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What is the easiest way to remedy my Charging system?

  • Thread starter Thread starter BGbraces
  • Start date Start date
B

BGbraces

Guest
Hello all
Ive been riding my 1982 GS850GL for 3 weeks now that is is back up and running after a 14 year hiatus (last registered in 2000 by PO). My indie did a complete tune up / carb rebuild / valve adjustment, tires, etc.

I rode it for 2 weeks , then came home from a ride and turned it off. It refused to start after 10 minutes of being off, so tested the battery, it was at 12.2V.

Left it on the battery tender overnight, started it, ran at 13.15V at 5000 RPM at the battery with no accessories on.

Now, I'm no mechanic and I just want it to charge right. I would like a charging system that is bombproof yet easy to install and be able to run a light bar, GPS and upgraded lights - at some point .

My question is stated- what is the Easiest way to accomplish my goal?

I am willing to toss out the old components and simply buy new ones because I'm not cheap.

From what I have been reading, it means a new Stator (Rick's) and a new R/R. What kind I do not know.

I'm not looking for any complicated bypass wiring or other project that will result in my frustration, confusion or downtime.

What is my easiest upgrade plan?

Thanks!
BG
 
BGbraces said:
Hello all
Ive been riding my 1982 GS850GL for 3 weeks now that is is back up and running after a 14 year hiatus (last registered in 2000 by PO). My indie did a complete tune up / carb rebuild / valve adjustment, tires, etc.

I rode it for 2 weeks , then came home from a ride and turned it off. It refused to start after 10 minutes of being off, so tested the battery, it was at 12.2V.

Left it on the battery tender overnight, started it, ran at 13.15V at 5000 RPM at the battery with no accessories on.

Now, I'm no mechanic and I just want it to charge right. I would like a charging system that is bombproof yet easy to install and be able to run a light bar, GPS and upgraded lights - at some point .

My question is stated- what is the Easiest way to accomplish my goal?

I am willing to toss out the old components and simply buy new ones because I'm not cheap.

From what I have been reading, it means a new Stator (Rick's) and a new R/R. What kind I do not know.

I'm not looking for any complicated bypass wiring or other project that will result in my frustration, confusion or downtime.

What is my easiest upgrade plan?

Thanks!
BG
Click to expand...

Read eveal threads in my signature incluing GS stator
Read GS Charging Health, use Quick test till it seems close. Then move on to Revised Phase A test.
 
Jim,

I think every link in your signature simply needs to be made a sticky, so they stay at the top of the thread list on this electrical/ignition forum.

:D
 
there is no way to get around the fact that you are stil going to have to go through the electrical system and clean everything up. Putting new components into a highly resistive system is going to get you nowhere.
 
BigD_83 said:
there is no way to get around the fact that you are stil going to have to go through the electrical system and clean everything up. Putting new components into a highly resistive system is going to get you nowhere.
Click to expand...

There goes the easy way!
OP: this thing is 32 years old- that means lots of electrical corrosion ready to strike at any moment as you found out.Best to fix correctly and not just throw new stuff at it as a cure-all.
Running more electrical loads will be no problem if you follow the guidelines that members here have devised based on their experience .
Do those tests! A bad charging system only gives you about 45 minutes of running with fully charged battery - not much traveling time.
 
oh. my. sweet. baby. jesus. we need more stickies, updated stator pages, purged corporate sponsorship information, and a few other things. ermergerd i literally can't even right now. sorry for the hijack, but seriously folks.
 
Ha! I don't think a couple of good threads in a permanent/prominent place is a bad thing. Especially if it will cut down on duplicate threads asking the same general questions over and over.

Now if people would simply read them....there is the challenge.
 
On my 850, I ran the 3 stator wires directly to the R/R, and added a dedicated ground from the R/R to the battery. Picked up a full volt over the 13.3 I was getting, to 14.3. I still plan on upgrading the stator and R/R after the season is over.
 
On my gs1000 I kept losing a charge. The battery was an older open cell battery but it had never been filled. The bike also came with a box of battery acid.

Luckily before I spent money on a stator etc., I decided I wanted to upgrade to a closed cell battery anyway, so that is what I bought first. That was two seasons ago and I haven't had any charging issues since.
 
tkent02 said:
Easiest way or would you prefer to do it correctly?
Click to expand...

Both - Easy and Correct.

I don't have a garage for long drawn out projects therefore I need this project to be simple, fast and effective.

And for those of you who are tired of seeing the same questions, may I suggest that a VERY SIMPLE and EASY TO FOLLOW for the LAYPERSON who is not an electrical engineer set of instructions be assembled.

Now I'm not stupid, but reading the pertinent posts on this topic makes my head spin.

BG
 
Last edited:
Electrical is one of the easiest things to understand by primary principles, but becomes complicated once you start adding in series and parallel loads, resistance and heat. To top off the matter, looking at a photocopied wiring diagram in B&W can easily frustrate even those with plenty of experience. There have been a few attempts to create threads to simplify things, but there are an abundance of potential problem areas that can't all be addressed in a single thread.

Bear in mind that working on the electrical system is the one thing on your motorcycle that can be endlessly tiring, because you can't see, hear, or feel the parts moving. However, you can easily test the individual circuits it for continuity, and it will let you know in short course if you've messed something up. It will also come back to bite you hard if you take shortcuts.

As already noted a couple of times, you COULD replace the stator and R/R, but if you are already finding the information overwhelming, then digging into the wiring for those two bits might just blow your mind. Addtionally, the battery could be fried (and probably is if the R/R went out and wasn't regulating the voltage). Also, just by replacing those things, you still might not address the other problems of corrosion, resistance, exposed wiring, etc in the connectors.

I know you have recorded the voltage at 5k rpm, but let's start going at things systematically.

Step 1: Find a known, good battery, install it then

Step 2: Do the quick test and post all of the results. (This one is quick and simple)
 
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