Help identify melted wires

[4W4K3]

Howdy guys, I've got a (hopefully) simple question for you all. Can anyone identify these wires/plugs?

http://imgur.com/a/MRBWf

I was having some battery issues yesterday and ended up having to replace the battery as it was completely dead and wouldn't take a charge. Ended up getting stranded about ten miles from home and had to leave the bike overnight :bang head:

Well, between yesterday and this morning this plastic 3-wire connector melted. It's located on the far left of the bike and the sleeve runs along the left hand side of the motor. The bike will run/start without the plug connected, so perhaps it's less critical than I originally thought. I was about to just solder/splice a new connection, but wanted to check here first.

Thanks for the help.

 

[ninjaneer]

stator wires, which would explain why your battery died--because it wasn't getting charged. i believe some guys just snip the connector off and do as you were thinking--splice and solder. also, i think it doesn't matter which white goes to which white either. but please let the vets correct me or confirm first.

and contrary to your statement about how "cruicial" the connection is, i would say that it IS crucial, else you'll find yourself stranded 10 miles from home again. LOL

 

[ninjaneer]

looks like i am right. go here and click on the links that talk about melted r/r stator wires. i'm thinking that you might as well fix up your charging system while in there, How to: Fix your Vmax's low voltage or charging problems

 

[RaWarrior]

They're the stator wires. It does not matter if you reconnect them in a different order (AC, so no polarity).

The engine will run fine with that plug disconnected, until the ignition, headlight, ect, run the battery down, since it won't be "putting back" any of the power it's using.

For the time being I would just cut out the burnt bits and strip/splice the wires back together. You may want to review the thread linked to above to avoid problems down the road.

 

[naughtyG]

+1 these are the stator wires and they can be connected in any order because they produce AC current.

HOWEVER, before you solder them, you should run the engine and measure the tension between all 3 wires, using 2 at a time and a voltmeter set to 50-100V AC. Make sure it's on AC, and don't hold in your hands as you will get shocked! Now, run the engine and measure, as you rev up it should go into the 50 to 60VAC range.

This is important because when the connector melted it could've shorted any of these wires, and if this happened it *could* have fried parts or all of your stator. That's exactly what happened to mine on my '86 a coupla years ago. Also once you solder the wires you won't be able to easily test for this, so it's been recently discussed that it would be way better to have three individual ands well insulated bullet type connectors instead.

 

[4W4K3]

Thanks for the tips guys! I'm gonna go check the voltage now and do a quick splice.
I'll let you know what I find.

 

[tonyg-5386]

I caught mine before they melted and soldered/butt crimped and heatshrinked them. I also bought a new replacement stator connector from a forum member in case I ever want to reinstall the connector. I also did the reg/rec directly to the battery with an inline fuse. After doing this I went from 13.0v to 14.4v and the bike behaved much better. Hopefully you caught it before it fried the stator. It does not matter which white wire gets connected to which white wire. Just disconnect your battery first and do one at a time and keep them apart.

 

[4W4K3]

I went ahead and followed the guide that RaWarrior wrote up and it went great! I'm now showing about 13.50v at idle and I found that nothing else was fried in the process.

Thanks to all of you for the help. Definitely eases my mind to have a bit more confidence in my charging system.

http://imgur.com/a/gX0l0

 

[ninjaneer]

Cool

Regards from my Taptalking Hercules Android

 

[ninjaneer]

Cool.

Regards from my Taptalking Hercules Android

 

[KJShover]

stator wires, which would explain why your battery died--because it wasn't getting charged. i believe some guys just snip the connector off and do as you were thinking--splice and solder. also, i think it doesn't matter which white goes to which white either. but please let the vets correct me or confirm first.

and contrary to your statement about how "cruicial" the connection is, i would say that it IS crucial, else you'll find yourself stranded 10 miles from home again. LOL

Dayummm!!! nailed it in a minute!
You're on your game unk:

 

[ninjaneer]

Dayummm!!! nailed it in a minute!
You're on your game unk:

Hehehe. Slowly building confidence. But I did stay at a comfort inn


Regards from my Taptalking Hercules Android