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cooking stator wire?

  • Thread starter Thread starter gearhead13
  • Start date Start date
G

gearhead13

Guest
What would cause one of the three stator wires to run so hot to melt the spade connector? I have had the stator cover off recently. Its possible that i could have a pinched wire, but why would that cause it to run hot:confused:
I checked that it is charging properly and its running ~14 volts higher rpms. I installed a new Duaneage R&R last spring and did my best to get it wired properly.
 
Hi,

Corrosion causes resistance. Resistance causes heat. Clean all the connections and grounds in the charging system and all over the bike; battery terminals, fusebox, ignition switch, etc. It sounds like your stator may just be giving up the ghost. Do the active and passive stator test to see if it is still functioning properly. Make sure the sense wire from the r/r unit is connected to a switched 12v source that is accurate. If the source is reading low then it forces the r/r to try to compensate by putting out higher voltage.

What is the voltage loss measurement between the r/r output and the battery positive?


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff
 
BassCliff said:
Hi,

Corrosion causes resistance. Resistance causes heat. Clean all the connections and grounds in the charging system and all over the bike; battery terminals, fusebox, ignition switch, etc. It sounds like your stator may just be giving up the ghost. Do the active and passive stator test to see if it is still functioning properly. Make sure the sense wire from the r/r unit is connected to a switched 12v source that is accurate. If the source is reading low then it forces the r/r to try to compensate by putting out higher voltage.

What is the voltage loss measurement between the r/r output and the battery positive?


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff
Click to expand...
The r/r output goes direct to the battery, so no loss there. The sense wire goes to actual battery voltage, not drooped voltage. I had a problem with overcharging and had to change the sense wire location. The ground from the r/r goes direct to battery neg, large wire to engine and smaller one to the frame. I tested the stator last spring and it passed all tests. I remembered I had the sprocket cover off as well and maybe the wires got pinched or something:confused: Its too cold to ride here now, and the engine is coming out for the winter so I will get it figured out before spring somehow.
 
The only other culprit could be the R/R. The Regulator side is apparently not regulating. All the Rectifier side does is convert AC to DC.
 
gearhead13 said:
What would cause one of the three stator wires to run so hot to melt the spade connector? I have had the stator cover off recently. Its possible that i could have a pinched wire, but why would that cause it to run hot:confused:
I checked that it is charging properly and its running ~14 volts higher rpms. I installed a new Duaneage R&R last spring and did my best to get it wired properly.
Click to expand...

I had that occur when two of the three stator wires somehow crossed onto eachother.

Sure made the bike run weird on the short ride home.
 
Are the stator wires routed directly into the R/R, bypassing the vehicle harness? If not, they should be. Suzuki's wiring routing scheme for the charging system is poor, and is the main cause of problems with the charging system.
 
gearhead13 said:
What would cause one of the three stator wires to run so hot to melt the spade connector?
Click to expand...
It's not the wire that's running hot.
noway.gif


It's the CONNECTOR. :-k

Cut it off, strip and clean the wire, securely crimp on a new connector. Even better, solder the connector, too.

The heat is caused by tiny little sparks that are trying to jump across the gaps caused by improper crimping. Don't think they can get that warm? Why do you think that arc welding works? It's the arc that is hot, not the wires. Same thing is happening on a much smaller scale inside your poorly-crimped connectors. :oops:

NOTE: this can also happen if the tension on the connectors is weak. Yet another reason to clean your connections and/or upgrade to better connectors.

.
 
If you're going to cook your stator wire, serve it with spam and a little BBQ sauce. It'll make it much more tasty.:D
 
I agree with Steve- crimp on connectors are deceiving; make sure you use the right size for those little stator output wires. When I replaced my R/R, one of my stator spade connectors just slipped off wire as I unplugged things- I had used a connector designed for 14/16 gauge wire and it didn't crimp tight enough.
 
I am going to try replacing the spade with a butt connector to see if that fixes it.
 
gearhead13 said:
I am going to try replacing the spade with a butt connector to see if that fixes it.
Click to expand...

It most likely won't fix the problem unless the stator is wired directly into the R/R bypassing the factory harness.
 
Nessism said:
It most likely won't fix the problem unless the stator is wired directly into the R/R bypassing the factory harness.
Click to expand...
The stator is wired directly to the r/r. Has been since I bought it. I used a butt connector and ran it and the connection never heated up. Before, it heated up enough to burn my fingers within seconds when it fired up.
 
With all due respect to the esteemed members participating in this thread, I strongly suggest that unless the connection is grossly faulty (it can happen, surely) there is more going on here than just a faulty spade connector. To test, one could check the voltage pre and post connector. Unless I have massively misjudged the statements here by the OP, the loss through any replaced connector should not be so huge that it melts connectors. JMHO.
 
Those connectors get darn hot, even with solid contact. That's the reason I bought a Compufire R/R.

Another thing to review is the R/R grounding. Other than that, it is what it is.

Good luck and hope you get it sorted.
 
Heat indicates that work is being done, work which is not desireable. Heat is almost always due to voltage drop due to high resistance but, in this case, may be due to excessive current flow. What is the charging voltage?

Have you a means of loading and measuring maximum VRR charging/output current?

A failed/shorted rectifier diode can allow high DC current flow through the stator and burn it out. I recommend that you solve this ASAP in the hope of saving part of the system.
 
If you have a marginal connection where the resistance s a high as the typical minimum resolution of a DVM (the smallest that can typically be measured is 0.1 ohms) , and you assume only 12 amps, then you are looking at
Power = Current ^2 * R = 12^2 *0.1 = 144*0.1 = 14.4 Watts

That is a whole lot of power for a small gauge wire to dissipate. Any kind of corrosion in a crimp will lead to resistance values in this range. That is why I solder all my primary R/R connections. To much humidity where I live.
 
I really like a good solid soldered joint over a connector anyday. If it is a connection that is not regularly disconnected, why not? Solder it well, wrap the joint with a nice thick shrink tube of the right size... I have even gone to the point of adding little bit of greese I inside the shrink before heating just to be sure no water can get in there. I do the same for all of my connectors.
 
I can link you to some very convincing arguments for use of crimp connectors over soldering, including that soldering has the issue of running up the wire and so creating a ridgid hinge point which promotes breakage. OEM manfacturers and especially aircraft use crimps for other reasons than cost. It is far easier to assure a consistantly effective connector through quality control of terminal, proper matching of tool and wire. Like most things, what seems simple to the untrained is usually very complex.

That said, I was trained over 50 years ago with solder and still prefer although training has increased my awareness of the issues. As someone mentioned, the exclusion of corrosives from the uniom has much merit when soldering although one can try acid dip testing and distructive disassembly of the crimped terminal to prove that the crimping pressure leaves little opportunity for entry.

Aircraft specify soldering for a very few applications and this operation has to be carried out by specially certified personnel, much like high pressure welding.

I am also a believer in soldering monofilament/single conductor wires as they are ridgid so, IMO, the hinge point concern is moot. The grease inside heat shrink sounds somewhat like the newer heat shrink and self sealing crimp terminals. Both of these have a gel inside which melts and flows to seal the connection when heated. Nice stuff which is very popular on highway trucks and marine. The terminals are easy to find but the tubing has not, at least around here.

Aircraft techs become pale in the face when they see some of the connections made on vehicles.:eek: I think they worry far too much as the airline accident rate is still much lower than it needs to be.;)

Another older trick for sealing wire is to slip a piece of plastic tubing such as a piece of drinking straw over the connection and pump full of RTV silicone. It's still hard to beat that one for connections which will be immersed in sea water.
 
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