Hot Wires

[holdenadam]

Hi,
My 1986 T25 Devon petrol camper has a leisure battery fitted.
I never had a problem ( that i am aware of ) until recently when i noticed that the +ve wire from the main battery to the relay ( 30 ) gets extremely hot whilst driving.

Any ideas ?

Thanks

Adam

[BOXY]

What size is the wire? Is it rated for the amp load it's carrying?

[holdenadam]

Sorry,
No idea what size the wire is.
The inline fuse is one of those old Beetle type ones. It is white.

[BOXY]

Check the connections are clean. Any corrosion will increase the resistance and generate heat. If the fuse is the old ceramic type try swapping in a new one.

[jamesc76]

will probs find the amount of juice going through the wire is more than the wire is rated for !

[1664]

If this is after you've been camped up and using the leisure battery and the wire cools down after you've been driving for a while then it's because of the recharging current being drawn from the alternator by your leisure battery. Having said that the wire from the relay to the leisure should get hot too if it's the same size.
The amount of electrical gadgetry available to us these days that wasn't around when these vans were built takes a fair toll on a leisure battery which will want all that juice back once you restart the engine. Have a look in the wiki at the leisure wiring up grade in there.

[California Dreamin]

Many of the 'STANDARD' split charge setups (those fitted by the coach builders...Autohomes/Kamper/Westfalia/Leisuredrive) are only just adequate for the job. Typically they will fit 30 amp relays and associated wiring components that barely keep up with the actual current flow in the circuit.
Many owners choose to uprate this particular part of their camper to keep up with the ever expanding number of 'consumers' (DVD players/flat screen TV's/high powered audio systems) and the use of much higher capacity leisure batteries, all of which put greater demands on the split charging circuit.
Generated heat...as others have said, is either down to excessive current flow (more than the wiring was designed to carry) or high resistance (poor/loose/corroded/tarnished connections or wiring.)

Martin

[holdenadam]

Thanks for all the info.
Will have a look later today..

[holdenadam]

Just to say thanks for all the advice.
Cleaned the ends of the fuse and connections and hey presto...the wires did not get hot at all.

Cheers all.