Voltage testing on 1982 GS850g

[Philly_Chris]

I want to test my charging system, but in the Clymer it says for my bike only- to remove 2 fuses connected to orange/green and orange/red wires. Number one, I cant see which wires go to which fuses. Number two, when i refer to the wiring diagram there isn't an orange/red wire listed though i can see it on the bike....
why do fuses need to be removed? I tried unplugging some, but never got any reading over low 13s

any pointers?

Thanks

 

[focus frenzy]

Ok it is going to be the top two fuses, they power the headlight, tail light, turn signals, instrument lights, horns, ect. (every thing not need to make the engine run. the third fuse down is the ignition/starter relay fuse, the fourth fuse is the main/charging fuse, and the fith is for accesories.
I have no idea why they want the fuses pulled only on the 850's, and not on the 1000/1100's.
but the purpose is to eliminate un-nesasery load from the system for the test.
try moving the regulator ground from the reg. mount bolt to the battery ground terminal,then retest your output, poor regulator ground is a big cause of poor charging.

 

[Anonymous]

Regulator Ground

Regulator Ground

Hi;
Is moving the regulator ground for testing purposes only or is it suggested
that it be moved and left there. With the concerns related to the poor charging capabilities I would like to do everthing possible to avoid problems.
Thanks
Kevin

 

[focus frenzy]

moving the ground to the battery alows the regulator to work correctly, improving reliability.
I was only getting 12.5volts on my bike before I moved the ground, idleing with the brake light on the voltage would drop to 10.7 volts.
after I moved the regulator ground the voltage is now 13.5 at idle and goes up to 14.6 volts at 5000rpm and at idle with the brakes aplied headlight on high the voltage remains at 13.5volts.
I highly reccomend moving the ground from the regulator mount to the same location as the other grounds and fabricating a new ground cable that goes from the battery to the engine and also splits off and goes to the ground point for the rest of the electrical system.

PS: move it perminatly

 

[Anonymous]

Speaking as someone who has just had a lot of charging trouble with my GS650GL here's what I learned.
1. You need to check the output of the alternator. This is regardless of the size of bike. You take the three leads from the alternator. They may all be the same color or not, it doesnt matter as they all put out the same current - ac voltage. By putting the terminals of an multi meter, set to 150 volts AC with the engine revving at 5000rpm across two of the terminals, the meter should read 80 volts or better. Do the same for each of the terminals ie i-2 2-3 3-1 the reading should be the same for each pair. (or yellow - blue/white, yellow - green/white, blue/white - green/white) Electrex have all three terminals yellow. If you are getting this reading the alternator is working fine. The regulator/rectifier cannot be tested. Then comes the tedious job of checking to try and fine any shorts where the wire have rubbed through the insulation, or checking each muti connector for good connections when doing this keep a can ot electronic termnial claener ready. On my bike I found a multi connector under the tank had dropped to close to the engine and had baked solid. I had to break it apart and found two very poor connections.

On my bike I had to replace both the stator and the regulator/rectifier. The stator cost about $150 and the Regulator/Rectifier about $110 Both from Electrex Now it works great You must also make sure you have a ggod ground from the regulator because as the enging increases in rpm the power goes up and the regulator controls this by bleeding some off to ground. How does this work? its magic.