Hi everyone!

Once again I hope to get some tips or advise from you guys. Any help is appreciated!

The other day I was working on my bike to get it's oil and filter changed. When idling I noticed a cable glowing orange and the smell of plastic burning. That cable was located underneath my seat near the battery box. I switched the bike off, took off the tank and seat and found out a plug had burnt out. It was a plug connecting the 3 yellow phase cables from the stator to the plug of the RR. Picture:




I have limited knowledge of electronics but equipped with my multimeter and my Haynes manual I checked the resistance between the yellow cables (that run to the stator) and that all measured out around 0.3ohm each. Then I checked each phase for resistance against ground. That was OL (out of limits). If I understand correctly this means my stator is not grounded and is fine.

Next I measured the resistance of the connections in the RR and got 'OL' on all connections. According to Haynes this means it's fried, so I ordered a new one. Now I could not use the plugs anymore so I had to cut them off and strip the cables to a point where they were not melted. I then connected them like this:



I know it's not ideal but it's what I had at hand at the moment. I then insulated them with insulation tape to protect it against moisture. I don't know a lot about electronics and I now wonder if connecting the cables this way might cause higher resistance and cause problems again. So maybe I should do it over and solder it instead? Hopefully you can tell me if I'm okay like this .

New RR should arrive tomorrow. To check if it works I can just measure the voltage of the battery when engine is running right? If it's 13-14ish that means everything is working fine ?

Questions:
- Do you think my stator is still ok?
- Did I connect the phase cables okay-ish or should it be soldered?
- Can I check if everything is ok by measuring voltage on the battery with engine on?
- Why did this happen in first place ?

Thanks in advance guys, really appreciate your help as always

 

Hi , yes really just as you surmised, the heat is produced by resistance over heating the plastic and burning it, soldered wires is a solution until you have to change it again, though would change that household connector for a good one and insert a little dialectric grease on to the metal connectors keep the water out, you can check voltage from the stators 3 terminals , but I think you saved it first

 

Cheers man!

Problem is solved with the new RR. Perhaps if somebody else is running into the problem:

I checked the condition of the stator with the following steps:
- Check for resistance between ground and all 3 yellow wires going into the stator, should be 1 (OL/Infinite)
- Check for resistance between yellow wires, should be around 0.8 ohms for all combinations
- Check AC volt output between yellow wires, should be around 20V idling

After replacing the RR (removing the household connector and soldering) and connecting it the system is now charging as it should be.

Thanks!

 

Hi Nils,

Yes what you've done is a 'temp fix' and as Cabaret says, those terminal connectors should be replaced asap. Either soldered with heat-shrink sleeving to insulate or you could use crimp connectors. I had exactly the same fault with my old CBR but not caused by voltage rectifier / regulator - although that may have been replaced before I bought the bike.

Well done for diagnosing the fault so accurately

Those RR's are called SHUNT regulators and they maintain a steady voltage by draining (sinking) excess current to ground so they do get hot when the bike electrics aren't using much current and they can eventually burn out. They can also cause premature fried stators...

Cheers
Tim