Dash meter reads 13+ volts/ bat not charging

[Mrmikalmetal]

87 gl1200 Ltd
The digital volt meter on dash says 13+ v while riding bike, but by the time I shut it of at the store, when i go to leave the volt meter reads 9,8,7 volts. So my question is- I installed a new rectifier regulator . It must be working for my meter to read 13+ volts when running. Could the two r/ w wires be soldered together and bypass the wiring harness to the solenoid and run a lead for the ignition.. I feel that the charging problem lies in the harness . Or is there something I'm overlooking? Any help would be great..

[CrystalPistol]

87 gl1200 Ltd
The digital volt meter on dash says 13+ v while riding bike, but by the time I shut it of at the store, when i go to leave the volt meter reads 9,8,7 volts. So my question is- I installed a new rectifier regulator . It must be working for my meter to read 13+ volts when running. Could the two r/ w wires be soldered together and bypass the wiring harness to the solenoid and run a lead for the ignition.. I feel that the charging problem lies in the harness . Or is there something I'm overlooking? Any help would be great..

Bet it don't start neither.

Bum Battery … or maybe simply bad connections. Put a good battery in it.

Friend of mine and I met at a local gas station / 7-11 to leave for a several days long visit to Mid Ohio for races, swap meet, rides too, he on his FLH-TC, me on my GL-1200. Gassed up, went to leave, his bike would not start. I asked if he had checked it over good, how did it start when he left home 22 miles away, he said sluggish but seemed fine, I suspected a loose connection, we pulled the battery cover, damn thing was near dry, below half on electrolyte. Pulled it out, took his credit card, hauled to Walmart a mile away, bought new battery, put it in …. good weekend at Mid Ohio.

[Mrmikalmetal]

I do know that I am ready for a new battery. With that being said- I tried the old "pull the pos+ cable from the battery while it was running" trick like you can do on a car to tell you if the alternator is working , and the bike died immediately.. shouldn't the charging system have kept the bike running? I assumed that to be the case...
Not that I don't believe you, just trying to make sure everything is working before I stick a new battery in it, and then it gets run down over and over and shortening its life...

[Rambozo]

You can always take the battery into any auto parts store and have it load tested.

[CrystalPistol]

That old "pull the pos+ cable from the battery while it was running" trick has killed a good many car alternators too. In the old days, not much electronics involved, alternators were not so delicate. I wouldn't do that with vehicles now. In the case of a GL1200, if it's at idle, the alternator may not be putting out enough to keep voltage up high enough for the electronics and thus the engine dies. The bike idles well with the battery connected because the battery is a source of stored reserve.

Take the battery to most any auto parts store like Advance or Auto Zone or Napa or O'Reilleys (spl?) and ask them to check it … if it needs a charge, we had chargers set up just for charging to test. Free, but if it needs charging, you need to leave it with them a day or so.

Sounds to me like your battery is on it's last legs.

[Rednaxs60]

Agree with the above and what CrystalPistol mentioned - not a good practice. The red/white wires from the RR are joined together just after these disappear into the wiring harness, hence the one red/white wire at the starter solenoid. The red wire from the starter solenoid that is commonly associated as being the ignition power wire is joined/spliced to the red/white wire about midway in the wiring harness, almost opposite to the gas tank fill. Here's a schematic that depicts what I am mentioning:

Cheers

[CrystalPistol]

Agree with the above and what CrystalPistol mentioned - not a good practice. The red/white wires from the RR are joined together just after these disappear into the wiring harness, hence the one red/white wire at the starter solenoid. The red wire from the starter solenoid that is commonly associated as being the ignition power wire is joined/spliced to the red/white wire about midway in the wiring harness, almost opposite to the gas tank fill. Here's a schematic that depicts what I am mentioning:gl1200 charger - 2.jpgCheers

They weren't so connected on my '85 Aspencade until after I upgraded the partially melted plug on top of start solenoid using a revised Honda plug kit that did exactly that, the actual splice took place in the plug of the kit with a jumper coming out of the back of the plug joining red and red /white wire there. I made note in my Honda book then, it was 1998.

Picrture from Honda 1985 service book with notes I made, I white-outed illegible writing and redid it, covered it with clear tape to hold white-out over the years. Until I drew it in, there was no jumper indicated anywhere other than within the body of the starter solenoid, involving the two plug terminals 100% of the time, as can be seen.

Here is a close up I colored for someone on line, blue was my way to note the new jumper, but not necessarily the color of Honda's jumper in the revised plug.

I still think he needs a battery.