TOPIC:

Took the KZ 1000ST for a ride, about 260kms and the bike broke down. I figured it was the main fuse and when I popped the seat I discovered that the battery terminals, both positive and negative were completely melted to nothing. I managed to rig it up and made it home.

Anyways, what would cause this? The engine is running fine and I was going fast - about 140 km/h.

What could the problem be?

I find this disturbing, because if it happened earlier then I would have been stranded on the highway.

High resistance caused by a bad connection at the terminals, possibly corrosion if you haven't cleaned them in awhile, otherwise loose terminals.

Seen it a bunch of times on all kinds of vehicles.

I'm probably way out to lunch here but I'll hazard a guess and say overcharging ? Did the battery boil dry by any chance ?

JR:
You know it was discharging a lot. WOuld that be "boiling itself dry".

I have never encoutered this problem before.

If it goes dry I guess it just overheats?

Anyways what causes this overcharging in the first place?

I will make sure to clean the terminals.

I guess I will need to buy a new barrey then.

KR

KOOL RYDER I'm sure steel has the right answer on this and I should have kept my mouth shut. By "boil dry" I meant literally that. How is the fluid level in the battery ? A problem in the charging circuit causing to much current to go to the battery can cook it and boil off the liquid.

A new battery with clean terminals and some battery terminal grease ala Canadian Tire is probably a good idea.

Good luck

An even better idea would be to test the output of the regulator/rectifier at the battery.

KOOL RYDER wrote:

JR:
You know it was discharging a lot. WOuld that be "boiling itself dry".

I have never encoutered this problem before.

If it goes dry I guess it just overheats?

Anyways what causes this overcharging in the first place?

I will make sure to clean the terminals.

I guess I will need to buy a new barrey then.

KR

As Steel was saying: a loose or corroded connector has some resistance in the connection, so the current flowing through causes heat because of the resistance at the connection. The heat is what melts the wire insulation.

Don't assume the battery is bad until you charge it up and test it. It might be bad, but it might not.

As WG said, when you get a good battery in there, measure the battery's terminal voltage with the engine revving to see if the alternator is regulating to the correct voltage (about 14V).

THe battery that melted at the terminals was a brand new crappy tire battery. It had been discharging for a while.

Anyhow I cleaned the contact points with a wire brush after I charged and installed the older battery that i had laying around.

I bought some white greese at the auto shop. Is this what I should use on the terminals?

Anyhow, I am going to clip the wire and install some new contact points.

What should I check the voltage with a multimeter? First time for anything I guess. I have never used a multimeter in a real application, only on circuits in school.

Thanks for the help so far.

KR