en route to MPB

[jon_d]

Ray,

Where has the silver box (auto disconnect/reconnect circuit breaker) gone? If I'm seeing the photo correctly, the melted wire was connected to the circuit breaker.

Did he replace it with another fuse? And did he find the cause of the melted wire?

[Greynomad]

Jon.

The answer is: blind reindeer (No Eye Deer )
Meandarra campers & I wondered why didn't a fuse somewhere give up its life before the wire melted (along with the andersen plug).
Forgot to ask Saul about that.

It just works now, so I'm a happy camper.

[jon_d]

ok....

Just be careful and alert. The cause might still be there.


Those silver boxes basically are a heat activated switch. They open the circuit when the current is to high and they have heated up. When they cool down, they close and the circuit is activated again. That's why the wire has melted. (ie open/ close/open/close)

Can you trace the wire? It will probably be melted (in some way) all the way to the fault.

[T1 Terry]

Ah yes, the deadly auto reset circuit breaker, if it didn't start a fire with the first fault, given enough time it will ....
There is a product called spiral wrap, great for bundling wiring harnesses allowing for wires to enter or leave the harness as required with just a bit of heat shrink to protect the wire where it passes through the spiral wrap ... or if there are multiple wires, smaller spiral wrap starting under the larger wrap that makes up the harness.
No need to remove a sticky tape mess to check wires or add/delete wires, just unwrap, do what was required and rewrap ... looks much neater than split conduit ( hate that stuff) and taped wiring harnesses.

T1 Terry

[Greynomad]

I watched Saul work.
He twisted four wires together, loaded them with solder then inserted them into a spade terminal of the appropriate size and heated it with a gas torch to bind the solder to the terminal. He then crimped the terminal.
Did that twice each end before attaching them to the batteries.
He then used black cloth tape to bind all the wires together, allowing some to exit binding as required, then used heavy zip-ties to bunch them in such a way that they stood proud of the battery casings & well away from the chassis.
Looks a pretty thorough job to me. I have since checked under the van and the wiring has not moved.

[Dot]

Another lemon job on a new caravan. Not good at all.

[BruceS]

I shudder every time I see wires connected to the positive terminal on a battery that doesn't have a fuse or circuit breaker (etc) with in a few inches. Once that wire disappears thru a hole or into a loom all hell can break loose.
Ray each of those 4 wires he twisted & put together 'should' have a fuse of suitable size on it.
Nothing worse than seeing a big bundle of wires all melted together.
Next best thing is a quick isolator to cut power to everything in an emergency. (take note Bernie!)

[jon_d]

I watched Saul work.
He twisted four wires together, loaded them with solder then inserted them into a spade terminal of the appropriate size and heated it with a gas torch to bind the solder to the terminal. He then crimped the terminal.
Did that twice each end before attaching them to the batteries.

and he removed the circuit breaker.

I thought Saul was a mechanic...

[T1 Terry]

Cabling from a high current energy storage device carried through a cable with no maximum current limiting device close to the supply side .... is asking for an electrical fire sometime in the future. It only requires an overload on the smallest cable in the unprotected circuit to start the whole wiring harness turning into a glowing copper fire starter .... that cable melts its way into a heavier cable and that added current capacity melts into a negative cable in the same harness and ...... just about any Lucas wiring harness is testament to just how likely a wiring harness fire is going to occur ...... just because early British automotive systems used such poorly though out circuitry doesn't mean it is the acceptable standard or in anyway safe ......
Every cable in a circuit should be protected by a fuse that will isolate the connection to the supply rated at 10% less than the maximum current carry capacity of that cable .... by that I mean the current the cable insulation will start to melt, not the maximum current to achieve the required maximum voltage drop .... yes, there is a lot of science goes into creating safe wiring, ignoring the safety rules will not make the risk go away ...

T1 Terry

[Greynomad]

Here's a clearer pic of the new wiring arrangement.

IMG_3673.jpeg

When we get home we will contact the auto-electrical whizkid who was able to find the fault in Girt that had three other auto-elecs stumped.
I'll ask him to do a complete electrical review/overhaul & fix any potential problems before our next trip.