I know this has come up before...smoking hot charging wires

Howdy guys,

I remember reading about this somewhere here but I cannot find the article. I have a 80 Maxim. The charging wires are hotter than hell and smoke. I noticed it with the seat off. You cannot touch the wires although the insulation does not appear to be burning (yet). At one point I cut the connector out and crimped in new but splices thinking I had a connection problem. Are these wires supposed to run that hot? Is this the norm?

Always, your help is appreciated.

Pat

 

8O That is definitely not norm.. in the words of another great american: "Houston, we have a problem!"

Sounds like some wires got crossed or shorting out somewhere.

 

You have resistance building somewhere or a short. A short should pop a fuse and it can melt the insulation before that happens, so it sounds more like you have too much resistance somewhere. Check your battery, regulator, and trace your wires.

 

Re: I know this has come up before...smoking hot charging wi

Guys, thanks for the replies.

I checked the connector to the regulator, there was some green in it. I cleaned up the contacts and put some dielectric grease in it. I also redid the ground from the frame to the engine. It seems like it is a lot better. The wires are warm to the touch but are much cooler. Before you could hardly touch them. Do the wires run warm to the touch or is there still something else going on here?

Thanks again
Pat

 

Re: I know this has come up before...smoking hot charging wi

Don't you love old bikes? And I used to think it was just the British bikes and cars with Prince of Darkness (Lucas) electrics.

"Some green." Keep an eye on the whole thing; I never felt my wiring before but then again it never even smells warm. That "green" may extend up into that part of the wiring harness; green-inside wires will get warm big-time.

If you have corroded connectors there, you need to "wring out" your harness or you'll have all sorts of interesting problems. Remember that dielectric grease is an insulator; you need to be sure that good contact is being made and the grease is just protecting everything.

You might consider replacing that mission-critical connector and the wires leading to it. I'm pretty sure chacal (XJ4Ever) already has a solution for this, shoot him a PM.

 

Good call on re-doing the ground, that's what I would have recommended.

 

if you have steel motor mount bolts, the motor is grounded to the frame.
take a look at the charging voltage like it says in the book then check the rectifier.
there is no fuse between the alternator and the rectifier

 

I had the same problem, even melted the insulation on the white rectifier wires. Cleaned all of my connections (soda blasted), repaired the failed insulation, haven't had the problem since. (5 years now)

(edit) The problem connector is probably the one that plugs in to the rectifier.

 

Yep as above. You need to clean ALL your connections. Your alternator is trying to push current up the line! You've created a scaled down lightbulb filament :lol:

 

Re: I know this has come up before...smoking hot charging wi

the safest and most thorough way to check an electrical connection is to do a voltage drop test. Take a digital meter and allow the electricity to bypass the connection in question.

If there is more than a tenth of a volt showing, there is resistance in the connection. You do this with a load on the circuit.
Big load circuits like starter can leak a few tenths through the volt meter and not be at fault
.
If your connection is perfect ( yeah right) then the current will not try to seek an alternate path that's easier. Namely your DVM digital volt meter. Buy one
Regards
Michael