Melted Wire

[CMorg]

My trolling motor was used on high for long periods of time today in high wind , on an electric only lake today. I noticed when I got home to charge the battery that the fuse holder had melted insulation exposing the bare metal wire. Anyone else ever have this happen ?

[nofearengineer]

Nope....but there is definitely something wrong here.

Cmorg, do I remember some post by you a while back about the size of your TM wires and the fuse size? I could be imagining it, but it is really nagging at the back of my mind.

Point is...the fuse is there to protect the wire, not the TM. Obviously you have too small gauge wire, or too high a rating of fuse.

[bassboogieman]

I....... think..............NFE..............is..... Correct
Your wire is overheating due to the draw of the T/M, so I betting it's the wire gauge on the fuse holder being undersized. If the wires running to the T/M are heavier (#8 likely) than the wire on the fuse holder, that's likely the problem. The heavier wire can handle the load without overheating, the thinner wire will heat up and melt the insulation. The fuse or breaker is pretty heavy due to the draw of a T/M and you may have an undersized fuse holder, I think there should be a rating on it.
20a fuse holder will have #16 wire, 30a is heavier with #12 and a heavy one rated to 60a will have #8 wire. As the fuses are the same physical size it would be easy to exceed the holder's rating by inserting the incorrect fuse.

[CMorg]

NFE , I dont think that I did. However , I dont know. I remember when I first got this boat the fuse holder had a glass fuse that was broke inside the holder. I replaced the holder with one I bought from autozone. I could have easily got the wrong size wire. I used the same amp size fuse. I guess the wire was probably the problem. I hope anyway...

[MississippiBoy]

Originally Posted by bassboogieman

I....... think..............NFE..............is..... Correct....

Hurt, didn't it?