 found burnt wiring today
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Today i was about to check out the drilling the air box mod, removed the seat, the little plastic wiring cover and to my horror there it was stairing at me, a black three pin plug with one very burnt and melted wire that had melted the other two of its companions . Now can anyone enlighten me to what exactly do these wires do, the plug has three yellow wires that head strait to the ignition side of the engine and the other side of the plug has three black with blue stripes that go strait into the wiring harness, it looks like these head back toward the battery, I'm no auto electrician but would i be right in saying they have someting to do with charging the battery. OH i havent pulled the battery out yet to see exactly where they end up.  and also if it's any help the burnt wires were on the harness side of the plug only. and i just replaced the plug 
Phil
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Bleweyzarsoff on the TBA
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 Re: found burnt wiring today
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Joined: Jan 2005
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Loquacious
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Loquacious
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Not that I trust the wiring diagram in the service manual, but here's what it shows.
The only soild yellow wires go to the rear tail light, front position light(parking light), and to the #10 position on the fuse panel.
Black & Blue wires show 3 of them coming out of a 6 pin connector to the alternator on one side, but on the other side of that(pins 1,2,and 3), they're solid black and go to the regualtor/rectifier.
I don't think the above will be much help. The service manual has a habit of not showing these connectors unless they are near the item(s) they go to.
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 Re: found burnt wiring today
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Don,t know about the tail light bit but the yellow wires i'm talking about go straight from the melted plug into the ignition sidecover on the engine. I hooked a volt meter up to this plug after i renewed it and on all three wires it hovers around 4 volts while at idle untill the engine is reved then drops off to 0 volts.
I also hooked it to the battery and i seem to be getting charge. I also forgot to mention in my first post that i had just changed batteries, and wondering if this was the cause of the old battery dieing, especially since you mention that the blue wires come from the alternator.
Phil
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Bleweyzarsoff on the TBA
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 Re: found burnt wiring today
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Old Hand
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Old Hand
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If that's the plastic cover on the left side of the airbox that covers one of the air filter access screws, the plug feeds the tail light. If you are seeing a low voltage there, chances are that the stoplight filiment in the bulb has broken and the end welded itself into the tail light filiment. From the voltage you mentioned, probably close to the grounded end. This could easily pull enough current to slowly fry the insulation on the wire, but not quite enough to blow the fuse.
Let's hope there's intelligent life somewhere in space 'cause it's buggar all down here. -- Monte Python
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 Re: found burnt wiring today
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Joined: Jan 2005
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Learned Hand
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Learned Hand
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Ok I just went and looked at my bike. the plug in question does have three wires from each connector. There are 3 that look yellowish( mine are very dirty )that come from the right side engine cover just near the sprocket cover, this may be from the altinator ( they are a larger gauge wire than for taillights and such ). I do not have a service manual so I can not check on this.
Pete
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 Re: found burnt wiring today
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Pete, sounds like your on the right track still not sure about the voltage readout i was getting. And yeah these wires are heavy guage.
Greybeard, i will have a look at the tail/brake light, but i think we might be looking at a different plug, and yes it is under that cover.
after rideing today i had a look at the new plug and it seems ok so far, i was wondering if the old plug had a loose connection between 1 male and female connector would this cause it to heat up enough to fry the wires?
Phil
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Bleweyzarsoff on the TBA
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 Re: found burnt wiring today
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Oil Expert
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Oil Expert
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Hey Pete
Finally got off my ar$e and had a look under my bike's seat today (hooray for weekends!).. it's definitly from the alternator, going to the regulator/rectifier. If you have a look at the circuit diagram (avail on my website btw) the wires're listed as being blue/black but they change on the other side of the connector to that yellowish colour.
Theories: 1: Loose plugs can cause resistance. That would fix iteself when you changed the connector. 2: Did you do anything experimental like finding out how much light you could get if you put 150W bulbs in the headlight and driving lights? *grin* That line's not fused so any load greater than rated would overhear the weakest point (almost always the connections). 3: Worst case scenarios are that your rectifier/regulator's shot, or the alternator's putting out LOW voltage (which would result in higher current). That would also mean your battery'd constantly have a low charge, and your lights'd be dim. You might have ignition problems too, especially at high revs.
If it's not happened since you replace the plug I'd be suspecting the first theory, but keep a CLOSE eye on it for a few weeks... having an electrical fire under your butt'd be no fun.
Matt
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 Re: found burnt wiring today
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Hi matt i was hopeing you would poke ya nose in on this  nope i haven't put 150 watt bulbs in my headlight ,but the only thing i have changed is the indicaters/ (turn signals for the yanks LMAO ), what i've done is replaced the stock ones for doss marker lights and taken the two 5 watt bulbs out of each one and relaced them with 21 watt bulbs , is there any chance this would heat the said plug enough to melt the wires.
Phil
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Bleweyzarsoff on the TBA
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 Re: found burnt wiring today
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Learned Hand
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Learned Hand
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I would not think that could cause the problem. I have been running a 80w/100w headlamp and the triumph driving lights with 50w bulbs and never had a problem.
it could have been a loose connection or a bad wire .
Pete
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 Re: found burnt wiring today
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Oil Expert
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Quote:
Hi matt
i was hopeing you would poke ya nose in on this 
You'd be surprised the places my nose ends up 
Quote:
what i've done is replaced the stock ones for doss marker lights and taken the two 5 watt bulbs out of each one and relaced them with 21 watt bulbs
Shouldn't be a problem - as Pete's pointed out the standard alternator has spare capacity enough for driving lights, external power sockets, and gawd knows what else. When I've got the trailer on it's supplying several extra taillights, indicators etc too.
I'm still inclined toward the "loose plug" scenario. Seen it numerous times (admitedly mostly on 1960's minis) where the plug'll melt for no obvious reason, and replacing it fixes the problem. If you're concerned go for a belt round the block with everything electrical running then take the seat off and see if the plug's warm.
Matt
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 Re: found burnt wiring today
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Thanks for the input guys, I think it may have been a loose connection in the plug myself, i cant seem to find any other problem so far and hope i don't either, but will keep an eye on things.
Phil
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Bleweyzarsoff on the TBA
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