Rectifier
 

Can anyone tell me the symptoms of a faulty rectifier unit and any tests i can do to see if mine is faulty as my battery has just started leaking for no reason and i have heard this could be the problem?

What bike is it?

As general rule of thumb you looking for no more than 14.7 volts. It hit this by 4K and then hold steady, any more the regulator is arsed.

Kev

Unfortunatly i've had 2 of these go. Failing to charge on both occasions rather than over charging. As previously, check the voltage at the battery terminals is 14 volts approx while revving above tickover.
Mine showed up first as a misbehaving revcounter ( wildly swinging needle) and failing to run properly at low revs.
keith

Yep,the easiest way to check the charging rate is with a multimeter,a cheap one will do.Set the range to 20v dc.Start the bike and check the voltage.At tickover it should read about 13.5v.Slowly take the revs up to 3k,you should get 14.5-15v.Any more or less than this and its a good chance the reg/rec is cooked.
If the battery is leaking,check the casing is not cracked or the breather is not blocked.Some 916's batteries used to rub on the belt covers,tho not usually enough to crack the casings.

i now have a multimeter secured to the top yolk of my 916, lights off at 4k = 13.8 volts, Lights on at 4k = 13.5
Now its not that i dont trust the 916 after the sodding think leaving me stranded for 2.5 hours a few weeks back, but i have to say your symptoms sound exactly the same as what mine did.
I bet all your connectors are fried off the rectifier. Snip em off and put good high quality terminals / bullets on. ensure they are very tight so heat buildup wont cause any more troubles.
Is also worth noting i bought a new section of the loom to do a proper job and i found the connection was so poor even with a new loom, so slung it and replaced 1 toasted wire with a heavier gauge cable and crimped on new bullets and i have far more confidence in the repaired way. after a good spin the wiring is no longer even warm so i think i have seen the end of that problem.
good luck anyway

Just got back on a recovery truck! Yep got stranded bike just died on me. Feck!

Recovery man put a voltage meter on it and it was producing 8v and falling off until the bike died itself.

The electrolyte level is low, so I was going to top that up and then see, the rectifier has had the mod done everything looks ok there? Other than that a new battery and then a new generator?

Do I need to check anything else? Pants, had it just over a week welcome to Italian motorcycling!

Just took battery out and the holder and lo and behold the two yellow wires have nuked the pastic connector its a mass of charred wires and melted plastic!

So a new connector. Being a mechanical imbecile what connector do I get, will Halfords do it? Cheers. Well hopefully it will not be too expensive!

Rectifier
 

Thanx for the repies guys,sorry forgot to mention its a 996s 2001,i've checked the charging voltage and its well within the limit so i spoke to a dealer they suggested battery may just be knackered,so i willl try changing that first and check all connections too!
Cheers

hello drogers7

So was it the battery?

regards

TopiToo

Hello Topitoo,dont know if it is the battery or not,still trying to get hold of one,ducati dealer is charging 75 quid so i am trying to source one from somewhere else,any ideas?