Went on a round trip to the store, about 7 miles. Upon returning home, noticed something burning under my seat. It was the connection about 18" away from the rectifier. Put out the fire with my gloves and the plastic of the connection was completely burned. Soldered the connection and keeping an eye on it. The fire was next to fuel line which is metal braided, but still poses a hazard.
Here is a pic I was able to find, this is not what zx14 connection looks like, but close.

* Last updated by: knovikov on 10/22/2017 @ 10:38 AM *

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dammit dude!!!! I hate to say what you must already be thinking but it's time you put that bike on display in the foyer and look into a new Gen1. Swap everything over.

You've had too many scary problems crop up with this bike. Is that why they call it Atomic Silver?

Mine will make a loud buzz sometimes when I hit the starter button...or the starter will not kick on at all until the second press and then I get that loud bZZZZ like arcing. I really should have a close look at my starter. It only happens when I start the bike with a hot motor.

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Wow.Glad everything went okay.Scarey for sure.Shouldn't there be a fuse for that?That's the first 'fire' I've heard about with a 14.I hate to say it,but it's likely to happen again if you don't correct what got it so hot in the first place.I certainly wouldn't trust simply reconnecting.That's odd that it would just do that 'out of the blue'.Where's Hub?

* Last updated by: Grn14 on 10/22/2017 @ 12:06 PM *

Hey guys, this shows the repaired connection as well as a battery disconnect. I have read some Busa owners having the same trouble. Probably came from a poorly seated connectors creating heat. I have thought about selling the bike, but some of the problems were my fault. If the problems are beyond my ability, I will be pushing pedals.

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What is the best way to repaire electrical connection?

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New parts, good clean (new)wires, flux/solder and shrink sleeving. Crimp sleeves are not good in the wet environs a motorcycle must endur.

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I have read some Busa owners having the same trouble.

First it was the rectifier location above the belly pan. Gen1 busa had it under the tail pod like the 14. Then it was the rectifier itself. I think they might have even recalled it a third time for rectifier problems. I still have the original over the belly pan.

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... but some of the problems were my fault.

Yellow usually means AC wiring. Again, 'magnetism... you cannot separate heat and the chemical reaction.' So 3 makes 1 variable: heat against chemRe or the fog we breath, but is that much expanded you can't see it at times, draws in that chemRe and heat being the male/female blades for connections, it still has to jump between connections, make heat, etc. Add the buildup resistance [chemRe] and where will the heat go? Into the plastic to jump to those [air] molecules to cool off. And if LOX is a rocket fuel, where do you get the oxygen... get it?

Here's the Catch22 in a way. There is a battery that has to be replenished. The AC is part of that replenishing. So even if you borrowed a wire on the bike side, or ran a relay off the battery and made your own harness w/fuse box and wired your accy's this way, the AC still has to replenish the battery.

So in a way, the bike is build with formula, i.e., ohm's laws and how much wire length to bulb size to volt/reg, to do not touch a closed loop system is this system. With that said, you run a shorai kind of battery remote and fuse box setup, you trickle charge this battery after your ride or pack the charger for the long trips, etc. You are out of the electrical system loading things up so the V/Reg is taxed vs. [making more] Heat.

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My old 916 had the same problem with the stator/rectifier plug. Mine melted on the road. Found out it was very common on the Ducatis of that era. Fix was cut the connector out and hard wire the units. Never a problem after that. I guess there was too much resistance in that connection, made it heat up.

Mad

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Does anyone know where the rectifier is , I have a 2006 zx 14, bike wont start sounds like it's trying to turn over and here a buzzing sound

The rectifier won't prevent the bike from starting up unless the harness is fried. The buzzing is probably coming from your start relay. First, make sure your battery is healthy and fully charged. Then see if the starter motor itself is seized or dragging. You can jump directly to the starter motor and the engine should crank. Then I'd look into replacing the start relay.

Mad

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2006, here's the approach to see who of the 3 jobbers in the loop is at fault:

Job-1: The battery has to be well charged, then hold a static charge on its own. Ideal battery read is 12.8v. At 12.6v, this is the low range. At 12.4v you put it back on the charger. So say we use a meter directly on the battery. Reading off the dash has too much current draw and shows a lower reading. So here is where you keep the meter on the seat, probes on the posi and any ground, you'll see the volts drop once you hit the starter button. If it drops down to 8v on the meter... Battery is Junk.

Job-2: The VR is going to do one of two things. It will show its operation on startup. Say the stater showed a voltage drop on a good known battery, the bike starts, the VR is going to show it can replenish the battery by showing a 14+v reading at the dash, and the meter. If the VR was bad, it is still a path for AC as this flows over the VR and back into the wires, where this would more or less boil the water in the battery. You'd begin to smell acid, notice the battery now has a bulge at the case due to expansion [heat]... VR is Junk.

Job-3: The stator would show if it can produce AC, and the more you rev the engine, the less the VR shows the ideal 14+v at high rpm, the battery keeps dropping down to 12v at the static or less.... Stator is Junk.

In other words, you don't have to pull any jobber wire connectors off, if you can decipher which jobber is at fault just by using a multimeter.

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I've noticed my 08 just make a buzz when I hit the starter button sometimes. No starter just a nasty sounding buzz that Sounds just like electricity arcing. Second try, it would start right up. Sometimes nothing at all happened when I hit the button. With the second battery I am using now, the buzz happens when the engine is hot. It will buzz again if I immediately try to start a second time. I believe I have also heard some squealing noise from the tail on these occasions. After it cools down, it starts without any funny noises. The Buzz does seem to come from the RH side below where I sit. The battery, starter motor or maybe the RH tail pod. My old battery only lasted 2 years before it died. The new battery is a Shoria and it is meant for a smaller bike than the 14. The Shorai is now going into its 9th year of duty. The bike runs good on it charging to 14.2~14.5V. However, the Shoarai no longer holds a charge for more than a week that is sufficient to start the bike. When new, it went for months before I put it in the bike and still started. The Shorai no longer holds a charge nearly as well as it did when new.

The squeal I sometimes hear is probably the relays in the tail. The buzz, I would still like to figure out what that is. If it is arcing, I don't want that. It may be the starter at the back of the engine. My hunch is the noises and failure of the starter to activate is that the battery is slowly deteriorating as it gets older. I think your 06's battery might be the culprit here. If the battery is really old, I'd try to test it any way you can and if the results look suspicious, I'd change the battery. That might solve the problem. If not, probbaly a good idea to have a new battery anyway.

* Last updated by: Rook on 5/28/2020 @ 10:40 AM *

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My Rectifier is right rear underneath panel.