1985 GL1200i

[FatBob]

I have just bought an 85 gl1200i. It has just over 28K for miles so I have lots of life yet. I have read a bit and I keep hearing about soldering the 3 yellow wires. What wires are they and why? I have the bike torn down right now while I am sealing the gas tank. I am rebuilding the carbs(carb kit), sealing the gas tank, new plug wires, new fuel lines, replacing most rubber fluid lines, etc. Any recommendations of things to do while its apart would be appreciated. This is my first wing and it has a sidecar since I am disabled so that I am still able to ride for years to come... hopefully.

[bsfree]

Did anyone ever answer you? I bought a 1985 LTD from a farmer in Iowa with 30K miles and all it needed was the wires soldered, I couldn't believe my luck! I was so happy when it started charging I about cried. Since then I have had to put a new rectifier in it but still holding at around 14 volts. The wires are easy to find and definitely worth the effort to solder them!

[Dave-85-LTD]

The 3 wires are the leads from the alternator to the regulator, The alternator in these and many bikes are a 3 phase AC generator, the power is brought up the the regulator which has as the first stage a 6 diode full wave 3 phase rectifier. This changes the 3 phase AC to a DC voltage with a few bumps in the voltage but it is easy to smooth that out.

If you lose one wire the system does not work nearly as well as it should. Lose two, and it doesn't work at all.

The regulator in our bike is a shunt regulator, excess power that the bike does not need is shunted to ground. Our alternator use permanent magnets so they run at full output power at about 3000+ engine RPM.

The plug Honda put in when the bikes were made, will corrode at some time and cause problems, that's why we solder them. Make sure to wrap them well with tape. I put a wire loom around my wires all the way to the reg.