Wire to Battery Question

[Bobby P.]

Lots of battery talk this week.

My house batteries all of a sudden were not holding a charge on my 2017 31CB.

I cleaned and serviced all terminals (some corrosion and perhaps not all as tight as they should be). There is a green wire that is connected to the bank. Any idea what this is? Is this from the solar panel? It has an inline 30 amp fuse. The wire was warm and when I disconnected and reconnected it. It sparked when disconnected and reconnected

Thoughts?

Thanks,
Bobby

 

[ixlr8]

Sounds like you need to find where that wire goes. A green wire should be ground and should not have a fuse in it. Was there a previous owner who may have added something??

 

[BradOwens]

The 30 amp fuse holders used for our solar charging system use green wires that are spliced into the red positive wire coming from the solar control module. There should be one fuse holder within 12 inches of one house battery, and another within 12 inches of the engine start battery. If your fuse holder green wire doesn't connect to a red wire, you may want to look at your solar control module to see if your installation used green wire the whole way.

 

[Kevin Lamont]

Lots of battery talk this week.

My house batteries all of a sudden were not holding a charge on my 2017 31CB.

I cleaned and serviced all terminals (some corrosion and perhaps not all as tight as they should be). There is a green wire that is connected to the bank. Any idea what this is? Is this from the solar panel? It has an inline 30 amp fuse. The wire was warm and when I disconnected and reconnected it. It sparked when disconnected and reconnected

Thoughts?

Thanks,
Bobby

Hey Bobby,

The last poster was correct, it is for you're solar panel and in fact is the charge wire coming into the battery. If the panel is getting sun and charging and the fuse is in place that wire will spark when removing or installing. Best rule of thumb is to remove the fuses prior to removing or installing connections.

Thanks,
Kevin Lamont

 

[BradOwens]

In addition to removing the fuses, I cover my solar panel when working on that system.

 

[ohioan55]

Not to butt in, but is the wire getting warm over the entire length or only in one area? Maybe near the end (connector)? If so, you may have an issue somewhere (increased resistance) causing that wire to heat up. Could be broken strands or corrosion in the crimp? Just a thought.

 

[Bobby P.]

I'll inspect the entire run of the green wire. Thanks much. BTW after cleaning up and reconnecting the battery terminals, I am holding a much better charge.

Thanks,
Bobby

 

[BradOwens]

If the connection to the battery terminal was loose, that could cause over heating at that end of the wire as well as poor charging.