What's the electronic thing attached to battery box? (550)

[Anonymous]

I just picked up this bike not too long ago and have driven it quite a bit and the black wire coming off of this has always been just hanging there, not connected to anything.

I decided to try hooking it up to the negative on the battery...is this not the same as grounding it to the screw below it that it shows in the owner's manual (i saw it in a picture of the battery)

Anyway, after I hooked it up I rode it down the road and I noticed that there was a flame coming out of the front of it (facing the battery box) and would get bigger/brighter when I accelerated.

What is this box and why did it catch on fire? Was it because it was hooked up to the neg. battery terminal or is it just shot?

Thanks for any info

Mark

[AOD]

8O

[granny_rocket]

im quite confused....you took a random loose wire and attached it to the negative terminal on the battery? or was this wire coming off of this so called electronic device?

If you were to attach what would be a ground wire to the negative battery terminal, yes, it is the same as attaching it to the frame of your bike.

Back to the main question....this device is most likely your regulator/rectifier. Is it a metal box with cooling fins about 3" wide, 2" tall and 2" deep? Does it look something like this?

this is the rectifier/regulator, also called the R/R.

I really can't help you much more, but this should give you an idea of what your looking at....

Hope this helps
-Al Conforti

[Anonymous]

oops...he let the smoke out