| Author | Message | ||
     Rsh |
Noticed that while starting my xb9r the battery seemed to be slightly weak. The bike started and while it was idling I checked the voltage at the battery with my multimeter, my readings showed that the battery was not charging. I washed my bike the day before and thought to check the connections under the pulley cover. I did not find any moisture or debris in any of the connections but did notice inside of the voltage regulator 2 wire connector plug that the black wire side of the plug on the wire harness side was slightly melted with some of the melted plastic residue covering what would be the metal to metal contact points. I used an xacto knife to scrape off the plastic residue and plugged the connector back together and started the bike once again and checked to see if the battery was charging and it was. While the bike was running I checked the temp of the connector with my fingers as well as the wire's running into and out of the connector and they do in fact get fairly warm but at least while idling and at higher rpm 2k they never got hot enough to burn my fingers but as I said they were noticeably warm. I am wondering what caused the connector to melt. I had my stator replaced about 10k miles ago, I also bought a new voltage regulator at the same time but did not have to install it as it checked out ok. I did swap out the voltage regulator today to see if it would make a difference in the connector wire's getting warm, there was no difference at least with my measuring technique (fingers). I think I will have to stop by the dealer and see if it is possible to replace the melted side of the connector body. The service manual leads my to believe that it is possible. Any thoughts. | ||
| Fullpower |
Heat produced in a conductor, or connection between two conductors is a direct result of resistance. if it were mine, i would cut the existing connector off, clean up the ends of the wires real well (bright shiny copper), solder some 1/4" quick connect slide terminals on, male and female, then apply dielectric grease, and heat shrink the connection, finally tape over it real securely. note that the charging system is capable of 38 amps, so a good clean tight connection is necessary here, or you will be "making heat" | ||
| Rsh |
Just as you said I had also thought about cutting the connection but only as a last resort. As I mentioned in my previous post I was going to check with the dealer to see if the connector in question was available separately and it is, it's only about $3.00 for the wire harness side of the connector so I ordered it. I also inspected my ground connections as it was the voltage regulator ground side of the connection that had the slight melting issue. The ground connections to the frame were clean and tight but the ground connection at the battery had a little corrosion that could only be seen when disconnected so I cleaned that up and put everything back together, it has been 4 days and the system is still charging, it is amazing how good the bike runs when everything it getting the correct voltage. The new connector should be here Friday so I will do a swap this weekend along with an oil change and some new front disc pads. Thanks for your input. |
