ground on air box

[stef]

i removed the airbox a few days ago, to replace it with a pod filter combo, and yesterday, i was tidying the underside. I found a ground lead which connects the loom to the front of the airbox (it fits on the bolt that holds the front of the aibox on the underside), and frame. At least, i tought it connects to the frame. However, it goes through a rubber sleeve, so in no way does it ground the frame. The airbox if plastic, so it cant have been grounding that either ? (or is the air box carbon loaded to avoid ESD from air friction ? )

so what would you recommend i did with that lead ?

[bod]

Could be to remove static electricity do the airbox mounting on rubbers that move maybe, sparks near the airbox I guess ain't good

[Shandy]

Ahh I remember there was a thread I was going to reply to and this was it bods reply reminded me :p

I think the ground wire you’re talking about is the battery negative connection for the regulator. One side of the regulator is mounted on the other side of the bolt the front of the air box fixes to. On my M600 the ground wire is on the other fixing bolt of the regulator. The workshop manual says 'the regulator casing must be connected to the battery negative pole', and interestingly the Haynes book of lies has a note saying 'Ducati recommend that the rubber washers fitted to earlier models be replaced with the steel washers fitted to later models as they improve the heat transfer of the unit' (how true the Haynes quote is could be up for debate as its not the most reliable source of information).

Anyhow enough rambling, the short and curly of it is that it needs to be reconnected to one of the regulator mounting bolts to ensure a proper negative connection on the regulator casing.

Hope this helps,

Cheers,

Shandy

[stef]

umm.. i'll check if the regulator isnt already grounded.
A ground wire connected to a plastic box through a rubber bush to isolate it from the frame doesnt sound too usefull...even if the otherside of said wire goes to the regulator..
but yeah i am with you bod. ESD grounding is still my guess.

[Shandy]

mmmm ESD, not sure about that interesting idea. It's been a while since I’ve studied ESD but I found this,

http://www.esda.org/documents/esdfunds1print.pdf

Have a look at the section on insulative materials as the air box is plastic it will fall in this category.

[stef]

interesting doc.
the box could be carbon loaded (we use little black boxes to carry our chips around where i work. They are specially carbon loaded to avoid damage through ESD.)
So it could well be that the air box is similar, and requires grounding.

as an aside, i have check my regulator this morning, and it already has a grounding cable (plus the mounting screws to the frame)