Burnt Factory electrical wire-nut connection.

[3605dave]

I was exercising my onan 5500 generator the other day. Last time it energized my rig. This time it didn't. I checked forums here and you tubes. suggestions: check breakers, all were on. So next thing was to follow the wiring from the generator to rig. I took out stores from the front compartment next to the gen. I followed wires to an electrical junction box on the back wall of the compartment and took off the face plate. AH HA!! a burnt white neutral wire wire-nut and three loose neutral wires. I got the burnt nut off, cleaned up and re stripped the wires and installed a new wire-nut securely. I started the gen-set and voil'a, power to my 3605 home. HAPPY CAMPER HERE IN AZ.

[dsol]

Thanks for sharing. That is a great trouble shooting result. Nice work.

I had a similar, albeit easier problem with my generator a year or so ago. An in-line fuse blew that I don’t know existed and even though the generator ran great I was getting no power. That fuse is located right near the generator and I didn’t know it was there.

By the way, just curious how many hours on your generator. Curious if that had anything to do with it.

Thanks

[Egeorge2]

Same happened to me! I would not use wire nuts!!!. Use split bolts and rubber tape the connections.

[Tireman9]

I have never seen a twist on "wire nut" ever used in a motor vehicle I have owned over the last 59 years, except in my RVs. (BMC, Chevy, Ford, AMC, Chrysler, Dodge, Mazda, Nissan or even my $699 Vespa car!



Wire nuts are used in stationary applications. Every car company in the world knows that. They might be ok for a "manufactured home" but should not be allowed by code in any RV. IMO as an engineer I would suggest filing a complaint with NHTSA for an unsafe electrical wiring fixture if you have somethnig actually burn out.


If there was a fire who would be at fault?

[Revere411]

Originally Posted by Tireman9

I have never seen a twist on "wire nut" ever used in a motor vehicle I have owned over the last 59 years, except in my RVs. (BMC, Chevy, Ford, AMC, Chrysler, Dodge, Mazda, Nissan or even my $699 Vespa car!



Wire nuts are used in stationary applications. Every car company in the world knows that. They might be ok for a "manufactured home" but should not be allowed by code in any RV. IMO as an engineer I would suggest filing a complaint with NHTSA for an unsafe electrical wiring fixture if you have somethnig actually burn out.


If there was a fire who would be at fault?

So you would compare those vehicles to the house that you pull down the road? Do you have 120VAC circuits in those cars? I don't understand the comparison.

[Tireman9]

Originally Posted by Revere411

So you would compare those vehicles to the house that you pull down the road? Do you have 120VAC circuits in those cars? I don't understand the comparison.

No my comparison is with the method of fastening wire connections together when you know there will be vibration. I don't think the voltage level has any affect of vibration resistance.


This is a bit like using electrical tape on a water line connection as I found on my Class-C Coachmen. Wrong material for the job.

[larrypride]

I've used wire nuts in electrical motors almost always. On larger motors with bigger wires, is when I use split bolts. My concern with motors is the vibration. We use stranded instead of solid wire if vibration or movement is a concern.
I would use wire nuts in my RV as needed. If the wire from your generator is connected correctly with wire nuts or split bolts it should be fine. If the split bolts are not torqued or if strands break loose you would have a problem causing heat which leads to fire. I do agree with tireman9 that if I was working on any of bigger wires like the feed into the rig or to invertors or large batteries etc. I would use split bolts. I would be more concerned about a novice tapping the split bolts than anything else. I buy rubber tape and cover it with scotch33 and maybe scotch coat to weld it all together. The tape we electricians use cost 3 to 4 times what the cheap tape cost. Electricity is probably the easiest (Labor wise) trade but it is by far the most dangerous and unforgiving.