hot wires

[sid1988]

hi . can anyone help ? i got a vfr400 nc24 i have found that the wires from the alternator to the rectifier are getting hot can anyone tell me why this is ? . i have noticed that someone has put a rectifier of off something els on the bike but no idea what . an from this rectifier there is a loan black wire that is not connected .

[magg]

Too hot to touch or just warm. Current through any wire generates heat and, as the alternator produces the most current in the electrical system, the alternator wires will get the warmest. Make sure all connections between the alternator and rect/reg are good otherwise the heat generated by bad connections will result in melted wires and terminal blocks.

If you get a minimum of 14 volts and a maximum of 15 volts across the battery with the engine running then the charging system is ok and I would not worry about the unused black wire. If you are getting more than 15 volts then I would replace the rect/reg or try connecting the black wire to the +ve battery terminal. I believe some types of rect/reg have single wire that is the reference signal from the battery, if the wire is left unconnected the regulator does not function and the battery will be over-charged.

[Neosophist]

Are the yellow wires crimped or soldered?

Are the connections clean?

Hot wires there are usually shitt connection.

Shitty connection = Higher resistance = more current = more heat = burnt out altenator and melted wire

[sid1988]

i had the bike running about 3 minutes when i noticed the wire where i would say nearly to hot to touch an the plastic coating was near melting ... i have pulled the seat an tank of to have a look found that it's a bit of hack job the wire are crimped as where i would of soldered them be less resistance an maintenance as them old crimp's get loss an corrode i find . i've checked the charge system when running getting about 12 an a half volt's to 13 an a half . so i'm going to strip the wire's back solder everything make sure it's all clean an see what the out come is hopefully it hasn't killed the rectifier or alternator . than's for you're help guy's i'll let you no the out come

[Morespeedvicar]

just make sure the reg/rec isnt shorted out, dodgey connections dont usually make a whole wire get that hot!
Cheers
Ian

[sid1988]

right here it is after 4 hour's of work stripping soldering so on an so on ... striped the wire's from rectifier to stator plate an found that the 3 wire's between ( rubber gromit on engine casing an plug ) where near melted to gather so isolated them by taping up each wire then removed 9 badly coroded crimps an soldered wire's the loan black wire turned out to be an earth that bolt's straight to the frame cleaned all plug's an put it back to gather . checked battery with voltmeter 12.5 volt's coming out of that on it's own so nothing wrong there . started bike at idle put voltmeter on an it read 15,1 volt's so rev'd the bike up to 5000rpm an it read 18.7 volt's and stay's at that right the way trough . so as far as i can tell it need's a new rectifier as the voltmeter should read about 13.5 volt's at idle an between an between 14.1 an 15.1 5000rpm an above ... thats with all the info i've got on the charging system which i hope is right

[sid1988]

o an by the way i ran the bike for an hour no hot wire's this time they got about as warm as the engine did which i would say was normal conduction of heat from running engine

[Morespeedvicar]

Yeah you deffo need a new reg/rec, volts usually sit about 13.7-14.7 shouldnt go above 15 really unless you've got a lipo bettery then it increases it a little bit.
Cheers
Ian

[magg]

You could also try my earlier suggestion that the single black wire is the reference signal that should connect to the +ve battery terminal. If the black wire is the reference then no connection means no regulation.

There should already be a wire in the rect/reg terminal block that connects the chassis, otherwise there would be no output from the rect/reg.

[sid1988]

i did try it on the battery both side just out of interest an the wire didn't seam to make a difference to anything