Electrical fire!

[-Savage-]

Wow, this is the worst electrical failure I have seen with my own eyes.

Bike broke down yesterday in heavy rain, battery was flat, I bumped it and it started, but all of a sudden it started smoking and I could smell burning plastic.

I got the bike home after 10 hours (raining all the time) and looked at it today.

Took all plastics and tank off, but couldn't initially see any burn, smoke marks, or obvious problems, so i bumped her again.

Traced the smoke down to a rubber sleeve on the left side above the generator.

The generator output seems to have corroded and shorted, leading to the battery dying, and the heat from the short fubared the rest of the wiring inside that little rubber sleeve (side stand switch etc).

So I have to now get connectors, and use the wiring diagram in Haynes book of lies to wire it up again, oh joy!




Anyone ever heard of this before ? CBR600FX 1999.



Gratuitous pics

https://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f324/SavageKymco/P101009_1826.jpg
https://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f324/SavageKymco/P101009_182601.jpg
https://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f324/SavageKymco/P101009_1837.jpg
https://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f324/SavageKymco/P101009_1838.jpg
https://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f324/SavageKymco/P101009_183801.jpg
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My Bikes - - - Royal Enfield 500 with sidecar, VFR800, CBR600FX,
Peugeot Speedfight 100, Kymco Hipster 125, GSXR750K5, Jawa TS 350

[tatters]

looks like a faulty rectifier fire, quite common on CBR,s

the last photo would be the 3 phase ac cables from the stator to the rectifier.
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Past:NRG50,AF1125(x2),NSR125RR,ZZR250,CX500,VFR400,KR1S,ZZR600(x2),CB400N,YZF1000(x2),KH125,Z200,FX400R,CBR954RR(x2)GPZ500S,GT550,VFR750F(x2),RD350N,XR650R,CBR600F,CB250,KDX250,YZF750R,CRM250,400EXC,KLR650,TTR600RE,DR350S,R100GSPD,RGV250,VMAX1200,DL650,KZ750 Present:G650XC,C12,CRF450X,1190ADV

[Martay]

Hi,
i cant shed any light on it, but it could have been alot worse. Hope you get it sorted
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Eat well, poo hard
Drives: Cavalier 2.0 16v
Rides: Slightly ratted Honda City Express

[stinkwheel]

Mates BMW R100 headlamp wiring actually did catch fire once while he was riding to a rally. He had to stop at the side of the road and tear it out. Lucky he had on leather gloves really because they were covered in molten plastic.
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[-Savage-]

Do you guys think I should get replacement block connectors (I have no idea how to secure wires to them) or just use one-to-one crimp connectors for each wire?

Also if it is the reg/rec, how do I test it without fear of destroying my newly fixed wiring?
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My Bikes - - - Royal Enfield 500 with sidecar, VFR800, CBR600FX,
Peugeot Speedfight 100, Kymco Hipster 125, GSXR750K5, Jawa TS 350

[stinkwheel]

[Phoenix]

You're better off getting a replacement block connector, no reason why you can't just direct wire it back but it's a better job to use blocks. It's difficult to say what caused it, the alternator can be faulty, the regulator or the battery and one can cause failure in the other. Personally i'd bet on the regulator, you can pick up new ones now for a CBR600 from China on ebay for £25, it's the same as the Fireblade one and I bought one a while ago as mine failed as they all do by 20-30K. In an ideal world you'd replace the battery too as it may have killed that and running with a bad battery could potentially kill a new rectifier aswell. But batteries are expensive now at about £40-50 for a decent one so that's upto you.

Edit in response to Stinkwheel:

It may have been a random short, but the CBRs and VFRs are notorious for wiring and connector block meltdowns there when the regulator fails. The problem is it's almost impossible to test a regulator, the described method never works, I've tried it on regulators that I know are perfect and ones I know are duff and it never gives an answer. Once the alternator wires are rewired up you can test the charging voltage, it'll be low or high or jumping around a lot if the regulator is duff, but then sometimes it doesn't, but should usually sit around 14.5 volts (14.3 in my experience usually), wrong voltage can be down to battery aswell as regulator though.

[don]

hI, I had the same problem on a couple of CBRs.
The connectors inside the block corrode and start heating up, this makes the problem worse, until you get a fire!

This then takes out the reg/rect.as does high power headlights, heated grips etc.
(The reg/rect going awol can also cause unusually high voltages, which also makes things worse, blowing bulbe is usually a sign its all going to go tits up)

Most people think the male/female connection is where the corrosion is, but I have found its where the wire is crimped to the connector thats the problem

I replaced the connectors with tagged spade connectors from LUCAS car electrics, or City electrics.

You can get the old ones out using a stiff wire or spectacle screwdriver. or those tiny metal screwdrivers from the market.

The second time I had this happen, on another CBR I was so pissed off I removed the connector block and slipped some shrink wrap tubing over each wire,(Halfords) then a bigger piece over the whole "flex"
then I soldered the wires together using a small soldering iron, shoved the small shrink wrap over the joins, heated them to shrink,
then slipped the bigger shrink wrap over the whole lot, and shrunk that into place too.SORTED.

However....remember to thread the wires through any grommets, holes, mountings before you solder it all up.....!

You'll need to cut the wires to put on a new reg/rect, or get the engine out, but then its trailer time anyway.

If you use block connectors dont bother with WD40, use a waterproof grease, like lithium for pushbikes,its a good general grease too.( Halfords.)
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cbr600