rectifier caught fire 5 min ago!! what to do?

[oxbeast1210]

Te150slcem 1989 evinrude xp tracker

I finally got the motor running good i even think i have my idle problem fixed used it for about an hour no issues for the first time since i got it!!
parked it and proceeded to eat dinner . and then hopped on this forum
I passed gas and a few seconds later my wife said geez what did you eat it smells like burning electronics!! I had a feeling it had something to do with the boat so i ran outside only to be greeted by white smoke coming from the cowling !!! i took it off and realized it was all coming from the regulator /rectifier
it was glowing green and smoking like crazy! i unplugged the battery and it slowly stopped

what could have caused this?
and what else should i check for possible damage?

cables where on the battery right
but my tach had never worked properly sometimes it would be fine others it would drop to zero or the rpms would jump all over
thanks

 

[jeffersondodson561]

Re: rectifier caught fire 5 min ago!! what to do?

Rectifier has shorted possible stator damage too. Repair and install a battery switch.

 

[oxbeast1210]

Re: rectifier caught fire 5 min ago!! what to do?

what do you mean by install a battery switch what type are you talking about?
thank you

 

[Will Bark]

Re: rectifier caught fire 5 min ago!! what to do?

Any type of heavy duty disconnect switch that opens the circuit of the negative side of the battery. Mine is a simple device that you can get at Walley world battery dept. Has a large knob that you turn counter clockwise to open the circuit. You attach it to negative post of battery and the cable to the other side. This is a positive way to make sure no current is flowing to engine. If not at Walley; any auto parts store should have it. And yes, it is marine grade, does not spark when opened or closed.

 

[jeffersondodson561]

Re: rectifier caught fire 5 min ago!! what to do?

The rectifier/regulator "rectify's" A/C to D/C and regulates voltage/amperage charge. To do this it is always connected to the battery. Under normal conditions the rectifier is activated to allow charge, something in your rect/reg. failed, installing a battery switch creates an open that you activate (no batt voltage). When your ready to go boating turn it on when your done turn it off. Also recommended to fix small amperage draws on engines, just don't turn it off while engine is running.

 

[oxbeast1210]

Re: rectifier caught fire 5 min ago!! what to do?

ok thank you so o you guys think the battery continued to give power to the rectifier and that's why it burnt up? i know that its a water cooled one and obviously it wasn't in the water lol
thanks ill e looking for that switch i have a perko switch in my garage brand new in the package that came with the boat will that work? i know its ment to allow for two batteries but it also has an off position?

thanks

 

[RRitt]

Re: rectifier caught fire 5 min ago!! what to do?

for a rectifier to burn up while the motor is turned off I think something must be wired wrong. The reverse breakdown voltage of most silicon is like 300volts. That seems a bit high for most batteries. I'd want to double check the entire wiring system myself.

 

[trendsetter240]

Re: rectifier caught fire 5 min ago!! what to do?

ok thank you so o you guys think the battery continued to give power to the rectifier and that's why it burnt up? i know that its a water cooled one and obviously it wasn't in the water lol
thanks ill e looking for that switch i have a perko switch in my garage brand new in the package that came with the boat will that work? i know its ment to allow for two batteries but it also has an off position?

thanks

No, there is no way that caused the problem. Millions of boats are out there right now with no battery switch and their motors connected directly to the battery.

My boat is sitting in my front yard right now with the battery hooked up and no switch. I assure you I am not worried about the regulator catching fire because of this.

You have a short in your electrical system and you can't fix that by adding a battery switch. My guess is a wire melted while you were running it for an hour and grounded out.

As mentioned, you need to go over the whole electrical system on the motor and look for burnt/corroded/melted wires that could be causing the short.

 

[oxbeast1210]

Re: rectifier caught fire 5 min ago!! what to do?

is it possible that the rectifier could have already been going bad since it was giving me crazy rpm readings and once warm would just stay at 0 rpm?
i looked over the wires and they all look to be in good shape most of them don't look like they are the originals you can tell the ones that were lol .
what else should i look for that may have caused it? the water cooled rectifier regulators are fairly pricey cheapest i found was aftermarket at 150 bucks anfd i dont want to kill another
thanks

 

[trendsetter240]

Re: rectifier caught fire 5 min ago!! what to do?

is it possible that the rectifier could have already been going bad since it was giving me crazy rpm readings and once warm would just stay at 0 rpm?
i looked over the wires and they all look to be in good shape most of them don't look like they are the originals you can tell the ones that were lol .
what else should i look for that may have caused it? the water cooled rectifier regulators are fairly pricey cheapest i found was aftermarket at 150 bucks anfd i dont want to kill another
thanks

Yes it's possible, the short could have been inside the rectifier. It could also be elsewhere and may not be an obvious melted wire. It could be an incorrectly place wire.

What were you working on before this happened? Is it possible you or someone else hooked up wires incorrectly? Do you have a manual with a wiring diagram?

There isn't much room for error when wiring a motor. You can easily fry the electronics with one incorrectly placed wire to ground.

 

[jonesg]

Re: rectifier caught fire 5 min ago!! what to do?

What I would do at this point,

disconnect the + wire at the battery.
Disconnect the rect/regulator.
Replace the 20 amp fuse(in a rubber inline fuse holder next to the starter)

Look for melted wiring around the powerhead.

Use a meter from the + lead to the battery post to see if current is flowing with ignition key off. Don't hook the + to the battery, use the meter between the two. You'll probably find it drawing current, track it down , should be visible unless its under the flywheel. A flashlight helps to see.

 

[oxbeast1210]

Re: rectifier caught fire 5 min ago!! what to do?

thanks for the advice jonesg ill check that out tonight when i get off work
thank you

 

[asdasc]

Re: rectifier caught fire 5 min ago!! what to do?

By the way, that perko switch in the garage is exactly what you want to use. It isn't the CAUSE of the issue, but it does protect your battery and boat from situations like this when you aren't using your boat. Think if you parked it in the garage and went out to dinner. You could have come home to find the house on fire. It is a good safety precaution, and mandatory in my mind if you park your boat anywhere near anything else that can catch fire.

Now, to find the root cause, I would bet that the reason your tach wasn't working was because of an intermittent ground/short that finally hooked up solid and started sourcing full current to somewhere it shouldn't. I would go thru the entire wiring system and look for some wire that has rubbed thru the insolation. You may see it easier now that it melted!

Good luck.

 

[oxbeast1210]

Re: rectifier caught fire 5 min ago!! what to do?

I tried looking for a bad wire and was not able to
Find any. None of the wires have melted.
the smoke And green glowing came from the left side of the
Regulator. Also this past week I've had to charge my
battery at my house cause it was no longer getting
Charged on the boat guessing the two are related
When I get of work I'm going o go through all the wires again
None of the wires have been messed with in The past month
And yesterday all I did was adjust The idle screw on the linkage
nothing else . It was the best it ran since I have owned the boat.

 

[RRitt]

Re: rectifier caught fire 5 min ago!! what to do?

ok thank you so o you guys think the battery continued to give power to the rectifier and that's why it burnt up? i know that its a water cooled one and obviously it wasn't in the water lol
thanks ill e looking for that switch i have a perko switch in my garage brand new in the package that came with the boat will that work? i know its ment to allow for two batteries but it also has an off position?

thanks

water cooled?

That's not a rectifier. That is a regulator. Yes, it makes a difference. It is almost impossible to burn out a rectifier. By the time you put enough amps through a rectifier to harm it the entire back half of your boat is melting off. It takes a very major short circuit to harm a recitfier (or a hammer. hammers can break them).

But regulators are different. They control the voltage in order to protect your electronics. They can burn out with just a few amps if the voltage drop is high. That is why they are water cooled. It is not the least bit uncommon for a regulator to burn out.
I would not be surprised if your electrical system is fine and just needs a new regulator. Turn your boat completely off, disconnect the battery, and remove your old regulator. Take ohm meter readings and make sure that you do not have a short circuit. Marine battery switches are cheap. The local hardware store sells a dual battery switch (a : b : a+b : off) for $25 You just cut the existing + battery cable in half and stick in the switch. Or find a nice place t mount it and use real cables. The main reason for a switch is that your boat can sit for months and still crank right up.

 

[oxbeast1210]

Re: rectifier caught fire 5 min ago!! what to do?

O ok I understand so do I also have a rectifier ?
Or does a regulator do both jobs? Do any of you use
Perko switch with two batteries? Is that safe to do ?
I figure if I'm adding the switch I might as well add a second
Battery also where can I find information on how to do it?
Thanks

 

[Joe Reeves]

Re: rectifier caught fire 5 min ago!! what to do?

A water cooled Voltage Regulator/Rectifier assembly sits on top of the crankcase (block) directly to the rear of the flywheel.

They do short out ocassionally for no apparent reason. Don't bother trying to find a shorted wire, some imperfecion in the wiring system which might have caused this as you're not going to find anything..... the Voltage Regulator/Rectifier failed, that's it. Install a new one. The following may help you in the future.

(Testing Tachometer With Water Cooled Regulator/Rectifier)
(J. Reeves)

A quick check is to simply plug in a another new tachometer as a piece of test equipment. If the new tach works properly and the old tach didn't, obviously the old tach is faulty.... but usually boaters don't carry around a spare tach (see below).

A faulty rectifier wouldn't damage the tachometer, the tachometer simply wouldn't work. This is due to the fact that the tachometer operates off of the charging system and the rectifier converts AC voltage to DC voltage, enabling the charging system. A faulty rectifier disables the charging system, and the tachometer simply doesn't register.

However.... those water cooled regulator/rectifiers that are used on the 35 ampere charging systems (and some others) bring into play a different type problem, and as you've probably found out, they are really a pain to troubleshoot via the proper procedure. There's an easier way.

The tachometer sending/receiving setup operates off of the gray wire at the tachometer. That same gray wire exists at the engine wiring harness which is connected to the engine electrical terminal strip. You'll see that there is a gray wire leading from the regulator/rectifier to that terminal strip, and that there is another gray wire attached to it. That other gray wire is the wire leading to the tachometer which is the one you're looking for.

NOTE: For the later models that DO NOT incorporate a wiring terminal strip, splicing into the "Yellow Wire" mentioned will be necessary.

Remove that gray wire that leads to the tachometer. Now, find the two (2) yellow wires leading from the stator to that terminal strip. Hopefully one of them is either yellow/gray or is connected to a yellow/gray wire at the terminal strip. If so, connect the gray wire you removed previously to that yellow/gray terminal. Start the engine and check the tachometers operation, and if the tachometer operates as it should, then the regulator/rectifier is faulty and will require replacing. If the tachometer is still faulty, replace the tachometer.

If neither of the yellow wires from the stator is yellow/gray, and neither is attached to a yellow/gray wire, then attach that gray tachometer wire to either yellow stator wire, then the other yellow wire, checking the tachometer operation on both connections.

I've found this method to be a quick and efficient way of finding out which component is faulty.... the tachometer or the regulator/rectifier. It sounds drawn out but really only takes a very short time to run through. If the water cooled regulator/rectifier proves to be faulty, don't put off replacing it as they have been known to catch on fire with disastrous consequences.

 

[oxbeast1210]

Re: rectifier caught fire 5 min ago!! what to do?

thanks joe reeves i think you are right i think it was just its time
and thats for that info on troubleshooting them . I have a 35 amp
regulator/ rectifier and they seem to be pretty pricy is there any alternatives
or am i stuck also would you advice against a used one ?
thanks

 

[Joe Reeves]

Re: rectifier caught fire 5 min ago!! what to do?

New ones (of anything) comes with a warranty. That would be my purchasing route.

If you had a low ampere stator on that 150hp, you could simply change over to the smaller three wire rectifier but I assume that you also have a 35 ampere stator under that flywheel. A 35 ampere flywheel would have cooling holes around the outer edge, and the stator itself would have visible charging coils on the sides of it and two (2) larger black coils at the rear portion of it.

If you do indeed have a 35 ampere charging system, I would think that you could convert backwards to one of the lower ampere charging setups (others here may have more knowledge on this than I do so check it out). However (in my line of thought), this would simply involve purchasing the lower ampere type flywheel, stator, and rectifier.

The lower ampere flywheel has metal magnets built into the flywheel so there's no danger of them coming loose such as what happens on the 35 ampere flywheels. A good used lower ampere flywheel is as good as a new one so that would cut the cost somewhat BUT the stator and rectifier should be new.

Flywheel: Part #582403
Stator 9amp: Part #583672
Rectifier: Part #583408

 

[oxbeast1210]

Re: rectifier caught fire 5 min ago!! what to do?

I was wondering if anyone could point me towards
A post on how to remove the flywheel from a 150hp
Evinrude I got my hands on the proper rectifier but I won't
Be able to remove it without first taking the wheel
Off . I need to know the easiest way to remove the main
Bolt and also pop the flywheel up
Also do I need to put anything on the gasket to help it seal?
Thank you