Electrical problems gs1100e

[Rod]

Good evening gents,

having a few minor electrical issues the warning lamps on the dash for the headlamp, tail lamp and brake lamp, seem to stay on  then they go on and off intermittently, but all the main light work ok, also the indicators are a bit dim. The horns are also very weak.

I was thinking earthing problems, but i am open to suggestions, but could someone tell me where all the earthing points are, so I can check these first.

regards Rod.

[imago]

It could be earth issues, but from what you describe I'd say they'd be in the connectors below the dash/behind the headlamp. The other thing would be poor connections giving a high resistance, but the most likely spot is in the same place.

Separate the plugs, clean the connectors, scrape the surfaces to remove oxidation, close the female side slightly so that they're a tighter fit  and then when you put them back together check to make sure none of the individual pins have pushed back rather than made the connection.

[ral]

Agree with imago’s answer, the expose ends of the wires at the connection over time will oxidise as will the pins/bullet and spade connectors, this oxidising will also creep up the wire, you might need to replace some connectors cutting back into clean wire.

The horn can partially seize internally as well and this will reduce the volume it operates at.

[johnr]

Check your earth's, then check them again and finally check your earth's. 

It's lighting up like an Xmas tree cos the power is backflowing down the earth through other lamps that share the same earth wire. 

[davecara]

As @johnrsays, check every earth connection.

My money is on a corroded bullet connector or someone has put those shitty red/blue crimp connectors on somewhere and the crimp has failed. Main earth point is the battery and a lead to the engine, you shouldnt have any others as it'll create an earth loop

[coombehouse]

3 hours ago, davecara said:

As @johnrsays, check every earth connection.

My money is on a corroded bullet connector or someone has put those shitty red/blue crimp connectors on somewhere and the crimp has failed. Main earth point is the battery and a lead to the engine, you shouldnt have any others as it'll create an earth loop

There are a couple of others, left side, to the frame & the plate that holds the electrics behind the side panel. Black wire, white stripe with a ring terminal that's often butchered or missing 

[davecara]

29 minutes ago, coombehouse said:

There are a couple of others, left side, to the frame & the plate that holds the electrics behind the side panel. Black wire, white stripe with a ring terminal that's often butchered or missing 

I stand corrected   Muliple earths only ever creates headaches though IMO

[gsxwill]

As @coombehousesays the earth coming from the side plate that holds electricall components is well known for causing issues, and engine earth strap can go loose and get a bit of crap under it to cause intermediate problems 

[NitrousSuziPower]

Do you know how to do voltage drop measurements?

If not watch a couple YouTube video's & perform those on the grounds. You can also just run a couple New grounds to the old grounding points. Those monitoring lights are very sensitive so a corroded connection, loose pin on the connection, using LED bulbs, loose or poor ground all will make those lights come on or flicker...

There's many connections inside the headlight bucket that could be your culprit as well. I recently took my 83 1100E apart upfront to powder coat the headlight bucket & other small pieces & ended up with all kinds of issue's that were never a problem before that...

I ended up cleaning many of the corroded pins inside the connectors then packed them with dielectric grease & since solved my problems

[TonyGee]

1 hour ago, NitrousSuziPower said:

packed them with dielectric grease

they say not to do that !!!   its meant to go on the outside of the connector  to keep the damp out. 

[imago]

20 minutes ago, TonyGee said:

they say not to do that !!!   its meant to go on the outside of the connector  to keep the damp out. 

It's an insulator, so if it works its way into the connections it increases resistance at best. It's meant to be used as a smear on the outside of the insulators/shrouds of connectors to stop moisture getting in.