ignition light R80GS

[andy malton]

hi all,
when i turn the ignition on i have no red light but when i start it, it's on most of the time flickering any ideas andy.

 

[Howard Millichap]

It looks like you're going to have to check your generator rotor. The red light circuit is fed through the rotor windings. So, no red light = break in windings (usually). I don't, however, understand why the red light is flickering. When mine broke, I got no red light at all.
Check the voltage across the battery with engine running at 3000rpm. Should read around 13.5v. If you only get battery voltage i.e. 12v then your rotor is broke.
You could also check the generator brushes. Min. length is around 7mm.

 

[Mick Fagan]

I've done about 10 rotors on various models and on a couple of them the red light flickered for a while before finally dying.

I think it's the Shellac coating holding the windings together before they finally give way. Eventually the red light stays off completely.

It could be the red light itself is on the way out though and I think it's integral to the charging system, so beware of that problem. It's easy to check the rotor first in my opinion.

Mick.

 

[andy malton]

ignition light update R80GS

hi all,
after a phone call to motobins, they suggested i try a piece of wire from the earth brush to the frame and hey presto i have an ignition light ,this was before i replaced the brushes , so i thought it was the brush but after replacing both brushes i still have no ignition light , so i have bad feeling my wallet is going to a bit lighter by the weekend , i will check the battery output first so am i right in saying if you only have 12v at 3000rpm instead of 13.5v it's the rotor? but how do you check if the stator is working?
cheers for any info andy

 

[Howard Millichap]

12volts is plain battery voltage. Means that it's not getting any charge from the generator.
As for the stator, all you can do is check the winding continuity.

 

[andy malton]

hi ,
bike is now fixed, it was the rotor after all, anyway cheers for any info you posted.andy