[exavid]

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Been noticing a slight whiff of hot wiring once in awhile on my bike of late so got to hunting before I put all the plastic back on and found one of the upper connectors carrying the stator leads had begun to cook a bit.This wasn'tthe usual ones down by the battery, I'd already hard wired them. I cut off the connector and hard wired the two leads. The interesting thing is that the Honda SEI electrical supplemental manual for the 1986 shows the famous three yellow leads leaving the stator, going to the three wire plug and socket by the battery, and then proceeding through two eight pin plug and sockets to arrive at the rectifier/regulator. Oddly enough on my bike the plug on the regulator wasn't an eight wire dude, it was a six wire and a two wire plug. There is a metal bracket that holds the two wire connector so it was factory installed. The six wire connector has a wire holder sticking out of the regulator. Anyway I was surprised that the schematic in the Honda Supplemental Manual for the 1986 SEI had that error. Perhaps it was the way the LTD was done and changed in 1986 without changing the manual.

If anyone has the '85 LTD manual could you take a look at the circuitry from the stator to the regulator and see how many connectors these leads go through and what kind of connectors they are? Thanks!

:stumped::stumped::stumped:

 

[Goldwinger1984]

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Hi exavid, I' mlooking in my manual for the 85 Limited, but, I can't see what you are asking about. Could you possibly rephrase and I'll give it another try, maybe I'm just not understanding your request.

Vic

 

[exavid]

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I'll try again, don't know if it'll be any clearer.

Three wires lead from the stator to a 3 conductor connector. From there the three leads to to an eight conductor connector, pass through a filter, and go through another eight conductor connector to the rectifier/regulator. This is from the 1986 Honda Electrical Supplemental Manual for the SEI.

On my bike it's a little different. From the stator the three wires go to a 3 conductor plug. From there two of the stator wires to go a two conductor conductor and directly into the regulator. The third yellow stator wire goes into a six conductor connectorthrough a filter, through another six conductor connector and then to the regulator/regulator.

The wiring (other than the two connectors I subsequently bypassed due to heating) appears to be factory. It doesn't comply with the diagram in the manual mentioned above. I was wondering if the wiring in the first paragraph above might have been how the 1985 LTD was wired. Possibly they changed it a bit in 1986 and failed to change the supplemental electrical manual for the later year.

I'ts no big deal, I was just trying to track down the reason my bike isn't wired the way it supposedly was.

:stumped::stumped::stumped:

 

[weewillywing]

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Paul, your bike may have been fitted with the later type rectifier, the filters were the additional ones fitted to cope with the radio noise. I don't think this would be in any of the workshop manuals.

 

[exavid]

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That's a possibility, but the filter itself is in the supplemental manual. I'm not too surprised, after a career spend using schematic diagrams and blueprints it's actually a surprise when the paper and reality match up.

:waving::waving:

 

[Guest]

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It's nice to see an ordinary member like weewillywing advising a "Guru" :clapper:There's hope for us yet. :clapper:

:leprechaun: :18red: :leprechaun:

 

[exavid]

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Redwing. wrote:

It's nice to see an ordinary member like weewillywing advising a "Guru" :clapper:There's hope for us yet. :clapper:

Keep it under yer hat, I'm only a paid up Guru!

 

[Goldwinger1984]

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Well, Exavid, I looked it up again and sure enough your Wing is wired differently than the manual. My manual shows clearly, for the 85 LTD, the single 8 wire connector and not a 6 and 2 arrangement. I don't quite understand why yours would be different, but, if you ever do find out please let us know.

Vic

 

[exavid]

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I guess it's just going to be a mystery. At least I know both the 85 and 86 are supposed to have the eight wire connector.Sure strange, the2 wire and 6 wire connectors were mounted in a bracket with two other multi wire connectors. That indicates the likelihood of more 86 SEIs being built the same way. If anyone with one has their top cover off, take a look at the front left area just forward of the regulator/rectifier and see it yours is set up this way.

I'm still not sure exactly why one of the three stator wires is routed differently than the other two. By the time I got the damaged connector spliced out I was tired of fooling with it and put it all back together and took a test ride. Running smooth as silk, had it out today between rain shower. It doesn't appear that the two wire connector had developed much resistance since my voltages seem to be about the same, but it did develop enough heat to melt the connector enough to stick it together.

 

[Dave Campbell]

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My wiring diagram also shows one connector but its a cheap one.

Those LTD/SEIs wiring carry a lot of current, more so than the Aspencade so its not surprising it melted a regulator connector. Id repair the whole thing before youre left walking. Wonder if this is an early production change or a early unit from a first production run?

Only thing I can think of why one stator wire is separate, and would go up in smoke when the other two dont, is that the regulator as best I know, grounds one phase to control the charging voltage. Running it to ground frequently would draw more current and cause more heat in a bad terminal.

 

[Goldwinger1984]

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Hi Exavid, I'm just wondering if you checked the output of those yellow wires to determine output. It would be interesting to find out if they are all equal or not.

Vic

 

[exavid]

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Yep, they're pretty close to each other voltage wise.

 

[englishted]

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exavid wrote:

Yep, they're pretty close to each other voltage wise.

Well that's a good sign for a start.

 

[Rowallen]

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I know this might be late for you. and the letter is quite long but you may find it interesting reading about my personal experience with this same problem. But I have had simular troubles with both my GL 1200 SEI and with my GL 1200 interstate. If the person in your parts department looked closer they might have seen that there are 2 shown. One has a plug with all the wires and the other with 2 plugs and yes the stator wires are seperated in it. Also there are 2 different stators and if you don't have a SEI or the 95 gold edition don't let them sell you one of a different size. yours are bigger and to change these the rear engine cover and the shaft to attache the stator is different and would cost a small fortune to make those cahanges

Over the past 9 years with the SEI I had to replace the regulator 3 times. I asked myself if there is a design problem that Honda is hiding from us. I think I found it. The voltage in the GL 1200 IS PRODUCED by using a perment magnet. The higher the RPM's the higher the voltage. As the engine warms up and resistance drops the output voltage starts to climb above 16 volts at times. With the addition of a voltage regulartor this keeps the voltage from getting to high. How does Honda achieve this? Not with electronics but by getting rid of the extra voltage by converting it to heat. (notice how hot the regulator gets)

Now with this in mind they also place the regularor/rectifier under the fake fuel tank cover where there is no if any air moving across it to assist in keeping it cool. On both of my bikes I watched and noticed that the wires at the voltage regulator was starting to look brown. Oh yes the plug at the battery which was replaced with my mew stator $$$$$ was starting to look burned. I was not going to let this happen again. (the regulator less than a year old was breaking down and getting week again.

After some research I found that the wiring of GM alternator is almost the same as the GL 1200 charging system. I went to a local automotive electric store and bought a diode bridge for $10.00, and a zinzer diode for $5.00. I purchased some 10ga wire and I disconnected the stator wires at the plug located near the battery. I ran the 3 yellow wires thru a new harness and out the back under the trunk. I also ran another red wire from the positive on the battery to the same location under the trunk. I got a piece of polished aluminum angle iron and mounted it professionally. I mounted the GM diode bridge there and connected the 3 stator wires to it. There is no particular order it doesn't matter. The wire from the battery to the + terminal on the diode bridge. I started the engine and let it warm up to see what the voltage would be. It was about 16.2 volts. As long as the battery is kept filled with distilled water the extra voltage drains of in the battery, not to safe either because sulfric gas can build and the battery could blow and alone with it part or all of your leg. to correct this at the back I inserted the zinzer diode in the battery wire (i thnk it was 5 ohms you may need to try a couple of different sizes to find one that gives the best voltage output for your bike.)

The reason I relocated it at the back is so that air could circulate over it keeping it cool. I tried this on my bike in August of 2003 with intentions for it to be a 2 week quick fix till I got paid and could puchase one form Honda for $200. As I kept check on it I decided I would see how long it would last. Have not purchased one to this day and I adverage about 12000 miles a year on my bike. Mine works fine and cannot be seen unless you get down at the tire and look up at it. Even then youmight not notice it.

KEEP IN MIND I AM JUAT TELLING YOU WHAT I DID AND IF YOU CHOOSE TODO IT YOURSELF I TAKE NO RESPONSILILITY FOR DAMAGES OR INJURIES FROM ANYONE TRYING THIS HOMEMADE REPLACEMENT. I HAVE AN ELECTRICAL BACKGROUND AND I WAS ABLE TO KNOW EXACTLY WHAT TO LOOK FOR AND WHAT TO DO IN MAKING THESE CHANGES TO MY OWN BIKE.

I feel Honda made a bad decision in its design, I feel that the connection replacement and others soldering these connections was a patch to keep it working long enough to convience those that bough 1200's it was something simple and worn out at reasonable time.

 

[exavid]

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:waving::waving:Welcome to the Best Goldwing Site on the Internet, Rowallen!:waving::waving:

Great first post! Useful information for some who have been having problems in this area, might save a buck or two for someone too!

 

[Goldwinger1984]

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Welcome Rowallen. I read your first post with great interest and I really like the way you think in getting around paying forthe expensive Honda replacement parts for theWing. Keep it up and you'll become a Guru out here in no time.

BTW, when you have time could you make a drawing of the circuit you built for your charging system along with the part numbers you used, if you don't mind, and post it here.

Vic

 

[Budegan]

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Welcome Rowallen. Anyone that can help the GL1200 owners keep their charging systems in good order is very welcome here.

 

[RedWinger]

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[twisty]

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Rowallen, I understand what you did there using the GM diode bridge for rectification (those things have 6 good sized diodes in them) but can't understand how you got a single zener to control circuit voltage enough by using it in series instead of using 3 zeners to dump excess to ground. It sure seems like you would get enough voltage fluctuations to blow out your lights or damage ignition or dash components.

Twisty

 

[Goldwinger1984]

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twisty wrote:

Rowallen, I understand what you did there using the GM diode bridge for rectification (those things have 6 good sized diodes in them) but can't understand how you got a single zener to control circuit voltage enough by using it in series instead of using 3 zeners to dump excess to ground. It sure seems like you would get enough voltage fluctuations to blow out your lights or damage ignition or dash components.

Twisty

Twisty, have you ever seen the old Norton 750 zener diode? It was quite large and mounted on a very large aluminum disk. That and the battery were used to regulate voltage. I wonder if this is similar in theoryto what Rowallenis using?

Vic