Forum Discussion

Cantdrive55's avatar
Cantdrive55
Explorer II
Feb 16, 2014

Trailer lightning strikes?

After starting to go through my "new" 1995 Damon Hornet 27T and fixing all the little things, I found that the stock AM/FM/Tape didn't work. I pulled it out and checked for voltage and found nothing. I checked continuity on the wires and found the neutral had an open. I went ahead and tied new wires to the old and pulled them in. Inspecting the old wires I found that the white 10 gauge wire was black in one spot and melted. The hot was fine. Also found a big burn mark where I assume the wire tied into the inverter. Triple checked everything and plugged the new wires in and now have a good radio. Question is, how did the neutral burn up so bad? The radio was smoked that I pulled out and the antenna connector burned off. Has anyone had any issues with lightning hitting their trailer while parked? Does it being plugged into power at the campground make it any less safe? This was the only wire I found that was burned up in the entire rig.
  • Johno02's avatar
    Johno02
    Explorer
    Feb 16, 2014
    Only thing I could think of was that the actual problem was in the original radio. If a short or overload there, it might have just overheated the wiring, with a failure at a high resistance spot whereever. might have been a tight binding, or a bend in the wire. Who knows? Glad you found it and got it fixed with no other damage. As you suspect, a power surge for some reason is a very good guess. I have seen nearby lighting cause a damaging surge, even without a direct hit. As the antenna wire was burned, that makes it even more suspect.
  • Cantdrive55's avatar
    Cantdrive55
    Explorer II
    Feb 16, 2014
    The burned section was in the middle of the wire run and even if a neutral does short out it would of had to short against something with power in order to burn up. This did not happen. The only thing burned was the neutral wire. No fuses popped.
  • westend's avatar
    westend
    Explorer
    Feb 16, 2014
    If the wire was loose it will arc to the terminal and cause the wire jacket to heat up and discolor, i.e. burn the wire. In certain cases it will also cause the device to fail, i.e. smoke.

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