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This morning while driving my battery warning light popped on and I smelled burning wires. Pulled over and stopped. I could see in my side mirrors smoke was coming from under the rear of my Tiger RV where 4 AGM batteries live. I grabbed my chemical fire extinguisher and laid down and looked underneath. No fire but plenty of smoke. All the power cable length from truck battery to solenoid / isolator on firewall and all the way to the 4 AGM coach batteries behind the rear axle melted. So did the power cable from coach batteries to 150Amp fuse in the coach. Luckly no flames and my Tiger is undamaged but for 20+ foot of melted #6 power cable.
Over the years I’ve heard of a few Tiger burning without a know cause. Tomorrow I will be dropping/lowering the 400 lb. battery cradle/basket and for the first time in 4 years ownership seen the batteries. I figured sooner or later this monster job would need to be done. But now along with just new replacements, I have the task of figuring out why the melt down. The system has worked beautifully for 4 years. Only thing I was planning on doing was up grading wire gauage from #6 to #4 to match 150Amp main coach fuse. If anyone one has any ideas as to why my all my power cables on both sides of battery bank overloaded, I’m all ears. One thing that has me puzzled is this solenoid/ isolator on the firewall. Why are the cables to and from it melted. I was thinking it was a fuse also. And why did cable to and from the battery bank overload to melting point. Sure glad the 150Amp main coach fuse worked.2012 Tiger CX Ram diesel 4x4
The short and not helpful answer is a steady high amp draw through the system heated up and melted the wiring as you drove. The only way I know to solve this puzzle would be to first determine what the was pulling from the batteries. It does strike me your fuse is not protecting your setup, but you already know that. Increasing the ampacity of the wiring may be helpful or decreasing fuse size. However, I am curious what your rig might have to generate such a high amp draw just going down the road.
I was wondering if you have an inverter that was left on for example feeding an appliance. I have seen high inverter draw blow the top out of batteries and I have seen wires melted into bundles with draws that generated steady heat, but were not high enough to blow fuses.
As you said, your systems worked fine for a number of years. What changed? I think this is a really interesting puzzle! Not being sarcastic.
Ardvark
Steve and Andra
2012 F350 6.2 gasser SRW LB
Fab Fours front and rear in case we run into a rhino
2019 Northstar Laredo SCThanks for your thoughts. 150amp Fuse in coach worked but I’m wondering why 3-#6 wires are on one side and they fried and the other side of the fuse has a single #6 cable to my 1000w inverter which is fine. The way this fuse is wired in it only protects the inverter which it did. The 3 fried wires come up threw te floor right above the batteries so until battery cradle is lowered I can’t trace them to origins. I am working on lowering the battery cradle. Once that is done I might find an answer such as a spot where one of the power cables arced on metal. Because the wire insulation has melted so badly it might be hard to really tell. I post again when I find out more info.
2012 Tiger CX Ram diesel 4x4
Batteries are now removed(crazy involvement), melted cables removed and damage assessment done with little to none on other wiring noted. That’s great news. Cause of this high amp current melt down is only a quess because cable covering was so extensivly melted on 9 seprate lenghts of #6 cable. A direct short and undersized wiring as related to protective fuse sizing is suspect. Research tells me, #6 wire isn’t rated to handle the 150 amps that finally blew the the one-150 amp ANL fuse. I found some wiring on the wrong hot side of the fuse so it was unprotected. Research also tells me only 1 fuse wasn’t proper in this system. Two more should have been installed. Those two additional fuses would have greatly mitigated damage and condensed it to a closer location of origin.
It appears to me this electrical system was a disaster waiting to happen. I got real lucky my RV did not burn to the ground. I’m overwhelmed at this point and will need to research more before simpliy rewiring and following the way it was,that’s for sure. My satisfaction will be when I’m done,it will be better than new.2012 Tiger CX Ram diesel 4x4
Now I am not there so realize my comments are coming without seeing the rig, but my first thought when I read your post was 6 ga was too light. With wiring I tend to always go heavier and to be fuse happy.
Every lead coming off the battery needs to be fused within 18″ of the battery or closer. When there are multiple cables there might be several fuses mounted in close proximity. For example, if one large cable is feeding three smaller cables, the protection has to consider the smaller cables. If only the larger cable is fused, the smaller cables will not be protected.
I would focus on fusing and sizing one lead at a time. I am glad to hear the damage to your rig was not extensive. 🙂
Steve
Steve and Andra
2012 F350 6.2 gasser SRW LB
Fab Fours front and rear in case we run into a rhino
2019 Northstar Laredo SCIncreasing the ampacity of the wiring may be helpful or decreasing fuse size.
The problem needs to be identified and fixed before messing with either of these things. An arc or short (possibly resulting from damaged wiring or unlucky contact) strike me as good suspects.
The amount of current it took to fry everything is way more than should be passing through, so replacing parts without fixing the problem is setting up for anything between blown fuses and a much more dangerous problem.
If the fuse situation had been better, there would have been less (or maybe no) damage. But you’d still have a serious problem.
Kyle,
I agree with you completely and suspect the OP does too. I did not interpret earlier posts as suggesting identifying the problem would not be a first step. I thought we were suggesting steps to avoid a recurrence after a diagnosis. So fix the problem and make sure that even if recurrence seems like it will be impossible, we want to correct anything that set the stage for so much damage i.e. wiring and fuses need to be sized correctly. It sounds like he has a real mess and may have to do some rebuilding before he can figure out if wires were bared and shorted, etc.
Since his rig operated without a problem for four years, I think it is reasonable to assume something changed, so the first step may be determining what changed and finding a way to stop that from happening in the future.
I may be wrong, but I think we are all on the same page here. 🙂
Ardvark
Steve and Andra
2012 F350 6.2 gasser SRW LB
Fab Fours front and rear in case we run into a rhino
2019 Northstar Laredo SCSince his rig operated without a problem for four years, I think it is reasonable to assume something changed, so the first step may be determining what changed and finding a way to stop that from happening in the future.
100% agreed. It’s possible that he just got unlucky — rodents can chew on wiring and even help bridge the gap, things can shift, moisture could have gotten in the wrong place. One less probable cause that I’d look into just in the hope of good news is that the short took place within something plugged in.
It’s a rotten problem to have. Anything relating to wire tracing when it’s not easily accessible is no fun.
Through researching installation instructions of my Onan generator, 1,500w inverter, 6v AGM batteries and online RV wiring info it was determined more fuse protection and heavier gauge wire was recommended. Many hours and $1,024.later I’ve finished my high amp side electrical system. No location of the direct short was able to be determined due to the extensive melting of high AMP side wiring. Where there was almost 40Ft. of melted 4 AWG wire and a single 150AMP fuse. There is now 2 AWG marine grade cable and a 3- 150 amp, 1-50 amp ANL fuse in a separate panel. Main Battery cable from truck engine compartment to rear of coach RV battery bank is also now protected with 150 Amp ANL fuse’s as recommended by NVX XSBI200 Smart 200 Amp Relay Isolator. The old school starter solenoid had no fuse’s in wiring from truck batteries to RV batteries. Now, all the positive 2 AWG cable is run inside protective PVC flexible sleeves. Routing and securing of cable is now greatly enhanced.
I don’t know how other RV’s a wired. But I will say knowing now what I have learned about this RV, I would never buy it again. I’ve learned that my trucks 180 Amp alternator and the 6- batteries have a lot of power that was not respected. It is now, I am fully comfortable about the wiring and my RV is better than new.2012 Tiger CX Ram diesel 4x4
It sounds to me like you have done a thorough job with your redo. As a general rule in my work I found many RV manufacturers go the other direction and fuse to the safe side. I hope you are able to enjoy your rig from this point forward. 🙂
Ardvark
Steve and Andra
2012 F350 6.2 gasser SRW LB
Fab Fours front and rear in case we run into a rhino
2019 Northstar Laredo SCOne take away owners of rigs from this manufacturer might want to consider is it is unlikely that the wiring in example is an isolated case of how things were done by this manufacturer! I would also encourage owners to check the AC distribution panel to insure breakers are sized correctly and in place.
Ardvark
Steve and Andra
2012 F350 6.2 gasser SRW LB
Fab Fours front and rear in case we run into a rhino
2019 Northstar Laredo SC
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