of the wires, the yellow one, had a bullet connector going to the regulator, but the connector on the stator end had a dual female end? anybody know where that was supposed to connect to?
 
The older style bikes had a on and off switch for the headlight. The one leg of the stator ran up to the headlight switch and was turned on with the headlight. They got away from the on and off switch but still ran the wire up to the headlight bucket and just jumped it right back. This basically created resistance and burnt this wire and the plug in the headlight bucket.
You did the right thing in just connecting the stator to the r/r.
 
okay good, wasn't sure, it just threw me for a loop seeing something clearly missing
 
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