Hot wires

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Hot spots at connector points are usually caused by 'dirty' connections. By dirty, I mean presenting high localised resistance - not necessarily just filthy or corroded, it could also be a local too-small conductor cross-section for example.

High resistance = heat. Caused by the angry electrical pixies forcing their way through.
 
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I had a similar issue years ago on a Bonnie. They changed the heat sink for the Zenid Diode from a finned ball-like gadget to the Aluminium Air Box and being a dummy I had no idea. So when I was mucking about removing the airbox I just bolted that Diode to the frame. That Diode was designed to dissipate any extra change from the alternator not used to charge the battery to heat and that heat should have been absorbed into the alloy airbox, in this case, it couldn't, it started melting the wiring harness. To check your regulator is working right, you should have approx 14volts at the battery when the bike is revving at or above 3k. Any more will buggar your battery or do other heat-related damage. It's an easy quick check before ripping the loom apart.
 
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As per above, it could indicate a faulty component so it’d be good to check what these wires are feeding.
Also as above, it’s more likely just the usual dirty loose connections, or possibly running something which has been upgraded such as a headlight. Not good, but also not a major issue and happens quite often. Don’t try to repair these, once the brass changes colour due to heat it’s got to be replaced. Use good quality connectors with the correct tool etc etc
Also check that battery terminal, might be the photo but it looks like it needs a closer look at.

Once you have nice clean tight connections, a light smear of grease on the contact surfaces will offer long-term protection. Proper dielectric grease is great but any normal type will do, just never use “conductive grease”.
 
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Andy said:
As per above, it could indicate a faulty component so it’d be good to check what these wires are feeding.
Also as above, it’s more likely just the usual dirty loose connections, or possibly running something which has been upgraded such as a headlight. Not good, but also not a major issue and happens quite often. Don’t try to repair these, once the brass changes colour due to heat it’s got to be replaced. Use good quality connectors with the correct tool etc etc
Also check that battery terminal, might be the photo but it looks like it needs a closer look at.

Once you have nice clean tight connections, a light smear of grease on the contact surfaces will offer long-term protection. Proper dielectric grease is great but any normal type will do, just never use “conductive grease”.
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Not so much what they're feeding as where they're coming from.

Paul
 
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They look like the alternator bullet connectors to the reg/rect. They have to carry full output of the alternator regardless of the bike's electrical load. So the connections have started to go high resistance and overheat. You need to cut them out and replace with new. And the difficult bit is cleaning all the wire strands properly to a shiny copper appearance. Without doing that you're simply creating a high resistance connection.
 
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This has been covered previous, as it may help. The current rating for the faston ( 6,3m/m ) connections is exceeded by the RR shunt current, over time the connectors overheat, metal conductors have a positive temperature co-efficient ie the hotter the conductor becomes the higher the losses and the higher the losses the higher the temperature generated. 35Amp rate connectors would meet the shunt current demand. Or a nice two entry tunnel terminal block, ala 180 series 1 type installation, hope that helps. J *** there is no polarity for the three stator wires, ie any wire to any RR stator input connector is valid.
 
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Andy said:
As per above, it could indicate a faulty component so it’d be good to check what these wires are feeding.
Also as above, it’s more likely just the usual dirty loose connections, or possibly running something which has been upgraded such as a headlight. Not good, but also not a major issue and happens quite often. Don’t try to repair these, once the brass changes colour due to heat it’s got to be replaced. Use good quality connectors with the correct tool etc etc
Also check that battery terminal, might be the photo but it looks like it needs a closer look at.

Once you have nice clean tight connections, a light smear of grease on the contact surfaces will offer long-term protection. Proper dielectric grease is great but any normal type will do, just never use “conductive grease”.
Click to expand...
Agree the battery crimp connector looks like it was done with a pressed metal crimper, ie other electrical connections renewed on this electrical installation should be done with new quality fastons, and proper constant pressure crimp tool. Well spotted Andy, j.
 
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