Electrical Issue requiring some assistance

[Dwayne "Tuffy"]

My 1981 XS 1100 is giving me some issues so I hope I can get some good advice on trouble shooting this problem.
I changed out the complete charging system stators due to the housing coming loose and creating a small overheat of the stators. After cleaning everything up and installing a new Ignition stator and light stator I have come across the following problem.

The ignition stator seems to be working properly as does the light stator but here is my problem. When I turn on the ignition to start the bike, all the lights are working ok. Once I start the motor, the head light turns off and the other lights continue to work properly. While the engine is running at normal temp and idle speed I disconnect the 2 wire lead from the light charging stator and the headlight comes back on. Once the 2 wire plug is disconnected the engine speed slightly increases. I suspectect that there may be a short on a hot wire causing a load on the circuit and thus lowering the engine speed once the 2 wire lead is plugged back into the connection.

I suspect I have a wire grounding out somewhere dealing with the headlight but until I get more further into this mystery I am at a loss as to how to correct the problem.

Andreas told me 3phase may be able to help out so I hope he reads this post.

Thanks everyone who gets back to me with some help.
Regards
Dwayne " Tuffy"

[motoman]

My 1981 XS 1100 is giving me some issues so I hope I can get some good advice on trouble shooting this problem.
I changed out the complete charging system stators due to the housing coming loose and creating a small overheat of the stators. After cleaning everything up and installing a new Ignition stator and light stator I have come across the following problem.

The ignition stator seems to be working properly as does the light stator but here is my problem. When I turn on the ignition to start the bike, all the lights are working ok. Once I start the motor, the head light turns off and the other lights continue to work properly. While the engine is running at normal temp and idle speed I disconnect the 2 wire lead from the light charging stator and the headlight comes back on. Once the 2 wire plug is disconnected the engine speed slightly increases. I suspectect that there may be a short on a hot wire causing a load on the circuit and thus lowering the engine speed once the 2 wire lead is plugged back into the connection.

I suspect I have a wire grounding out somewhere dealing with the headlight but until I get more further into this mystery I am at a loss as to how to correct the problem.

Andreas told me 3phase may be able to help out so I hope he reads this post.

Thanks everyone who gets back to me with some help.
Regards
Dwayne " Tuffy"

Electrical, secondary ignition related I can be of help, not so much with issues for having, cept that headline should NOT be on when key is turned on. I do have some idea of what's not correctly wired, but would be confusing if I were to explain it. Best left to Scott(3Phase) or a couple others here to help with squaring things away for ya' . Beside that, tappin' this out on phone since being some 1700mi. southeast from home isn't the best option.

[skids]

My 1981 XS 1100 is giving me some issues ...The ignition stator seems to be working properly as does the light stator but here is my problem. When I turn on the ignition to start the bike, all the lights are working ok. Once I start the motor, the head light turns off and the other lights continue to work properly. While the engine is running at normal temp and idle speed I disconnect the 2 wire lead from the light charging stator and the headlight comes back on. "

OK, I am not sure what you mean "light stator." The charging system runs off of three phases that pass through a bridge rectifier. The rectifier converts the three phase alternating current to direct current. One of the phases is used to pass through a diode that basically acts as a "one-way-valve" to power the reserve lighting unit. The reserve lighting unit acts (in part) as a relay switch to power the head light. When it gets current, it allows current to the headlight.

It is common for the diode to the reserve lighting unit to fail and as I understand it is in the sheathed wiring loom. You can bypass the reserve lighting unit, but one of its functions is to power both beams if one of the filaments in the bulb goes out.

I figured that I have quick enough reactions to toggle from high beam to low or visa versa, so I bypassed the reserve lighting unit. On one bike, I ran a hot lead from the fuse box, to a lighting relay, and wired in a lower current circuit to a switch on the handlebar to manually turn on the headlight. This is one of the better modification that I have done.

Concerning the issue of your headlight being on with the bike off, it will do that if you have latched the relay in the reserve lighting unit by having the bike run, killing the engine, and not turning the key off.

Concerning the headlight going off after the bike is warmed-up, there might be an issue with the battery not putting out enough to fire the headlight. I suppose the relay quits working before the engine finally dies from dropping below 10.3 volts or whatever that minimum running voltage is.

Know this...these bikes need some rpms to charge the battery. Below something like 1500 rpms, the use of current exceeds the charging current, and the system slowly draws down.

I have rambled quite a bit here, but I hope I have helped.

[3Phase]

Lighting, Charging, and Igniting

How's it going, "Tuffy"!

I got your PM and Skids has got you looking in the right direction. I missed checking the forum last night and today there was a scheduled power outage so the electric company could put in a new pole without cooking anything.


I think you have the basic operation your XS11's Ignition, Charging, and Headlight systems confused with some other type of motorcycle -- there is no Ignition or Lighting stator on your bike! If it helps at all, the XS1100 Ignition and Charging systems are very similar to the ones in 1970s and 1980s Chryslers/Plymouths.


Which 2-wire connector did you unplug?
Where is it on your bike and what are the wire colors?

If it's the one next to the Voltage Regulator/Rectifier with the Brown and Green wires (and an unused Black wire), that's the Field Coil for the alternator and the connector goes to the Voltage Regulator half of the Regulator/Rectifier so the engine idle speed drops when you plug it back in because the alternator starts working again to charge the battery and carry the rest of the electrical load

The electrical system on your '81LH Midnight Special is slightly different from my '80G Standard but they're close enough for now so here's a schematic. Click the link or the thumbnail to download and view the 146K full-size version. Print it out on four sheets of paper in Landscape orientation and tape them together so you can have it in your hands while you work on your bike:-


Printable 16 color GIF: 1980 XS1100G (Standard) US model


.

[Geezer]

I tried to post a diagram of just the charging system but I can't get it to upload.

Anyway the inner coil is a an electromagnet that makes the magnetic field that sweeps over the outer coils that's the stator. The big iron rotor is what mixes up the magnetic field to make it all happen.

The field coil gets power directly off the brown wire in the harness and grounds through the regulator by way of the green wire. The 3 white wire take the AC to the rectifier part of the reg/rec unit and put out DC by way of the red and black wires.

The best way to see if there's power coming out is to push the + probe of an electrical meter into the back of the plug to make contact with the red wire of the reg/rec. Then ground the - lead from the meter. Run the bike up to around 4500 RPM and if it's putting out OK you will see about 14.5v. More or less and you will have to deal with it...

Geezer