Multiple electrical problems

[dschmitta]

The left signal not blinking is probably poor connections. The turn indicator and high beam lights could be a bad ground in the headlight shell. The charging system is probably also poor connections.

I know this can be frustrating, but the best way to deal with it is go through each system, each and every connection, making sure it goes where it's supposed to and the connections are clean and conducting through them with little or no resistance.

Again, be methodical.....

Checked every connection on bike from tail up through to fairing (Had fairing and tank off, checked ,cleaned all plugs and connections, looked for broken,frayed wires,etc., spray cleaned and packed everything with dialectric cleaner and grease). Wires look boogered inside fairing. Should I just untape, uncap and use tester to try and find? I have wiring diagram with color codes for fairing wires and what they control. I don't think at this point I have choice and I have feeling al probs are inside fairing. Should I do ohms tests or voltage tests or both? Thanks. Dave

[GLoweVA]

I've noticed that on my G with the Fairing, if the voltage is low (<12V) then the stock flasher doesn't have enough juice to make the left signal flash. (this is probably due to a weak connection somewhere) anyways the point is th stock flasher needs good input voltage and the correct load (ie right bulbs).
One thing I do like about the stock flasher and the self canceling system is if I get a burnt out bulb, then when I go to signal, it won't flash and just stays on. I then look around the bike and the bulb that's not lit I replace and viola! blinking again.

So, fix that charging issue and then check the signals again. I've noticed that my high beam light is also very weakly on, but I think that's some kinda bleed over from the RLU. easy to check, just unplug the RLU and see if the high beam light goes fully out.

[dschmitta]

I've noticed that on my G with the Fairing, if the voltage is low (<12V) then the stock flasher doesn't have enough juice to make the left signal flash. (this is probably due to a weak connection somewhere) anyways the point is th stock flasher needs good input voltage and the correct load (ie right bulbs).
One thing I do like about the stock flasher and the self canceling system is if I get a burnt out bulb, then when I go to signal, it won't flash and just stays on. I then look around the bike and the bulb that's not lit I replace and viola! blinking again.

So, fix that charging issue and then check the signals again. I've noticed that my high beam light is also very weakly on, but I think that's some kinda bleed over from the RLU. easy to check, just unplug the RLU and see if the high beam light goes fully out.

o.k., will do. Thanks for help. Dave

[crazy steve]

Checked every connection on bike from tail up through to fairing (Had fairing and tank off, checked ,cleaned all plugs and connections, looked for broken,frayed wires,etc., spray cleaned and packed everything with dialectric cleaner and grease). Wires look boogered inside fairing. Should I just untape, uncap and use tester to try and find? I have wiring diagram with color codes for fairing wires and what they control. I don't think at this point I have choice and I have feeling al probs are inside fairing. Should I do ohms tests or voltage tests or both? Thanks. Dave

You really need to ohm test every connection in every plug. I learned that just because you sprayed some cleaner on it and it's better doesn't mean it's now good; I had connections that I had to clean multiple times before I got the resistance through the connector down to a low enough value to not cause problems. This will also include making sure the male-female contact parts fit together tightly as they can loosen up from being unplugged/plugged. For the charging system, that value is .1 ohm or less; for other circuits, no more than .2 ohm will cause the least issues. But ideally, you want zero resistance through all of them (or as low as your meter will resolve).

[dschmitta]

ran tests, some failures

You really need to ohm test every connection in every plug. I learned that just because you sprayed some cleaner on it and it's better doesn't mean it's now good; I had connections that I had to clean multiple times before I got the resistance through the connector down to a low enough value to not cause problems. This will also include making sure the male-female contact parts fit together tightly as they can loosen up from being unplugged/plugged. For the charging system, that value is .1 ohm or less; for other circuits, no more than .2 ohm will cause the least issues. But ideally, you want zero resistance through all of them (or as low as your meter will resolve).

ran lots of tests from electrical posts I read. 1. Drill bit stuck like glue to cover, good. 2. coil plug behind f/box 0 ohms from br to gr wire, good. 3. with coil disconnected and key off, ch. br wire at reg plug to ground, no reading so supposedly no short. NOW, Failures. 1.Key on, plugged in, supposed to show 12V at brown wire, showing 9.86.(Green wire was good at 1.12). 2. Field coil terminal test showed 5.9 ohms, way above the 3.5 should have been. Any ideas now???

[crazy steve]

..2. coil plug behind f/box 0 ohms from br to gr wire, good. 3. with coil disconnected and key off, ch. br wire at reg plug to ground, no reading so supposedly no short. NOW, Failures. 1.Key on, plugged in, supposed to show 12V at brown wire, showing 9.86.(Green wire was good at 1.12). 2. Field coil terminal test showed 5.9 ohms, way above the 3.5 should have been. Any ideas now???

You need to spend some time familiarizing yourself with the wiring diagrams in the manual. If you don't understand them, post where you are and see if there's a local XSer who can come by and help you. And you need to be much more detailed in what/how the tests you perform when posting here.

First, item 2 above. Getting zero ohms at this plug is not 'good', at best it's indeterminate, likely bad. When checking resistance, you must isolate the bits of the circuit. Start at one end of the circuit or the other, and work to the other end. This may be indicating a bad regulator, but separate testing of that is the only way to be sure.

Next, your 'fails'. The battery voltage at the brown wire; where are you putting the meter probe? At the regulator or plug at the fuse panel? Which side of the plug are you on? Harness side or regulator/coil side? The voltage readings at the brown/green tell me there's an issue, but the problem could be in multiple places; again, you need to isolate the pieces of the circuit to find it. The field coil reading of 5.9 ohms is really strange, as you reported zero ohms in item 2 of your 'goods' and this is the same circuit.

Get out the manual, and read these two links.....

http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread.php?t=35337

http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread.php?t=35339

[dschmitta]

You need to spend some time familiarizing yourself with the wiring diagrams in the manual. If you don't understand them, post where you are and see if there's a local XSer who can come by and help you. And you need to be much more detailed in what/how the tests you perform when posting here.

First, item 2 above. Getting zero ohms at this plug is not 'good', at best it's indeterminate, likely bad. When checking resistance, you must isolate the bits of the circuit. Start at one end of the circuit or the other, and work to the other end. This may be indicating a bad regulator, but separate testing of that is the only way to be sure.

Next, your 'fails'. The battery voltage at the brown wire; where are you putting the meter probe? At the regulator or plug at the fuse panel? Which side of the plug are you on? Harness side or regulator/coil side? The voltage readings at the brown/green tell me there's an issue, but the problem could be in multiple places; again, you need to isolate the pieces of the circuit to find it. The field coil reading of 5.9 ohms is really strange, as you reported zero ohms in item 2 of your 'goods' and this is the same circuit.

Get out the manual, and read these two links.....

http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread.php?t=35337

http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread.php?t=35339

Sorry 'bout that. Went to test regulator/rectifier today and when took plug apart, the red wire on the female end was melted almost clean through. the male end looked a little weathered itself. (This was the side with three whites, a red and a black) Should I just replace regulator or dig deeper. Have feeling may be from accident. Thanks

[3Phase]

'80G Color Schematic

dschmitta,

As Steve said, you need to check the connectors for dirt, corrosion and burning.

I made a color schematic for my '80G that you can download from Flickr. The image can be zoomed to see details and if you print it out it will use four pages of paper. Tape the four pages together to make the complete schematic.

Click the link or the thumbnail to download and view the 146K full-size version:-

Printable 16 color GIF: 1980 XS1100G (Standard) US model
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4054/...1ae5cbd4_o.gif



.

[dschmitta]

dschmitta,

As Steve said, you need to check the connectors for dirt, corrosion and burning.

I made a color schematic for my '80G that you can download from Flickr. The image can be zoomed to see details and if you print it out it will use four pages of paper. Tape the four pages together to make the complete schematic.

Click the link or the thumbnail to download and view the 146K full-size version:-

Printable 16 color GIF: 1980 XS1100G (Standard) US model
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4054/...1ae5cbd4_o.gif



.

Thanks man. much appreciated. did FSM tests and results were still good? wondering if should replace connectors and see if charges before replacing regulator?

[3Phase]

Thanks man. much appreciated. did FSM tests and results were still good? wondering if should replace connectors and see if charges before replacing regulator?

"You need to check the connectors for dirt, corrosion and burning."

I guess I should have added, "If the connectors are dirty, corroded and burned then replace the connectors and test everything again before replacing any hardware."

If you print out the schematic you can use it in the garage while you work without worrying about getting the factory manual dirty or trying to find a magnifying glass to read its schematic.

Have fun!

.

[dschmitta]

"You need to check the connectors for dirt, corrosion and burning."

I guess I should have added, "If the connectors are dirty, corroded and burned then replace the connectors and test everything again before replacing any hardware."

If you print out the schematic you can use it in the garage while you work without worrying about getting the factory manual dirty or trying to find a magnifying glass to read its schematic.

Have fun!

.

So it would be safe to replace connectors and recheck FSM readings? Thanks, Dave

[3Phase]

How's it goin', Sparky?

Safe? Is anything ever really safe? (Muh! Wah! Hah! Hah!)

Okay, you've probably already discovered this but the large Red wire at the (burned) Rectifier connector is always electrically 'live' even when the ignition switch is off.

Be careful when you work on any of the connections at the Rectifier. It is technically possible to blow up the battery if you make big fat sparks right next to it and blow out the Main 30A fuse by shorting out the Red wire as you work on the rectifier connections. The main Red wire runs from the battery to the ignition switch with the Regulator/Rectifier more or less in the 'middle'.

[Battery] --> [Solenoid 'Battery' Terminal] --> [30A Main Fuse] --> [R/R] --> [Ignition Switch]

When you finish up with the connectors, go ahead and run the FSM tests again before you start throwing new hardware at the problem.

.

[dschmitta]

red is hot

Safe? Is anything ever really safe? (Muh! Wah! Hah! Hah!)

Okay, you've probably already discovered this but the large Red wire at the (burned) Rectifier connector is always electrically 'live' even when the ignition switch is off.

Be careful when you work on any of the connections at the Rectifier. It is technically possible to blow up the battery if you make big fat sparks right next to it and blow out the Main 30A fuse by shorting out the Red wire as you work on the rectifier connections. The main Red wire runs from the battery to the ignition switch with the Regulator/Rectifier more or less in the 'middle'.

[Battery] --> [Solenoid 'Battery' Terminal] --> [30A Main Fuse] --> [R/R] --> [Ignition Switch]

When you finish up with the connectors, go ahead and run the FSM tests again before you start throwing new hardware at the problem.

.

Red is definately juiced which I found out when I LATCHED onto it. It'll wake u up in a hurry. Anyway, put wires together, tests failed as per FSM and after reading thread about HOW to properly test wiring and plugs. FSM is telling me to replace regulator, so I'm gonna just bite the bullett. Andrea I heard has the part and the price is right, so keep u informed. Thanks so much for all help. Dave

[rpgoerlich]

Check to make sure the headlight relay is closing and has power going in and out. There is a Diode inline on the wire coming from the alternator that powers(AC) the headlight relay once the bike is started. Headlight relay is under the tank.

If you don't have power going to the headlight relay when running this may be the problem. The diode is located in the wiring harness under the tank in a plastic tube. It has butt connectors on each end. You can get a replacement at Radio shack for a couple bucks and solder the butt connectors back on.

[dschmitta]

headlight relay

Check to make sure the headlight relay is closing and has power going in and out. There is a Diode inline on the wire coming from the alternator that powers(AC) the headlight relay once the bike is started. Headlight relay is under the tank.

If you don't have power going to the headlight relay when running this may be the problem. The diode is located in the wiring harness under the tank in a plastic tube. It has butt connectors on each end. You can get a replacement at Radio shack for a couple bucks and solder the butt connectors back on.

relay went bad, so I had to do the override and wire it direct. Should I still test the diode? How would I do this with no relay? Light works when key is on, so does that take the diode out of play? Thanks, Dave