Ducati Monster Forum

(http://inlinethumb24.webshots.com/46103/2659762110103537997S600x600Q85.jpg)

Uh... that's not good.  :(

(http://inlinethumb09.webshots.com/46024/2927511020103537997S600x600Q85.jpg)

Uh... that's REALLY not good.  :o

(http://inlinethumb35.webshots.com/49250/2043822360103537997S600x600Q85.jpg)

Balls.   >:(

Anyone got a spare regulator/rectifier sitting around?

that'll buff right out?

and that sucks man... never seen a rr melt through something like that before.  most of the times i just hear about that frying themselves, but never to that exent

STOP TAKING PICTURES AND SAVE THE DAMN BIKE!!! 

^^^^ I was thinking the same thing!

Let me look when I get home.  I very well might have one for you.  Does it matter what it's off of, or are they basically universal?

bah.ive had that happen.

i posted up a wanted ad in the BST section. and someone contact me about one, bought it....but guess what? it got delivered, just not to me and i have no freaking clue who has one. If i buy another i might as well of bought an electrosport from ca-cycleworks.

:(

Yikes!  I relocated my regulator beneath the seat pan to assist with cooling, but I have a feeling it would not prevent such a catastrophic failure as pictured above.

if you read the forums over at Ducati.ms (I know its a VS forum, and I am sorry- i only read it for the sport classic forums)  it does not seem to be an uncommon problem with the sport classics.  One of their forum sponsors -JC Pakbikes http://jcpakbikes.com/ (http://jcpakbikes.com/) sells a replacement rectifier.  I am not affiliated with that vendor, just passing on the info.

How?

As soon as I turned off the ignition it should have stopped getting juice. Then (in theory) it's just a matter of letting it cool off.

Not much else I could really do, sadly. I was away from home and didn't have tools to disconnect the battery, nor a CO2 extinguisher to cool things off. Wasn't about to start dumping water on an electrical issue.

If there had been actual flames, then yes, you'd only see pictures of the charred aftermath and my soot-blackened face after I fought the damned thing to the bitter end.

Pee on it.  Works like a charm.  And if it doesn't, you electrocute yourself and you don't have to watch your baby burn to the ground.

Sorry 'bout that, mang.  That blows.   :'(

Ha. That'd smell worse than the electrical fire stench.  [puke]

And no worries. It's not your fault.

It's Bick's.  >:(

As far as I know the Ducati R/R's are pretty much universal. I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong.

No hurry, tho. Pretty sure I'm going to take apart the tail section and fab up a new undertray.  [thumbsup]


May have to look into that. Thanks for the link.  [beer]

what exactly happened? break it down for the n00b

Regulator/rectifier, that rectangular piece with the fins on it, tried to declare a jihad on me.

Actually it just spontaneously overheated and melted the shit out the connector and my undertray. They're known to do that on occasion. Like Firestone tires self destructing.

You should try a replacement from Rick's Motorsport Electrics, one with MOSFET circuitry. Better at dealing with waste current and don't overheat so badly. The OEMs all fail at some point, not if but when. They are an inferior circuit design, the name of which eludes me.

That thing needs it's own air duct.

The "sucky" design?

Got a link, berg?

edit: Never mind. Google are my friend. I'll probably upgrade to that over the winter.

Same thing happened to mine,i had someone fabricated a heat sink, solved the problem.Those rectifiers gets really hot from not getting good circulation in there.

That too. In my opinion, Ducatis have inadequate electricals. I think all of them should have 1) a Shorai or Ballistic lightweight LFP battery for up to a 6 lb weight reduction (no-brainer) and better cranking with no need for a tender 2) a Motolectric wiring upgrade kit 3) a MOSFET regulator/rectifier such as one from Rick's Motorsport electrics and 4) a custom made heatsink mounting plate from aluminum or one of those TPO relocators, and a proper application of heatsink compound (much like what you would use to mount a CPU to a motherboard).

Think of how much better the bike can be if you don't have to worry about cheesedick electrical components ruining your day, leaving you stranded out in the sticks somewhere. A great many running issues would be solved with electricals that have some modicum of quality. Ducati electricals are shamefully shitty.

It's strange how people will spend big dough for all the wrong mods first, when the thoughtful ones matter the most. If these bikes have anything even remotely borderline flaky in the electricals they won't run right and there's evidence to this effect posted every single day on this forum. 

This was pretty much the shopping list I made for myself when this shit blew. I've got some other wiring to do while it's down, and this just gives me the excuse to bolster the entire electrical system.

And by bolster, I mean build it the way it should have come from the factory.

you should do a thread on this when you're finished

With lots of pretty peeeeeectures.

Planning on it.  [thumbsup]

+1

Hmmm...  I think some smoke might have tried to escape from mine yesterday...

Used the time off over the winter to resurrect the beast.

New undertray:

(http://inlinethumb07.webshots.com/46342/2604967260103537997S600x600Q85.jpg)

Three packages of CPU heat sink compound to thermally couple the R/R to the new undertray, effectively making it a huge heat sink with tons of air flow.

(http://inlinethumb26.webshots.com/49113/2017231510103537997S600x600Q85.jpg)

All bolted up:

(http://inlinethumb35.webshots.com/48482/2454881370103537997S600x600Q85.jpg)

IIRC, Howley on this forum was looking at designing a better rectifier after experiencing the same problem.  I've fried 2 of them and the bike had fried one before I got it.  At least two of the three were CA Cycleworks.  I put an OEM back in from the dealership and I've been trouble free since.  One of the big indicators on my bike is light output from the headlight varying with rpm - that and battery acid running down the left side of the bike.

I think it was suzyj...not Howley.

This is an OEM unit out of a 695 that was being parted out.

When I get around to upgrading to a Shorai battery, I'll have a bunch of other wiring to do and I'll probably look to upgrade to a FET unit then. The SCR units (OEM) are known to be failure prone, but the prevailing wisdom is that they do better/last longer if you can keep them cool. Thus my heat sink and better air flow design (and prayer).

The electrical system was giving me issues for about a week before the old unit fried itself. Wasn't charging the battery, wouldn't idle, etc.

'01 bike, 62K miles, original regulator (first generation, mounted in front of bike), knocking on wood.  I think your "cooling system" will work.

Haha. Sorry I had the same thing happen to me. It's hard to look cool when you're pushing your bike home for 2 miles geared up in the middle of summer.

Yup.  I came up with a design using a couple of DC-DC converters; one to charge the battery and one to supply the rest of the loads.  The idea is that the system can give a nice stable regulated 13.8V with inputs from 15 to 80 odd volts.  I designed it on paper and then put the oem rectifier/regulator to service driving my LiFePo4 battery, which has been running reliably for a year or so.  I revisited the DC-DC converter recently, as to be frank the inefficient oem one offends me.

The problem that I have is that if the stator is disconnected the voltage shoots up to >150V at a few thousand RPM.  So even an efficient regulator still needs a circuit to shunt the excess power from the stator to stop the voltage from getting really high and causing arcs and sparks and potential breakdown of the stator insulation.

Unfortunately that part that shunts the excess voltage is going to get really, really hot.  Defeating the purpose.

Would a bank of 15V zeners protect a Shorai or A123 battery from flaming if the voltage spikes from a RR failure?  Sounds expensive, but so is a bike with a battery under the fuel tank.

Not very well.  Zeners have a pretty gradual turn on, so they wouldn't regulate the voltage terribly well.  Also, if the RR failed, then the zeners would then be doing the whole job of the RR, and would soon fail themselves.

Edit:  On reflection, a thyristor crowbar might be a good circuit to use as battery protection.  The circuit at the bottom of http://axotron.se/index_en.php?page=26 (http://axotron.se/index_en.php?page=26) would do the job, in line with the battery.  You'd need two 30A fuses, one between the crowbar and battery, and the other between the crowbar and RR.  If the crowbar went off it'd blow both fuses, protecting the battery.  There is still the possibility that the RR goes low impedance and catches fire itself though, as happened to the OP, so it wouldn't protect against everything.

I'm pretty sure the Shorai has a suicide fuse to commit Seppukku rather than catch fire and puke molten chemicals all over your bike.
That is the only downside to such batteries without that feature. Shorai are pricey tho.

When SJ creates her u beaut regulator, they will sell like hotcakes, and she'll be granted sainthood.

At $159 they're cheaper than a lot of the other lightweight batteries I've seen out there. OEM Yuasa is about $70 and 7.6lbs. The Shorai is 1.83lbs. $90 bucks to lose close to 6lbs and not have to worry about the chemicals of the lead/acid battery burping out? I'm in...