Battery started smoking after putting in a new battery

I just pulled my bike out recently and it has been fine but than the other day i went to start it and no lights were on and I tried messing with it a little but nothing worked so i tried my brothers battery and it worked fine so i just got a new battery and it started great so i turned it off and than a few minutes later I went to start it again and it just started smoking so I'm not exactly sure what's going on. Would that possibly be the Regulator rectifier? Thanks for any help i am really confused and annoyed about it and not exactly sure what to do.
Bike is a 1998 5th gen vfr btw

 

GRUM will have an answer for you.

try unplugging the r/r first to see if smoke stops, and try to find the exact location of the smoke.

 

So do i plug the battery back in and than unplug the r/r?

 

unplug r/r first

 

Hi Squirrelman, thanks for your vote of confidence but why me? Your suggestion is a good one.
Agree, if your battery has survived completely disconnect the R/R charge your battery and run the engine see if things are normal.
If your R/R has the Black monitor wire it should be re-wired to connect directly to the battery positive terminal otherwise an over voltage situation can arise cooking your battery and worst case frying your ECM!
Has your bike had any electrical add on's?

Have a close look at the connections to your Starter Relay for the Red Wire, also have a good look at Main Fuse B wiring, these items can suffer in time from overheated connections and high resistance joints, potential burn ups. Also check the Stator Output connections to the R/R as well as any output connections from the R/R.
Try and locate where the burning is coming from. Other than that you may well be looking at an R/R replacement.

If you're game enough to reconnect the R/R and run the engine. Make sure you have a voltmeter connected to your Battery before starting. IF YOU SEE A VOLTAGE ABOVE 15v SHUT THE ENGINE OFF IMEDIATELY- You have confirmed a stuffed R/R. You should also run some checks on the Stator Windings, refer the Service Manual

 

an uncommon failure but it does happen

 

Thanks for the response, i will try those suggestions out and hopefully i can figure it out but i am not the best with this kind of stuff. And the only thing i believe electrical that has been done to it is a another new R/R cause the guy before me said it went out on him so he replaced it

 

If the PO replaced the R/R with an inexpensive one it is likely trash after a few hours of run time.

Smoke can also be a loose connection getting hot and melting the plastics/ coatings around it. Pull off the side fairings and do a through inspection.