ducatipaso.org

Hi

Looking under the seat today I can see that three electrical connectors have overheated to the point of melting. I think they are wires from the regulator rectifier... any idea what might be causing this?

I am not knowledgeable about motorcycle electrics ... so keep it simple please!

The regulator wire carry quite a high current and oxidation of the connector surfaces will create resistance which in turn generates heat which will encourage more oxidation making the situation worse with the result that the connectors eventually burn out, the insulation melts or the resistance gets so high that no current flows. You potentially risk a fire and most certainly a non-charging battery.
Replace all the connectors on both sides of the junction with good quality items that are more than up to the electrical current requirement. Also replace any damaged wiring, again using suitably heavy duty wire.

Thanks Derek

That is very helpful.

Anyone able to suggest a good quality connector and supplier in the UK?

This forum is super helpful... thanks Pasoists

I regularly deal with these firms;
http://www.vehicle-wiring-products.eu/
http://www.polevolt.co.uk/
https://kojaycat.co.uk/

Their products cover a wide range of general and specialist applications. I use whichever one has what I need at the best price at any time.

Hi

Thanks for the links.

Replaced the melted connectors and it looked like one was broken but just touching.

Bike now not charging... so I need to try and work through that.

Ok... so I just want a basic charging circuit. I have bought a generic 5 wire reg/rec and connected the two yellow and red wire from the stator, linked the live and wired the ground to the battery. I have charge.

Is this ok to do? Will I combust?

Thanks in advance...

When my voltage regulator burned out right from the beginning I took a hard look and saw the potential problem of corrosion under the seat, mainly the use of dissimilar metals (aluminum mounting panel). I then ran heavy gauge (10ga) copper wire from the ground mounting bolts of all the individual components directly to the battery negative earth terminal. All these years, never another electrical problem or corrosion anywhere.

Things like this can be hard on the brain...because upon eyeballing the problem the solution seems so simple and obvious one wonders why it wasn't done at the factory, and then the self doubt creeps in ..."I must have got this wrong ......seems to easy " . Call me cynical but I think that at the time Ducati had nothing in the piggy bank and keeping costs down was critical to survival and thusly things were speced to scrape thru the warranty period, not to last 30 years. Replacing or upgrading (fitting relays )fried connectors is as easy as it looks .

You are just asking for corrosion anytime aluminum is attached to steel, especially when it is being asked to carry an electrical current. Hence that aluminum mounting plate for the electrics on the 750 Paso would soon result in all kinds of electrical problems.

The ally plate on my Paso is used to mount all the gubbins but it is not being used as an earth, and never was.