The connecting block that's on the 3 yellow wires between the regulator/rectifier to the alternator is burnt/melted , anyone any ideas what would have caused this or what problems it would have caused and what would be the best way to reconnect them , Cheers
Hi Dave, FACT 1 High current and/or higher than designed for; increased resistance. REQUIRED 1. Electrically minded DIY Lady or Man. 2. Decent'ish multimeter with a good resistance scale (prefer Fluke, Klein or Extech). 3. Soldering Iron and solder. 4. Insulation materials 5. Self amalgamating tape, FIRST - DISCONNECT BOTH + and - connections at the battery. This burnt out connector may have damaged the stator within your engine casing (left hand side). We need to check for this before going any further. Please can you meter the three wires on the stator coil (located within your engine). Between each wire you should have the same resistance, say 10 Ohms. Red to Yellow, Yellow to Green, Green to Red. Then measure each to the earth of the motorcycle. This should read infinity (maximum....not connection at all). Please confirm. I've ridden and worked on motorcycles nearly all my life (not as a job, just a hobby). I'd never seen this until just a few years ago. When generators / alternator were outside of the engine this problem didn't occur often. Now we site the stator coils in with the oil I'm seeing this connector (located out outside the crankcase, but within 100mm) getting corrosion and then the stator coils failing and overheating. You end up with bits that look like burnt toast in with your oil, which is actually the burnt off shellac from the windings of the coils together with burnt oil. My advice is if the stator coil is ok (as per my description above), then just cut off the connectors (at the loom and the coil) and solder directly. Insulate carefully from each other and earth. Cover the whole lot in self amalgamating tape. This isn't the prettiest, but it will be the most reliable. The down side is that if you every have to replace the stator coil (which I doubt), you'll have to re-do this connection. If you can detect a resistance to the earth of the machine on any of the wires of the coil you will need to replace it. Flush the oil and filter. I'd still advise replacing the connector with a direct soldered connection. I've seen this failure of three fireblades (10 years age difference) and four triumphs (all around 5-9 years old). I believe the mode of failure is as follows. Corrosion at the connector starts to make it go high resistance and this then heats up, increasing the resistance further. Once the resistance is so high not enough current is able to leave the generating stator coil (causing a shorted turn) and this then starts to get incredibly hot, burning the oil and breaking down the coils own resistive coating. Early signs would be a weak battery and starting, especially at night or in the winter. Fitting a new battery appears to cure the problem initially. This is because you have a 3-phase coil, like a 3 - 1 generator. At the beginning you only loose one coil, then another and then all three. Comments please.... A useful rating...if I deserve one or I'll take a funny or a thanks.... OK...I've got two "Likes", a nd a useful not bad for 90 minutes work! Spelling and grammar checks welcomed / required. Feel free to rephase part or all of this message and repost to make it look like your own work. This advice may contain nuts. It is unsuitable for adults under the age of 10. Please do not try this at home.
Grrrrr:Banghead:....read my post :Bookworm: and see what I've seen it on :Watching:.............Fireblade boy.
This is going to be a problem then....do you have a friend in the local pub who is (competent) and hasn't been in the pub long?
IF the stator coil has failed my worry is you are going to take out the next part of the circuit and damage more of your motorcycle. We really need to find out where you are in the failure cycle. You may be lucky and only have a burnt out connector....I've seen two at this stage. We soldered them and they never gave a problem again. I know 'cause I drink with the riders occasionally and as with all mates they assume that a free of charge repair also comes with a lifetime warranty... @finm will agree, I'm sure. If you really can't find anyone to test the coils and really need to ride the bike then go ahead, but you risk serious damage if the coils have failed. I mean engine failure (from oil starvation).
So what are you going to do? Do you have some in-line fuse holders? IF you did you could load solder them in series (in line) with each wire and put 10Amp fuses in. Start the bike, short run 1000 yards. Then check to see if all the fuses were ok. If yes do a longer run then a longer one, until you were at 20 miles plus. if all ok....unsolder them and wire direct. IF at any stage the fuses blow....you need to change the coils , oil etc.
@El Toro or @VtwinDave Can you modify the heading, Generator Alternator Stator Coil Melted Burnt Connector Block <bike> So that if other people search they can find this (useful?) thread.
This is a fairly common issue with the desmoquatro motors. As AirCon has said you should do a continuity check on the alternator windings just to make sure that one has not burnt out. The recommended fix is to replace the existing wires with heavier gauge, replace the connector block with bullit connectors.
More importantly I stated that he needs to do an insulation test on the stator. Is the gauge of these wires really an issue? I'd like to know the current requirements, as each wire is only taking 1\2 the current of the circuit. Bullet connectors can also corrode, so soldering is a better technical solution.
F*ked then, as I said dodgy Ducati electrics. Best you sell it and buy a manufacturer who knows about wiring
How i found this is because I have a problem with starting the fecker , sometimes it starts and sometimes it doesn't , so i looked at some some of the connectors today and found this , would this be part of my problem
If you can establish the integrity of the stator coil, then assuming it's not toast, you can cut back the wires and fit a new connector block. Smother the pins within the connector in dialectric grease then as suggested cover the new connection blocks in either self amalgamating tape or similar to prevent the ingress of moisture. Whats of more concern is that if your stator did not cause this, you possibly had a short somewhere, or as suggested and quite likely, an increase in resistance due to any undetected corrosion of the connector pins, either of which scenarios would have been difficult to predict unless you regularly check your wiring. In any case I would have the wiring and stator checked before you attempt to re-connect anything as well as all other associated circuits, just to be sure. Most of the electrical problems on all my previous Dukes were invariably caused by corrosion, (fuel pump and ignition relays being a favourite to play up) it being the initiating factor. Nowadays whenever I have the fairings off the bike I always check any vulnerable connections that are prone to accumulate water or moisture and use a combination of ACF50 and dialectric grease, to keep the worst of the elements at bay.
Ummm Kawasaki is the only motorcycle manufacturer that also makes wiring or connectors. Make container ships as well.
The gauge of the wires from the alternator on the 748 and the 9xx series has always been an issue and is well under spec for the job they are meant to do. I agree that the built connectors are prone to corrosion, but they are easier to clean than the pins in the silly connector block, and are part of my spring maintenance to clean in any case. Hopefully the newer bikes don't suffer this type of problem now. BTW I'm not that clever with electrics so my bad not knowing the difference in what you were suggesting
