Told you once told you 1000 times

Solder your f'n wires! I burnt up 2 rectifires then replaced my stator and installed another new rectified. I figured I'd just test it a while using the connectors. Well a couple hundred miles later and I burn the connectors up because I didn't solder them wires instead. All I can say is cunts! :boom::boom:I'm pissed. Melted a little bit of my Cherri red side faring.

 

By all means cut out the connector and solder those wires - but it also sounds like that connector was acting as an oversize fuse! The quality of the wiring on the early 800s was not one of Mr H's finest offerings but inherently that connector should be capable of carrying the "normal loads" expected for the bike. If it is melting, it was obviously carrying a lot of current and may be indicative of faults elsewhere.

What make of replacement RR is currently fitted? Sadly there are now some fake "Shindengen" style RR's out there. The stuff supplied by the guys at roadstercycle.com seems to be the best you can get.

Have you any high load add-ons or even a short in the wiring?

Déjà vu - maybe. But if you decide to replace the connector with soldered joints, please make sure you then do "the drill" - twice to check the system is really Ok - before packing away the tools! Do the checks once with the bike cold and again after taking the bike for a decent 30+ minutes ride to get it hot. You could yet find your nice new RR is not reliable when really hot and is forcing those wires to carry far too much current.

Good luck



SkiMad

 

Yes, I did the drill. I did the drill about 100 times over the past couple of months. Long story short I installed a brand new Ricks's stator and rectifier. All voltages test are good from the stator legs, rectifier and at the battery. I even installed a volt meter so I can monitor while riding. I have no other electrical draw add-ons installed.

Surprisingly, my charging voltage at the battery was 14.6 when the connector was in the process of burning up. I don't know how it was even charging. The rectifier was barely warm so I know it was not overheating. It all happened at that damn connector after about 3 or 4 hundred miles. It was a crispy burnt mess.

I cut them off and will solder the wires together tonight. Lucky I caught it in time.

 

When I had my stator burn up, I cut the leads on the new stator, added a VFRness, and also used the stator hardwire kit. I crimped and soldered the ring terminals on and haven't had a single problem since. I also opted for the accessory fuse box that goes with it to power a bunch of stuff like my phone, power commander, etc.

http://www.wiremybike.com/vfr-specific-parts-2002-2009-vfr-parts-2002-2009-vfrness-bundle-p-267.html
http://www.wiremybike.com/vfr-specific-parts-2000-2001-vfr-parts-stator-hardwire-kit-p-693.html

 

I kept the stock harness and simply made a second set of connections to bypass the connector. This way, if I'm effed and need to replace the stator or RR on the road, I don't have to deal with soldering and the likes - I can just plug it into the OEM until I can get somewhere that I can spend the time to do it up right.

Post #10 - http://vfrworld.com/forums/showthread.php/50566-Electrical-Loads

 

So today I soldered the wires and took it for a ride. Seems to be OK now. My onboard volt meter shows a sready 13.7v charging at the battery. Funny thing is when I was running it with the plug connector I was seeing 14.6-14.8v and at that voltage the plug and wires on the stator side where a little warm. Now the wires are cool.

As much as I love this bike it pains me I have to worry about this with every ride.

 

You won't anymore!