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[quixotic]

The male contacts should have some sort of bulge or projection to create some spring force to ensure good contact with the female contact in the cord

The male contacts from the bike are just solid prongs, unlike what you'd see on household appliances.  But I don't think that's the issue anyway.  I just finished plugging in the bike, and the uppermost bike conductor, as felt by a finger reaching behind the frame, got extremely hot within just a couple of minutes.  This accords with what happened to the previous cord plug, which was that only the plastic around the top female slot melted.  So the problem must be with the part of the bike plug that is in behind the frame.

Does anyone know what the part is called?  Or the part number?  I guess it would just be the "power receptacle" or something like that. 

Unfortunately, when I was investigating this last year, it seemed that the attachment screws were extremely difficult or impossible to get to. 

Has anyone else had to change out this part?   

[quixotic]

I can easily splice in some heavier cord and change the wall outlet.  But I still don't understand how that will help things if the problem (ie, melting female plug end) is at the interface of the cord plug and the bike plug.

Sounds like the jack on the bike itself is failing. There have been a couple of reported problems with that -- it seems to me maybe Ben had a problem on one of his summer trips? If I remember correctly, the earlier bikes had some issues with sparking when they were plugged in, and the solution seemed to be to plug in the bike end of the cord before the outlet end. But to solve your immediate problem, I'd either have the dealer look at the jack on the bike or see if it's easily removable. It might be a fairly standard piece of hardware you could replace yourself.

That must be it.  And even though I have been using a high-amperage power bar that I switch on AFTER plugging the cord into the bike, the trouble still occurs.

[quixotic]

If I'm able to get the bike plug prong assembly out from behind the frame, would I be advised to solder the crimp connectors to the prong assembly?  (at least the top one that seems to be the culprit)

[DPsSRnSD]

The top connector is on a row by itself and centered? Sounds like you're drawing a lot of ground current. Does anyone know if that's a sign of a failing charger or just normal operation? I know that I wasn't able to charge my bike from a GFCI outlet.

[quixotic]

Well, I managed to get things apart, and the bike's plug was toast.  Looks almost exactly like Wijnand71's in this post:
http://electricmotorcycleforum.com/boards/index.php?topic=7127.msg59275#msg59275

But it looks like he has 4 wires, whereas I only have three. 

Anyway, I will be looking for another plug.

I'm tempted to solder directly to the male spades on the back of the plug.  Would I run any risks doing that?

The cords I've been using are 15 amp, 14 gauge.  Is that sufficient?  Can I assume that since the spade connector on the back of the bike plug was totally toast, that it was the weak link?

[Richard230]

Well, I managed to get things apart, and the bike's plug was toast.  Looks almost exactly like Wijnand71's in this post:
http://electricmotorcycleforum.com/boards/index.php?topic=7127.msg59275#msg59275

But it looks like he has 4 wires, whereas I only have three. 

Anyway, I will be looking for another plug.

I'm tempted to solder directly to the male spades on the back of the plug.  Would I run any risks doing that?

The cords I've been using are 15 amp, 14 gauge.  Is that sufficient?  Can I assume that since the spade connector on the back of the bike plug was totally toast, that it was the weak link?

I have been using 15 amp, 14 gauge cords for years and have never had a problem.  They get a little warm to the touch at the male and female connections when the charger is going full steam ahead, but otherwise work as intended.   

However, I did have one melting incident a couple of years ago.  I had a 14 gauge wire connected to an old 50' long 16 gauge extension cord while charging at my daughter's home (where her lights in the kitchen start dimming in the 60-year old home when I am charging).  Right before the on-board charger turned off (when it was pulling maximum amps from the wall), the connection between the bike's charging cable and the old extension cord melted, resulting in the male and female connections fusing together, needing them to be cut off and replaced with new ends. So I don't recommend using a long, old, 16 gauge, extension cord to charge your bike.  But then you are not as dumb as me - are you?   

[quixotic]

Well, I managed to get things apart, and the bike's plug was toast.  Looks almost exactly like Wijnand71's in this post:
http://electricmotorcycleforum.com/boards/index.php?topic=7127.msg59275#msg59275

But it looks like he has 4 wires, whereas I only have three. 

Anyway, I will be looking for another plug.

I'm tempted to solder directly to the male spades on the back of the plug.  Would I run any risks doing that?

The cords I've been using are 15 amp, 14 gauge.  Is that sufficient?  Can I assume that since the spade connector on the back of the bike plug was totally toast, that it was the weak link?

I have been using 15 amp, 14 gauge cords for years and have never had a problem.  They get a little warm to the touch at the male and female connections when the charger is going full steam ahead, but otherwise work as intended.   

Good to know.  Thanks.  So today, I'll be looking around for a new C13/C14 socket.  I'm just not sure if I should solder directly to the spades.

[DPsSRnSD]

A good, tight spade connection should be sufficient. High amperage connections are often made with contacts; with springs or torqued bolts to prevent overheating. Soldering to leads in a molded socket might lead to deformation.

[Doug S]

Well, I managed to get things apart, and the bike's plug was toast.  Looks almost exactly like Wijnand71's in this post:
http://electricmotorcycleforum.com/boards/index.php?topic=7127.msg59275#msg59275

Yep, you definitely found the problem. It looks like somebody wasn't making very good crimps at the factory for a while, or the plastic housing wasn't being manufactured correctly. Hopefully that's been resolved.

I'm tempted to solder directly to the male spades on the back of the plug.  Would I run any risks doing that?

The cords I've been using are 15 amp, 14 gauge.  Is that sufficient?  Can I assume that since the spade connector on the back of the bike plug was totally toast, that it was the weak link?

Since the charger is rated to draw no more than 12 amps, 14 gauge will be fine. And though it's true a proper spade connection can actually offer lower contact resistance and better reliability than a soldered connection, if you do a decent job soldering and don't melt the housing, it should work at least until you can order a new one, which you should do. Don't leave a soldered connection bare, though, give it a coat of silicone or something to keep the water out. These are motorcycles and you might get caught out in the rain.

[quixotic]

So far, so good.  I was easily able to find a replacement C13/C14 receptacle, 14 gauge wire, female spades, and various diameters of shrink wrap.  At this point, I've soldered a bit (about 1") of extra 14 gauge wire to the 12 gauge wire coming from the bike (to make up for the lost length on the old spades).  I've put the three resulting wires and spades in some small shrink wrap and heated them closed.  I've attached the spades to the new socket, and I've plugged the unit in, and switched on the power.  After about 5 minutes, with my fingers directly on the shrink wrap, there is no detectable warmth coming out of any of the wire/spade/wrap units. 

I still have to shrink on some 1" diameter wrap to weather-proof the whole bundle, but I'm wondering if I should stuff anything in there first?  The old unit seemed to have some sort of solidified gunk in between the small wraps and the big wrap. 

[Ndm]

You can buy shrink wrap that has a self sealing glue in it , we use it on salter trucks and it holds up well, I believe we buy it from carquest (any auto supply store should have it) once it’s heated and the sealant is soft you can bend it then hold it until it cools, it will stay in that position

[Doug S]

Sounds like you got it beat, quixotic! I've used the same adhesive-lined heat shrink that Ndm is talking about, and love it, but it's fairly pricey and someone pointed out that the lining is just plain old hot glue. Now I just cut a piece of hot glue to fit, put it inside the heat shrink, and it melts and fills all voids as the heat shrink shrinks. Works just as well for a fraction of the price.

[Ndm]

You’re correct Doug, when they are paying $100/hr overtime call in rate the municipality would gladly spring for the glue lined shrink tube and not have to deal with a guy searching for hours! We buy this to do our part to curb government waste