[Rhodes22-list] Batteries - Woe is me

[Brad Haslett]

Mike,

It doesn't take much insulation burning off a wire to produce a whole lot of
smoke.  Trust me on this, I've had it happen in the cockpit.  You may be
lucky.  The large white wire you speak of may have acted as fuse and spared
you further damage.  Replace the obviously damaged ones first.  Buy marine
wire the same color and gauge  from a marine vendor (not Autozone), duct
tape the new wire to the end of the old one and pull through whatever
bulkheads, etc. you have to or feed the wire to the buss bar etc. as
necessary.  My guess is not all the wiring is bad.  You can use a volt/ohm
meter to check for continuity but I prefer a test light ($3 at Autozone or
Home Depot). Calder's book on boat electrical systems is good but you may
find "Boatowner's Illustrated Handbook or Wiring" by Charlie Wing simpler.
Slow down and be methodical.  It isn't that difficult.  Now if someone could
just explain why I'm not getting power to the stall warning light on my
Bonanza all would be well!

Brad

On 4/23/07, CORLEYMICHAELSIX at aol.com <CORLEYMICHAELSIX at aol.com> wrote:
>
> After contemplating all the wonderful advice from the list including the
> trail on 6 volt golf cart batteries I purchased 2 wet cell 12 volt Grp
> 24  Deep
> Cycle Marine Batteries that are connected in series.  Now for the Woe  is
> me
> part . . . . While installing them I hooked them up wrong and fried
> the  wiring
> harness and hopefully nothing else.  There was a lot of smoke from  the
> melting wire and the batteries quickly got hot to the touch.  My
> son  saved the day
> by quickly yanking the batteries out.  Afterwards I  checked the batteries
> with a multi meter and they are still showing 12.7 volts,  which is about
> where
> they were before the incident.  Apparently a large  white wire that
> appears to
> have 2, maybe different 3 wires in it is what  melted.  I believe it
> connected
> the two batteries.  While only one  wire melted the others broke when we
> yanked the batteries out.  Obviously I  have limited electrical
> knowledge.  What
> damage do you think I may have  done and how do I fix it?
>
> Lesson learned:  Keep fire extinguisher handy when working on  boat
>
> Mike
> S/V Ranger (99)
>
>
>
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