woodtrucker wrote:
I just noticed the break away controller was melted too. Is it possible that this unit created a dead short to marine bat to cause melt?
H'mm Trying to connect the dots on what went wrong,
The breakaway switch could of shorted due to water inside. The pin seal may be bad and with enough rain or towing in the rain it is not a stretch to have the switch short.
OK lets say it did. This creates a direct path to ground. The wire size on everyone of those switches I have seen (not all of them but several) is only a no 14 awg wire. The wire should of become a fuse and melted most all the insulation off until the the wire burnt clear off. I can see this happening.
However I cannot yet connect the dots on how you melted off both the + and - battery posts?? Any chance of a pic? In order to pull that much current you need a heck of a big wire. A number 14 I do not think will do it.
If the battery itself shorted inside, maybe aggravated by a bad breakaway switch, it should of melted through inside the battery. Or at least I think it should.
If the posts outside the battery are melted that seems to point to a short between the posts outside. Maybe a battery case full of water, metal hold down strap touching or something across the posts. You said both posts where burnt.
In most camper setups, at least the smaller trailers, there is generally a 30 amp fuse or circuit breaker between the convertwr and the battery to protect agasint this melt down from a short in the wire or the camper. If that fuse exists, it should of popped immediately "if" the short was between the fuse and the convertor.
Odds are also high you blew out the charge line fuse to the truck through the 7 wire cable. Heads up when you go to power back up again.
This still does not add up. Odds are high you have at least 2 things going on
Back to the battery box full of water, have you ever drill drain holes in the bottom of the battery box? Did you check? If there are no holes in the bottom of that box, the case can fill up with water if it has rained bad enough and then once it reaches the posts, there is enough dirt in the water it will conduct.
You are going to need to do some digging with an ohm meter to ground before you put a new battery in. I for sure would. This still does not add up.
Hope this helps and please report back what you find.
John
