PLEASE HELP this silly womane!! BURNT WIRES

[vieja al]

I have a 1980 CB750. My battery was being drained when the bike was running. I changed out the rotor and stator. When I hooked everything back on and started the bike I had my "black" wire from my stator to the rectifier burn the insulation off? What happened? I made sure everything was hooked up exactly the same way. I am stuck!!

Help me gentlemen. I do not have a local mechanic and am stuck!

[TOOLS1]

I am not very familiar with the DOHC models, or their charging systems, however I would bet the replacement parts were defective.
TOOLS

[vieja al]

Thanks for the input.

[motogrady]

Electrics are always tuff for most, myself included.

I'd go out and buy a few of those in line fuse pods,
the ones that use the old style glass fuses.
Replace the burned out wires, putting a fusepod inline on each replaced wire.
Do them one at a time.  Don't rush.
Put 5, maybe 10 amp fuses in the pods as long as it's not the big starter feed wire.
Start the bike up.
Whichever fuse blows, I'd look at what that wire supplies, and how the previous wire was routed.
If no chaffing or pinching was going on to cause a short to ground, start checking out
or replacing components.

electrics, yikes...........

[Rich Ard]

You either have a wire that is grounding somewhere that it shouldn't - which basically means that bare wire is touching bare metal somewhere it oughtn't - or the connectors at your stator/rec/reg are dirty and it's causing the short that burned up your wire.

I would suggest snipping out the burnt wire and clipping a 10A fuse in its place, and thoroughly cleaning the connectors (I like to do this by holding them in a cup of vinegar for about thirty seconds and then holding them in a solution of baking soda and water, which neutralizes the vinegar); make sure they're bone dry before you put them back together, and if you like, use dielectric grease when you do so (you can buy this from Autozone in little tubes for a couple dollars a piece).

If it shorts out again it's time to get out the voltmeter - and if you don't have one yet, this'll be your opportunity to learn how to use one.

Electricity is just like running water, only more predictable, and easier to stop. You'll get this figured out!

[Rich Ard]

> or replacing components.

I'm going to disagree here - minor electrical trouble is the stuff that shops love to hate, because you can sell parts easier than an hourly rate. I'm willing to bet you have a problem that will take about an hour to fix, and you can spend ten bucks or a thousand to get there.

[Rich Ard]

Backing up another step - would I be correct in guessing that you have not tested your regulator/rectifier?

[motogrady]

I was thinkin', and agree, the rectifier came to mind first.
That's where the wire burned to, check that first maybe.

A voltmeter at the local hardware store, 10 dollars or less.
You're blind without one.

No meter, I'd disconnect all but the start and run wiring,
reconnect the rectifier, the lights, the horn, one at a time
while running till you start smoking wires again.
Advanced shade tree mechanics right there

Good luck keep us posted, I know I'm interested.

[icerigger]

Just remember, that if the rotor was shorted out, there's an excellent chance that it took the regulator with it. It runs way too much current through trying to get something out of a rotor that isn't going to deliver and fries itself.