What could have caused this? (Melting wires!)

[simonej]

This is a picture of the permanent attachment lead from my CTEK to my Chimaera's battery (it's the bit that attaches to the positive terminal clamp);



It's the battery end of one of these;



The wire has almost burnt through and the plastic appears to have been smouldering or actually on fire. The only reason I've been looking down there is because the electrics were playing up (radio was turning on and off when you switched another electrical service on) and I thought the battery was the best place to start my hunt. It turns out it was the best place to start because since the lead was removed the car has been behaving perfectly normally.

So, what could be the cause of this? It's slightly worrying and perhaps something that other CTEK users should check.

[Allandwf]

Badly made off crimp?

[pistolar]

My mind my be playing tricks on me, but i seem to remember someone mentioning on Pistonheads that old "Anderson Connectors" have developed faults.

[Gazzab]

As far as I know the waterproof connectors can let in water and short.

[redeye]

poor fitting ,it arcs then gets hot then gets hotter then gets hottter then fire

[spend]

More likely mechanical stress put on the crimp by some Gorilla fisted person at some time in its life I would imagine?

"wheres that bloody connector... why doesn't it reach.... Grrrrrr"

[simonej]

Thanks for the input, chaps. It can't be water as it hasn't been out in any heavy rain for a while and the connector is inside the footwell.

The connector was bolted on tightly to the battery post mount but I don't suppose that means the connection is necessarily as good as it should be. The crimp could well have been put under stress and been damaged when stretching the cables to reach.

I'll get a new connector and try again, making sure it all looks neat and tidy and well connected. Cheers.

[Allandwf]

It looks as if all the heat has built up in the crimped section indicating high resistance at that point, can't see any strands at the end of the crimp, so still looks like dodgy crimp to me.
Let us know if a new one sorts it.

[Hoover.]

Electricity

[LivingTheDream]

redeye said:

poor fitting ,it arcs then gets hot then gets hotter then gets hottter then fire

This! - I had a similar issue with the 100 amp fuse connection by the battery - the bolt holding the fuse in place had worked slightly loose leading to the ring connector making and breaking connection.

Result was the same as yours wire melted, although in my case the whole plastic casing around the fuse melted - luckily the fuse blew in the end. I've heard stories of a fire being started like this leading to the loss of the car.

[Basil Brush]

If it was causing electrical issues when the charger wasn't connected then it sounds like a short somewhere along that cable. Maybe the insulation on the positive cable has rubbed through somewhere or similar?

[simonej]

New cable ordered so I'll give it another go. Hopefully no flames this time!