Still having electrical issues. Blarg.

[bobotech]

My orange and red wires going to the keyswich start to get bloody hot when i turn the lights on. WHen the lights are on, the bike also no longer charges the battery (idle voltage drops to roughly 12.3-12.4 volts) whereas when the light switch is off, the voltage is around 13.5 or so. When the lights are off, the red/orange wires stay cool to the touch.

I am in the process of taking apart the light switch and seeing if I have a crimped wire in there or something since I recently took it off when I had to replace my clutch perch. But any other ideas? I currently have the running lights on my headlight ears unplugged for testing purposes and the headlight is unplugged as well.

[jabcb]

Does turning the handlebar fully to the right or left make a difference in voltages?

Were you the person that adapted a 4-wire ignition switch to replace a switch with 6 wires?
If so, closely check the stuff you worked on. A few stands of wire might not be in the connector & are instead shorting out.

[bobotech]

Yes, it was me that adapted the switch. It was working fine until about 2 days ago. As far as the conversion of the switch, I didn't alter any internals, I just carried over the switch internals from the 6 wire switch to the lock/case of the 4 wire switch, it is identical after all.

Turning the handle bars doesn't make a difference.

I am thinking the wiring issue is farther back, more towards the battery box area than by the headlight area. There is a definite short somewhere though but only occurs when the lights are on.

[bobotech]

Well I am narrowing it down. My horn doesn't work with the button on the switch. However I took the switch assembly apart and if i ground the green wire (hot for horn) to the frame of the bike, the horn blows. if I have the switch assembly mounted on the handlebar, the turn signal portion over heats and destroys the spring in the turn signal sliding switch from overheating causing the switch to fail. After I replace the spring and test, the turn signal switch works fine when the main assembly isn't mounted to the handlebar (grounded). There is a definite ground leak somewhere involving the lighting circuits. With the turn signal/horn/lighting switch harness unplugged, the rest of the bike works/runs normally and the battery is being charged.

[bobotech]

Figured it out. In the lighting/horn/turn signal switch, one of the wires in the turn signal section was shorting out on the housing causing a short that affected the entire lighting circuit. Fixed that wire and fixed the turn signal housing ground issue and I now have running lights/turn signals/headlight and nothing is overheating anymore.

Only problem now is lack of charging. Doesn't want to charge well when the lights are on and when the lights are off, only barely charges and that was after I adjusted the voltage regulator.

[smoketriples]

At what RPM range are you testing? Most motorcycles don't charge at idle, and many are actually in a discharge state at idle when lights and other items are turned on.

[jabcb]

Agreed.

Output curves for the GT triple alternators are shown on page 18 of: http://www.ozebook.com/compendium/suzi/suzidata1.htm

Your GT550 probably has a Kokusan alternator. Output is about 5 amps at around 1,500 rpm and 10 amps around 2,200 rpm.
The coils draw around 4.8 amps. So charging without lights starts around 1,500 rpm.
With lights on, current draw increases by about 5 amps. So charging starts around 2,000 - 2,200 rpm.

Check the voltage at 3,000 rpm with a fully charged battery. If its 13.5V to 14.5V, your alternator is OK.

[bobotech]

Mine has the nippondenso. I remember from an early thread of mine when I posted a picture of it thinking it was an electronic ignition (lol) and someone commented "at least you have a nippondenso alternator".

When I check the voltage at around 3000 rpm, it is showing up at around 13.3 volts or so when the lights are on I think. I will test again when I go back outside and confirm my findings.