What is this talk about "earth wires"...?

[NI VFR]

I have seen a few posts about earth wires causing all sorts of problems.....
What ones do I need to investigate/replace on my basket case?
Don't need to get any, I can make anything I need and judging by the rest of this bike, if these are a problem, they are likely to be gone on this one.
Are there any other known connector issues like this, for example, on all aircooled RD's, the alternator plug is open to the elements, corrodes, then goes into thermal run-away..... Also happened on my 916 as well. Again, all electrical wiring and connectors are fixable in-house, I just need to know what to look at.

[magg]

IMHO the only earth problem with the OEM design is the convoluted -ve return from the rect/reg. When a wire is run directly from the -ve terminal of the rect/reg to the -ve terminal of the battery or alternatively to the chassis, battery charging efficiency can be significantly improved.

[NI VFR]

Right, so that one is an easy fix........ any other known issues with other connectors or wire paths?

Judging by the multiple failures of the reg unit, I think it would be prudent to re-mount this to an exposed part of the bike, like on the front where the horn is, or on the underside of the seat unit near the number plate....

[magg]

Again only my humble opinion, but I believe relocating the rect/reg could be counter-productive. High airflow may not be available at all times at the new location and without an adequate thermal path to a large surface area, the temperature rise would be greater that at the OEM location.

Attempting to achieve the best thermal contact between the rect/reg and the OEM chassis mounting surface is a simple but effective way to improve the reliability of the SCR type rect/reg.

[NI VFR]

Currently, the reg does not look like it can get rid of its heat where it is.... had the same issues with my 916 which fried 2 regs which I cured by adding an extended aluminium heatsink plate under the mounting with thermal transfer compound to help dissipate heat and isolate it from heat coming off the front exhaust pipe, backed up by gluing a deflector onto the inside of the fairing which took incoming air from one of the vents and directed it onto the reg. Possibly go down this route again as it worked for the Duke.

[Neosophist]

Currently, the reg does not look like it can get rid of its heat where it is.... had the same issues with my 916 which fried 2 regs which I cured by adding an extended aluminium heatsink plate under the mounting with thermal transfer compound to help dissipate heat and isolate it from heat coming off the front exhaust pipe, backed up by gluing a deflector onto the inside of the fairing which took incoming air from one of the vents and directed it onto the reg. Possibly go down this route again as it worked for the Duke.

I use a stock Honda reg/rec in stock place without issue.

They are suppoed to get hot to dissapate heat.

And old knackered battery will take less charge and can overload a reg/rec, especially the stock Honda unit which is small and easily overwhelemed.

If your battery is kept fully charged and not years old the stock location shouldnt cause you isse.

The genny connectorblock suffers the same fate as you mentioned above.. corrosion increases resistanace, thus increasing the heat as there is greater current draw to overcome resistance hence melted away block.. many are scorched and burned. I cleaned mine up and keep it sprayed with water repellant connector block spray every so often.