Ray-IN
Well-known member
Do not puncture a wires protective coating without sealing the hole moisture-proof afterwards, otherwise moisture enters, corrodes the copper, creating even more resistance.
Heat build up in wire
- Thread starter Yoshi
- Start date
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John From Detroit
Well-known member
I had an aux circuit in my Motor home fail. The circuit was a 40 amp blade fuse at the battery and 10GA wire to a distribution panel next to the Driver's seat. I plugged in multiple radios. fans and other stuff into that panel using anderson power poles.. Now that I'm no longer in the RV the panel is here in the apartment.. not as many radios. (just two)plugged in.
One day it failed. the radios would not.. voltage measurements showed no voltage at the strip unplgging the feed from it I had about battery voltage -1.5 volts (Strange) no load.. Well I followed the wire. about a foot from the battery end was a bulge.. Sliced into it. total corrosion. Yup the wire had a tumor.. I excised the tumor (Cut it out and spliced) soldered the splice. sealed it with a high grade sealant low-grade adhesive I buy a lot of. and .. it out lasted the motor home.
I do not know how moisture got to that point and messsed up the wire. but it did.
Hi,
Here is an update.
As a reminder, I did a test a few weeks ago with heating up water (in the microwave) for 5 minutes and monitored wire and connection temperatures.
All of the connections (including the T-Fuse) stayed cool except for two points. The load side of my shunt raised about 40F with the 2/0 wire getting fairly warm to the touch. The second point that warmed up (about the same amount) was the input side of my inverter master ON/OFF switch, also with a 2/0 wire.
I rechecked all the connections and found those two well below the recommended torque values. Tight, but not up to the recommended torque values.
Once I torqued everything to the correct values, I no longer have any temperature increase.
It was a simple fix, but now feel better about my system.
I would recommend anyone running an inverter to conduct the same simple check. You may be surprised what you find...I was.
Here is an update.
As a reminder, I did a test a few weeks ago with heating up water (in the microwave) for 5 minutes and monitored wire and connection temperatures.
All of the connections (including the T-Fuse) stayed cool except for two points. The load side of my shunt raised about 40F with the 2/0 wire getting fairly warm to the touch. The second point that warmed up (about the same amount) was the input side of my inverter master ON/OFF switch, also with a 2/0 wire.
I rechecked all the connections and found those two well below the recommended torque values. Tight, but not up to the recommended torque values.
Once I torqued everything to the correct values, I no longer have any temperature increase.
It was a simple fix, but now feel better about my system.
I would recommend anyone running an inverter to conduct the same simple check. You may be surprised what you find...I was.
Ray-IN
Well-known member
Yoshi, I do the same with transfer switch wire connections. Our wonderfully smooth highways vibrate connections loose.
