Capacitor popped

ChopperRobb

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so, today while timing my bike the capacitor popped and blew up. All wires were connected correctly (red to red, black to black)...does the spring holder for the cap need to be grounded also? If not, then the only thing i can imagine is that the regulator rectifier is bad and putting out too much juice. Anyone with any ideas? I could use the help. :/
 
Doesn’t need to be grounded by the spring, I think you could be right. Although the reg could be fine and the cap failed. Hook it up to regular battery and see what happens. Check voltage at battery when revving around 3k rpm. Shouldn’t go much over 14v.
 
IIRC any capacitor should be capable of many times the charging system voltage with no issues?
Some capacitor 101 http://www.bcae1.com/capacitr.htm
some good info in there about charging, discharging, using, storing, etc. capacitors. It's biased towards car stereo capacitors, likely about what the typical MC battery "replacement" cap is.
 
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I know you said the wires were correct red to red etc. The Cap should be marked + and - , if it was wire backwards it will explode.also depending on the , regulator you are using . it may need a load on it to measure correctly. The one I use will go well over 17v without a load and then regulate, so I have it so the lights come on when the bike starts.
 
Im thinking it had to be a momentary short like one of the alligator clip leads from capacitor to bike touched the frame or each other or something. (cap was outside bike for the moment in a secure position, we thought, just so we could start and time it and all, and we had alligator clips from terminals to pos and neg of bike wiring) because ive used this cap more than a few times with this bike in starting it and timing/tuning/troubleshooting and it has never had an issue. And im thinking they go pop almost as soon as they get shorted out, so...???
 
She’s all fixed up and as tuned as she can possibly be until i put her on the pavement. She’s close :) (she sounds kinda mean and nasty, so im hoping...) had to have been simply crossed wires because on the battery today voltage and everything was spot on.
 
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