Electrical Burns on my Ducati 848

Since it doesn't sound like you ever got the bike hot enough to turn on the fans is one hardwired? And if so why? The fuel pump makes noise as it pressures the system up but should stop essentially immediately so after a couple of secs the bike should be quiet with the key on not running. Solenoids buzz sometimes as they're failing but the only one on those is the starter relay. Put a DVM on the battery terminals and start the bike to see if the alternator/rectifier is OK. Mid 13 volts typically. If you're seeing a lot more than that the rectifier is hosed. I'm trying to decide if you're just screwing with us.

If the starter/kill switch doesn't work fix that first. The ECU is supposed to be turning both fans on somewhere after 100C. These bikes are notorious for killing the rectifiers. Unregulated voltage is probably close to 15 V. So borrow a meter and check it. Because if it's failed full on it's going to fry a bunch of other stuff. If you need to replace the rectifier upgrade to a MOSFET version or increase the heatsink size and improve the airflow across the new rectifier if you're replacing with a stock style one.

Sorry I didn't look good enough at the pictures. That fried connector in the second picture looks like the rectifier connector. The alternator feed is coming out of the outer case. When the rectifiers are shunting to much current they melt the connector between the alternator and rectifier and fry the wires near the connector. You mentioned you replaced some fuses. The rectifier has a 30 AMP fuse. Make sure some knucklehead has not bypassed that fuse. Ducati has always put an electrical schematic in the owners manual. They have owners manuals online at the main ducati website. Don't ride that without the fixing the start/kill switch. The kill switch is under your thumb because s**t happens.

First go to ducati.com and get the owners manual so you can have the electrical schematics. The fried connector looks like the alternator/rectifier connector (yellow leads running to it). The alternator feed comes out of the left case. The rectifier should be mounted under the battery (5x3 inch with fins). These fry (the rectifiers) sometimes if the connector has too much resistance or too the bike has too little electrical output requirement (like all the lights were removed). The rectifiers work by shunting excess current. When they are constantly shunting too much they fry. If you're lucky it's just the connector. So put a meter on the bike when it running. It should be showing something in the mid 13's. If it low like 12 volts the battery is not charging. If it above 13 (like 14 plus) the rectifiers checked out. So if it's low 12's or less it's probably the connector. To verify that the alternator stator is ok if you start the bike with that connector disconnected the voltage on the yellow leads out of the case should be pretty high (like 15V). So check for output. If you have output the stator is OK. If so you can buy parts to repair the connector and it's associated leads on both sides of the connector. After that's fixed if you have only 12 volts when the bike is running the rectifier's gone. Then the best course of action is to upgrade to a MOSFET type rectifier.

Fans. These bikes (if they're like the 1098/1198's) have two water temperature sensors. One goes to the ECU and the other goes to the dash readout. If the ECU sensor fails the ECU needing a number for the motor to run puts one in, like 180/190 F. The bike will run but the ECU cannot turn on the fans. Find the sensors (they're plugged into the water plumbing on the left) and use your meter to check resistance. They should both have similar numbers. If one has checked out they typically fail open (infinite resistance). So if the ECU sensor is gone replace it and put the fan wiring back to as the factory had it. The sensors are standard electrical parts (probably Bosch) and are used on other vehicles so get the part number off the sensor and look for it online so you don't have to buy it from Ducati at some inflated price. Good luck.

Yep, people do move the rectifiers under the tail. But I don't see a picture of it. It's like 3 by 6 inch by 1.5 inch and finned. The connector with the 3 yellow wires (now browned) is the alternator feed. Second picture down. Should be a thirty amp fuse between the rectifier and battery. The connector needs to be replaced as the resistance is too high.