The Charging Mod Illustrated

[Gixer1460]

IMO a volt meter won't do much to indicate charging problems as a battery will show 12v till it's pretty terminal. My preference would be an ammeter as it will show discharge instantly or monitor charging and electrical usage.

[Andicog]

So would this problem cause the red wire from the alternator to get very hot at times?  Mine has never cooked a battery and seems to charge fine but the red wire has been hot enough to melt its insulation, will this mod cure it or do I have some other problem? 

[jonny1bump]

First thing do is follow what I've said and check voltage at battery, if really high that could be reason. 

Bare in mind wiring that old you probably got weak cable breaking down or bad connections causing high resistance, which would probably be best guess,but every bike different. They all old and depends on how well they been maintained. 

[jonny1bump]

If its melting insulation time to start serious maintenance and replace it.

[Andicog]

Thanks guys , I'll dig a little deeper, stripping back some of the cables they're good so far, I expected the strands to be green or black with age but they're clean , would have been easier had I not wrapped the loom in self amalgamating tape some years back..... 

[wraith]

Going to be doing this over winter, as my charging voltage is reading 14.2 to 14.3v at 3000 rpm

But can this be done with a bandit loom? 

With the bandit having the 6 wire ignition switch with the diode thing in it? 

[jonny1bump]

Ignition switch feeds power on wire to alternator, its all same. All you need is switched positive to fire relay. Try just cleaning all connectors first and check you actually have voltage drop on this wire to alternator first. Dont go straight in without doing maintenance.

[Gixer1460]

16 hours ago, wraith said:

Going to be doing this over winter, as my charging voltage is reading 14.2 to 14.3v at 3000 rpm

What's wrong with that? Compared to some others I've seen its about spot on, it'll keep battery well charged but not over-charged!

[wraith]

1 hour ago, Gixer1460 said:

What's wrong with that? Compared to some others I've seen its about spot on, it'll keep battery well charged but not over-charged!

Think it's time for a new battery, it reads good but very quickly runs down when starting the bike.

Starter motor seems fine to.

[Suzukian]

Nothing I see ion the schematics changes the circuit from a series wiring.  Current never changes in a series set up.  Also, corrosion is a great problem, and Suzuki sometimes grounds the battery to the painted engine, relying of the bare threads to maintain ground (Horrible).  I ground my battery to the frame and engine, made sure both spots had been sanded down to exposed metal, added a dielectric grease, then torqued  them down.  The whole bike, everything from lights, to a full charge going to the battery improved.

 

The connectors should always be crimped.  When I did aircraft loom repairs, nothing was ever soldered.  It causes resistance, while crimping makes for a clean current path, as electricity flows on the surface of the wire, not through it.  Which is why solder should only be used in a emergency.I do not "Tin" speaker wires anymore the speakers I design (Tapered quarter wave tubes) for the same reason, better current flow on a fine thin strand lamp shade cord works as good as overpriced brand name speaker wire.  There isn't any propagation drift either.  Many tests have proven this, research it for yourself.  Gauge is the most important consideration, never go thinner, you will create a voltage drop with wire too thin.