hi,i have been trying to sort out my friends mk indy blade.he has just bought it off here but it has a wiring problem i think?

the rectifier wiring had melted and fused the yellow wires togther and wrecked the rectifier.so i have bought a superdream rectifier,wired it in as per diagram but its still not quite right.

if you leave the car on idle,you have 14.10 volts on the battery and the wiring is cold and no problems.
if you hold the revs at say 4000 rpm you have 14.68 volts on the battery and the wiring starts to get warm and so does the rectifier.

anyone got any ideas please,this is now getting a joke for a car that was sold to us as nothing wrong with it!!!

Blade regulators aren't the best of the bunch, it can be replaced with a more reliable superdream unit, or, podtronics do a universal one which is very good.

Don't keep running it or you risk burning the stator windings out too.

There was a similar post a couple of days ago on here, with a wiring diagram for a dream reg/rec.

Thats how they are, the rectifiers and wiring will get hot.

Mine charges fine, I have signs of heat on my connectors but am ok with it as thats just how they are.

yeh my ZX12 wiring made a nice smell, stopping i found one of the rectifier plugs was melting so i rushed home and found on this engine oil gets into the connector and makes it melt. I got it just in time and crimped and soldered the connection on each yellow wire.

i check it now and again and it does indeed get HOT, i still dont like it that hot but i understand its the way it works.

[Edited on 24/3/10 by Moorron]

how warm is warm?

if it gets hotter than you can keep you hand on it then something could be wrong.

they do run hot - mount it on a slab of aluminium or a vaned heatisnk in air flow.

e.g.

this is interesting,can anyone else confirm very hot wiring?does anyone know the normal charging voltage for a bec or on a bike??

i put the first rectifier and wiring failure down to it having an old car battery on it?so i have also fitted a brande new bike battery for a fireblade.

i dont want to give it back to him and it catch fire or something!

14-15V is a healthy altenator output.

The wiring to the rectifier on my R1 gets warm. Has done right from the start. I was worried about it initially but don't think about it anymore.

adrian

how did you know it got hot??could you smell the wiring burning?or did you just think you should check the wiring?

anymore confirming very hot wiring and rectifier is normal?

quote:

---

Originally posted by shaun megablade
how did you know it got hot??could you smell the wiring burning?or did you just think you should check the wiring?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by shaun megablade
anymore confirming very hot wiring and rectifier is normal?

---

its mounted on an alloy plate!

Most motorcycle engines use a permanent magnet charging system, ie a flywheel with magnets inside. this means that the charge coming out of the alternator cannot be switched off. When the engine is at idle, the Rectifier will be converting AC to DC but at a fairly low charge. Because of this, the Regulator side of the REC/REG will not be working, so the rec/reg will feel cool. when the revs are increased, the voltage and ampage will rise and the regulator will start to come into play. Because the power source cannot be switched off, the Regulator diverts the unrequired power to earth via the fins on the regulator. this is why it gets hot.
It is sometimes common for the wires to get hot or even over heat. this usually happens if there is either a bad earth or a bad live connection to the REC/REG or the wires between the REC/REG and the battery. If this happens, the rectifier thinks that the battery is fully charged and does not need anymore current to the battery. So the Regulator goes into overtime trying to dump all or most of the generated voltage to earth. THIS IS WHY THEY BURN OUT. So a dodgy battery can be the cause of a Rec/Reg failing. If however the problem still exists after changing the Rec/Reg and the battery, then suspect the wiring.

However if you are measuring 14.65 V at the battery then it would seem that the battery is being correctly charged and the Temperature that the Rec/Reg is reaching is probably normal.
A lot of BEC's seem to have the Rec/Reg in an area where cold air cannot disipate the heat quick enough so mounting it in a different place where air can run across the fins will also help.

One other thing, when you check battery voltage, make sure this is done at least 5 minutes after you start the car. this is because the battery will be recovering from a large ampage discharge when the starter is used. It will take about 5 minutes for the battery to recover. During the first few minutes, a high charge will be going back into the battery to replace what was taken when starting the engine. The Rec/Reg will not get very hot until the battery is back to full strength. At this stage, check the voltage again. you will probably find the voltage will be lower than 14.6 then and the regulator will be controlling the excess current by diverting it away from the battery.

Kind regards, Cosmick

cosmick,Thanks thats very well explained!

Mine's been getting a bit too hot!
While giving car a onceover last weekend before what should have been first drive of year, I noticed the reg/rect wiring smoking.
On closer in spection I found this!!
Plug is normally covered by a shroud (which has been removed in pics to show extent of damage) so don't know if this has happened suddenly or long term.
Anyway, the rectifier (Superdream) was very warm but not sure yet if this was due to it being faulty or the molten wires shorting out.
I checked the resistance values of the stator windings and these are within spec with no continuity to earth so all fine there.
Have checked and cleaned the mid-point connector so, assuming the rectifier is faulty, I intend to replace it with the original blade one I've got kicking about in the garage.
I'll take care of its inherent cooling problem by mounting a PC fan above it.
In the meantime, I've been trying to locate a replacement connector.
There is a seller on ebay who supplies replacement blade rectifiers c/w a new connector plug kit but he wants £25 just for the plug kit on its own!!
A bit steep for a bit of moulded plastic and a few spade connectors!
I'll probably try Andy at AB Performance to see if he's got a s/h part-loom kicking about but does anybody know of any other source/supplier if he can't help?
Rescued attachment 047.JPG

rest of wiring to rectifier...
Rescued attachment 048.JPG