1977 KZ 650B1 HOT RECTIFIER

SO I have been through this before and had problems with my bike overcharging and battery boiling ect. I fixed the problem or should I say put a bandaid on it for a while by replacing the battery/new rectifier/new regulator and fixed some places that had bad connections due to corosion ect. I havent run it over the winter and fired it up the other day and guess what happened?? The rectifier got extremely hot and the battery seemed to be charging high at around 14/15volts when revved up a little. Question: Why does my rectifier get sooo hot? What should my battery be maxing out at as far as volts when revved? What steps do I need to take to troubleshoot my electrical system for problematic areas? Thanks in advance!! Dailey

The rectifiers get hot if and only if they are conducting too much current. If the regulator fails, it never tells the rectifiers to throttle back and slow down the charging current so the rectifiers cook and the battery boils.

The battery should be steady at about 14V at 3k RPM or higher. It should never go higher than about 14.5V.

It is possible to blow out a rectifier/regulator assembly with shorts or overloads on it. If there are wiring or load problems, they could be killing the rectifiers.

If your rectifier ends up being toast do yourself a favor and order one from Tony at oregonmotorcycleparts.com/index.html

He builds them and warrants them for life, his service is top notch too. I think they cost about $45.00

I'm wondering if your stator isn't bad? Though that would usually give you no charging as opposed to overcharging. Probably worth a quick test though, just to be safe.