Hi again, picked up my 916 strada last week and took here out on Sunday, she broke down after 7 miles, bummer, got her home charged the battery as I thought this was the problem as she had not been run for a while, anyway got her started this afternoon and two yellow wires behind the battery box started smoking! Not good at all, this was after running her up for around 2 minutes, I know nothing about electrics so was hoping to find out the possible cause, had the multimeter on the battery and it was showing 24 to 26 on the screen, as I said I know nothing about electrics but is this right, expected some teaching problems but not to break down after 7miles and then to find out the bike likes a smoke, any advice would be greatly appreciated, I,m near Stonehenge if anyone knows a good bike sparky close by, cheers graham
They are likely to be the yellow wires from the alternator. They join cabling from the rectifier in bullet connectors, and those connectors get corroded. Remove and resolder new connectors and maybe a new section of cable and you'll be fine.
Yep common problem, corrosion - resistance - broken Ducati! Cut out the section and replace with heavier grade wiring (all the way back to the alternator if possible)
Thank goodness you caught it in time :- http://ducatiforum.co.uk/f2/748-916-etc-check-your-generator-wiring-3308/ I expect Denzil will pick this up (and he's near you)
You say the battery was showing 24-26v on the multi-meter ( this would be with the engine running ) this would indicate a rectifier failure as well, if not corrected it will knacker the battery also. Steve PS you don't want much more than 14.7 at the battery with the engine running.
Thanks for the replies, now I know it's a common problem I feel a lot better, just looked at the wires and they look pretty old, how much will a new rectifier cost from Ducati? Is there a better alternative? I,m going to try and replace as many of the cables and wires for new if I can, are there any upgrade kits available for the battery leads or is it a case of sort your own out?
Get your own wiring from here: Vehicle Wiring Products Ltd. Suppliers of auto electrical parts. and a reg/rec second hand - I sold one a month ago.
the standard rectifier isn't as bad as it's made out, I think that the problem it looks like you've had with the yellow regulator to alternator leads (plug could be melted when you examine it - also behind the battery tray) plus the similar but seperate problems that occur with the (red) supply lead (more on non 748/9** bikes) have possibly given it a bad name. Although many recommend and swear by alternatives available (Electrex I believe make one?) i think a unit that has often survived twenty years without fault can't be that bad. if I were to ever fit an alternative myself it would be a Shindengen MOSFET type. As said, I would replace the whole run of the 2 (or 3) yellow wires and remove the plug completely for starters.
If it's two wires I have one I could sell you cheap mate. Sorry - don't want to appear a vulture, happy to let you have it for £20.00 if it's a 2 wire you need.
You'll need to re-do the connections from the RR52 and you will also lose the battery charge circuit indicator
Graham, I had the same issue a few years ago (although my bike has the three phase 520w system), the fault was not quite so advanced as yours, however the overvoltage also killed the battery by cooking one cell and melting a hole in the case. The connector on the alternator (yellow wires) gets a resistance across it from dirty or poor contacts and starts to heat up causing higher resistance which creates more heat and more resistance. Eventually the increasing load overloads the rectifier and can make it fail to high or low voltage, the generator basically provides electricity to cook components and short to earth and will eventually burn itself and the wires out. You will probably find one of the pins in the connector is worse than the other (both will most likely be burnt). My voltage went up to 19v and fortunately the battery was an absorbent glass matt (AGM) one one so the acid loss over the bike was minimal, it took me two days to work out what the slightly eggy/acid smell was. Since then I put an electrex reg/rec on, increased the heat sink size and put it all back together but still found the new wiring plug was getting warm and the reg/rec hot. The new connectors were showing 0.5ohm resistance when I tested them so I cut them out and soldered the wires straight though. Now the reg rec barely gets warm even in traffic and my battery voltage is stable over 1500rpm at 13.9-14.2v. If you need some assistance I am 40 mins away but you will almost certainly need a new reg/rec. To save hastle with charge light issues I would get one from a dealer, expect a bill for aroiund 120 quid for it however. I believe there is not a lot wrong with the OEM system except crappy connectors which eventually wrecks the whole system. If you ever do anything to these bikes to improve reliability #1 is to replace the reg rec connectors with much larger clamping connectors or solder the wires with a through joint.
Cheers all, I will get the required parts in stock and get the ball rolling, anyone tried this item that is for sale on eBay? Item number 15043820406, wondering if it was worth the investment or if it's all hyped up a little, cheers Denzil for your offer of help, much appreciated
Ahhhh, I've made a mistake with the voltmeter, just put the battery on charge and tested it and the reading came up at 26, a little high I thought, so I called my mate who loaned the meter too me and he pointed out that I had it on the wrong settings, told you I knew nothing about electrics, so I've no switched it onto the correct setting and got a charging reading of 13.05v, so I will have to put the battery back on the bike and start it for a short while to test the regulator again, this time on the correct setting and turn it off sharpish to stop the yellow wires warming up, you live and learn.
