charging system trouble, please help

[Geezer]

If I had to fix without proper connector, what would be easy and best way to do that? I am a novice with electrical items. Also, did check brown and green connector and meter was right on, just cleaned and put some dialectic grease on and put back together. Thanks everyone

If you don't have the proper tools for the job, I can custom make a repair harness section for you to splice in. Contact me at my business for more help with this. sales@OregonMotorcycleParts.com

For those that haven't seen it, I show how to do the same fix on a Goldwing on my website. The wire colors are different but the work is the same...

http://www.oregonmotorcycleparts.com/GWstatorplug.html

Geezer

[dschmitta]

Easiest would be butt connectors crimped on but that is not the best by far. There are several ways to do it from soldering to using the correct connector available from Geezer. I would simply do what I had to for now to check that it was working. I then would contact Geezer and get the correct connector. You can do it any way that you are comfortable with, just do not do the PO's poor excuse of twisting them together and black taping them. That would be good to check that you have charging only, after that you need a good fix.

Thanks everyone. Did send message to GEEZER. For now, I'll just get similar at auto parts store. Thanks again. P.S. Having hard time getting connector loose. Wires seem to not have a whole lot of excess. Should I try to get wires loose before any cutting? Don't want to not be able to connect wires together again. Plus, any tricks on working on these wires, they seem hard to get to, even after loosening backing plate? Thanks

[dschmitta]

Hey everyone,

Was out retesting to make sure, when I tested the field coil, my readings were all over the place? I then tested from pin inside connector to ground and received readings. Dont know if I'm doing this correctly. Just bought meter, and it has a whole range of readings on ohm's, fron 20k to 2000k, all which change where the decimal point ends up. Theres also settings on ohm's where decimal dissapears. It is from harbor freight and seems o.k. It also, when turned on to ohm's, shows a constant #1 the whole way to the left. Read directions, just mixed me up. Told ya I was a rookie. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[bikerphil]

Ok, the field coil specs are 3.5 ohms, so you want to set your meter to first setting above this reading, which would be 20 ohm setting. The stator specs should be .4 ohm, so use the same setting, 20 ohm. Betcha if you splice together the wires at the melted connector, your charging system will be fine.

[crazy steve]

...It also, when turned on to ohm's, shows a constant #1 the whole way to the left. Read directions, just mixed me up. Told ya I was a rookie. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

That '1' all the way to the left stands for 'infinity' (too much resistance to measure). Start with the lowest setting the meter offers; if it reads this '1', then click it up to the first setting where the 1 disappears and you get a reading. Go too far, and your reading will be zero, as the measured value will be too small of a percentage of the 'range' you're in.

[dschmitta]

Thanks for info, I feel like an idiot. Those directions just messed me all up. I'll go out tomorrow ,check again, get stotr connected again and see if she is good. Wish me luck

[dschmitta]

Thanks. Will definately check these out. I live up in PA, and the weather is nice today, so I'm going to go out and work on bike in the sun. Thanks again

[dschmitta]

Hey everyone. A few questions before I put wires together. #1. I have a roll of 14 gauge auto wire with max 17 amps & 204 watts. Is this heavy enough? Also, is there a special solder I need to do this?

Also, on the end plug coming from the rear of bike, there were 4 wires, three white and one yellow. The yellow was not connected to anything in the plug, just there. Is this anything to worry about, or just wrap and leave alone? There was only three white coming from the front stator side of bike. Just want to be sure it isn't something to worry about. Thanks

[bikerphil]

Don't worry about the yellow wire, it was only used on the 78-79 models to trigger the headlight relay, but Yamaha left it in the harness for 80-81. Your relay is triggered from one of the white wires somewhere in the harness. Personally myself, I would use butt connectors to connect where the burnt plug was, no risk of melting solder. If you notice, the alternator wires are a special heatproof insulated wire, so running regular 14 guage wire might not be a good idea. JMHO

[dschmitta]

Don't worry about the yellow wire, it was only used on the 78-79 models to trigger the headlight relay, but Yamaha left it in the harness for 80-81. Your relay is triggered from one of the white wires somewhere in the harness. Personally myself, I would use butt connectors to connect where the burnt plug was, no risk of melting solder. If you notice, the alternator wires are a special heatproof insulated wire, so running regular 14 guage wire might not be a good idea. JMHO

Thanks for the info. Are butt connectors easy to install? I did notice the insulation on wires, pain to get off. If you know, how do you install these connectors? Thanks

[crazy steve]

Thanks for the info. Are butt connectors easy to install? I did notice the insulation on wires, pain to get off. If you know, how do you install these connectors? Thanks

For pretty much everything you need to know about crimp connectors, look here: http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread...ering+crimping

[bikerphil]

Just get a pair of wire strippers/crimpers and blue color butt connectors. Crimp them about 5/16" from each end with the wires inserted, very simple.

[dschmitta]

Thanks to all for help. used butt connectors, crimped with neighbors crimper. (Looks like the one in geezer photos). Forgot to put on heatshrink tubing before this. Didn't want to take apart again(was cold in garage-no heat and weather in PA was cold and couldn't use gloves when messing with small wires). Can I slice heatshrink and cover wire fix or not? I just want to seal from any weather is all. Any help apreciated. Thanks to all for info, couldn't have done without. By the way, checked at idle, 12.4v, checked a 3k, 14.5v, so fix seems to have worked. Thanks again

[bikerphil]

http://www.amazon.com/Plastic-Dip-In.../dp/B00176FG0A

[crazy steve]

...Forgot to put on heatshrink tubing before this. Didn't want to take apart again(was cold in garage-no heat and weather in PA was cold and couldn't use gloves when messing with small wires). Can I slice heatshrink and cover wire fix or not? I just want to seal from any weather is all...

Good that that fixed it. As to heat-shrink, nope, splitting it won't work. If you don't want to cut/resplice to install heat-shrink, get a roll of quality, name-brand electrical tape and carefully wrap the connections. I'd recommend 'Scotch 33+' or 'Plymouth Premium' (available most places for about $5 a roll), apply two slightly-stretched half-lapped layers over each connection for at least an inch on either side of the splice. Keep the tape warm (put it in your pants pocket for a 1/2 hour or so before using) while you're doing this; it applies much better.

Why 'good' tape? The cheap stuff doesn't stretch as well (so you can't get as good a seal) and the glue on cheap tape goes bad over time, turning into a gummy mess and unraveling.