burnt out starter on 150 mercury

[josephl]

hi guys im new to this site in the last two years i replaced my stator and voltage regulaters and what could be making them burn out i was told a bad battery can cause it to happen is this true the first sintom my tac was jumping all over the place i switched the gray wire to the voltage regulater and the problem stoped for 2 months. Now i notice my volt meter was pined at 16 volts at high rpms at low rpms it ran about 13 to 14 then when i was at high rpms it smelt like it was burning i checked the stator and it was burnt and checked the yellow wires to the voltage regulares and they were good but one had a slight discolor how can i tell if they are still good and i also had one week battery could that have caused it?

thank you and appriciate any help