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Battery Post Melting

  • Thread starter Thread starter Scratcher09
  • Start date Start date
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Scratcher09

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My bike just underwent a down to the bare frame rebuild. It runs great--only about 200 miles on it so far. I noticed today that the negative battery post is melting. Does anyone know what could be causing this. I have not noticed anything out of the ordinary.
 
Good lord. That's some serious heat doing that.

I've had my battery boil dry and my earth wires burn out but that is ridiculous. I would suspect the age old rectifier problem. Measure the volts across the battery terminals at 2,500 rpm. Anything above 14 volts and you have issues with the charging system.

Check your wiring harness. Most likely there are other burned out connectors and wires.

Don't ride this bike until it is fixed. Fire hazard.
 
In spite of the clean appearance that looks like a bad connection to me. Doesn't look like a standard end on the cable. It may be that the terminal cross section is too small and overheats as a result. I would expect to see the terminal to extend all the way around beyond the fastener flange.
 
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That copper flange has been seriously hot - likely a faulty crimp on the cable.
 
That's a prime location for corrosion to hide between the strands of relative thick copper wire. I just had the positive terminal on my commercial zero turn lawnmower get weak and break off due to the same conditions.
 
3 things come to mind #1 a bad ground - #2 bad battery (broken terminal) #3 someone over used the starter motor with a bad ground - heat concentrates where the resistance is.
sometimes on powder coat or paint rehabs - you may need a little more bare metal for a main ground - R&R ground - engine ground. can't have too many grounds.
 
I agree on the repaint and powder coating causing very weak grounds. I run a tap thru the bolt holes AND scrape a little area for the spade to get a real good connection. Dab some dielectric grease around the area to prevent rusting.

And a shot regulator comes to mind as well.
 
Star washers dont necessarily hep anything in my opinion. The factory didnt think so either. Most important is the area being clean bare metal and some sort of rust and corrosion preventative at the connection points..frame and battery.
 
chuck hahn said:
Star washers dont necessarily hep anything in my opinion. The factory didnt think so either. Most important is the area being clean bare metal and some sort of rust and corrosion preventative at the connection points..frame and battery.
Click to expand...

Star washers (Inside and outside spur) do add to a good grounding system by offering additional surface area, shock resistance and more "bite" into the grounding surfaces. The bite "cleans" as it tightens down and adds resistance to loosening under vibration. Are they necessary? Maybe not, but they do add some additional assurance to maintaining a good ground. Of course this assumes that the grounding surfaces are free of paint and have a good metal to metal connection.
 
Ive taken down dozens of unmolested bikes and there arent any used by the factory.. So thats the basis to my comment.
 
I will check all the grounds. Last week my fuel line was pinched and I was trying to start it before I realized what was happening. Still, I know not to crank the starter for more than 7 or 8 seconds at a time with a few minutes of cooling time in between. But maybe that was it.
 
Re: Star washers; if I have them to hand, I use them. If I don't, I don't, and just adopt a regular inspection and clean routine anyway, star washers or not, as these bikes are the most sensitive to good grounding of any vehicles I've owned.
 
chuck hahn said:
Ive taken down dozens of unmolested bikes and there arent any used by the factory.. So thats the basis to my comment.
Click to expand...

The factory tries to save money and the fewer the parts the more profit, I just want them to work. That is also why I REPLACE the 30+ YO original corroded/higher resistance ground wire besides adding a few more to the system.
(with outside star washers. :D )
 
Star Washers! You really trust manufacturers that gave us shunt R/R's and poorly designed ground systems?
 
Today I Checked all my grounds and found that I did need to scrape some paint off some of the points where the grounds connected to the frame and engine (and threaded holes). Got them taken care of and checked volts at battery while at 2500 rpm and got 13 volts so R/R seems fine. I inspected battery cables and they are fine. I cleaned them with baking soda and water and they didn't even bubble and there are no bulging areas where corrosion would be. Im not quite understanding what Branden W said about it looking like a bad connection. Hope he or anyone else can elaborate on that.
 
Scratcher09 said:
Today I Checked all my grounds and found that I did need to scrape some paint off some of the points where the grounds connected to the frame and engine (and threaded holes). Got them taken care of and checked volts at battery while at 2500 rpm and got 13 volts so R/R seems fine. I inspected battery cables and they are fine. I cleaned them with baking soda and water and they didn't even bubble and there are no bulging areas where corrosion would be. Im not quite understanding what Branden W said about it looking like a bad connection. Hope he or anyone else can elaborate on that.
Click to expand...

R/R might be fine but who knows about the rest?

Look up the Quick Test (see my signature) and report the full 6 voltage results for a more quantitative approach.
 
Scratcher09 said:
Today I Checked all my grounds and found that I did need to scrape some paint off some of the points where the grounds connected to the frame and engine (and threaded holes). Got them taken care of and checked volts at battery while at 2500 rpm and got 13 volts so R/R seems fine. I inspected battery cables and they are fine. I cleaned them with baking soda and water and they didn't even bubble and there are no bulging areas where corrosion would be. Im not quite understanding what Branden W said about it looking like a bad connection. Hope he or anyone else can elaborate on that.
Click to expand...

What I meant by bad connection was that either the terminal was too small, was not flat or was not tight. Any of these would result in too much current going through too small a cross section resulting in enough heat to melt the post.
Make sure the starter motor cover is not contacting the starter motor supply terminal. At some stage in the past my starter motor must have been installed with the terminal post at 12 o'clock as it burned a hole clean through the cover. The excess draw in this case would probably cause trouble for even the best made connections.
P.S. Same goes for the terminals on the relay posts. It's easy for the one on the left to drift into the battery box when tightening. Most manuals specify a minimum clearance angle.
 
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One way to get the deep down corrosion out of the cables is to soak the ends in vinegar over night. The acidity eats then scale way down deep. next blow them dry with an air hose and solder the hellll out of them. Draw the solder as deeply as you can. This ensures a deep cleaned and connected cable end.
 
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