Outer Limits 4x4 Board

it appears that i have fountd the limit of a standard lead battery terminal.

on the weekend i got my GU buried in some swampland and was in the process of winching out when this happened:

It was running a twin motor hi mount with 2 x 6Hp motors thru 2 x Titan Solenoids.
it was the hardest ive ever felt the winch work and it was working flat out for about2 - 3 mins when this happened.
all of the other wiring and solenoids held up well



any ideas how to stop it happening again?

If its possible simply dont winch for those lengths of time again. Two 6hp motors will be pulling a phuck load of amps. If your going the hardcore winching perhaps look at a 24V set-up to reduce the current load??

Could also be a bung battery terminal but others with similar setups would be better off commenting on that one.

How old was the battery?

I have seen this once before, it was solved by getting a battery with multiple terminals (One post and one screw type post for both pos and neg)
Major cables (starter and winch) were the only thing coming off the post, all other cables connected to the screw type post.

Have seen this set up winch in just as hard a spot and for longer after the battery and cables were changed with no hassels.

Of course the old battery was a couple years old, and most certainly had some amount of mossing occuring, but this setup couldn't hurt anyway.

the batts themselves are about 1 year old but have only been in this truck for about 3 months (terminals were all clean when changed)
the terminal is similar to that setup you speak of chucky , it has a single post with threaded screw post on top (where the wingnut is)

Id say dirty/poor conection. Resistance causes heat, heat melts battery terminals. If it was just overloaded im sure you would have melted the plastic insulation before the terminal.

We had a terminal melt off at Cliffhanger last year. We put it down to a loose connection.

SIMMO84 wrote:Id say dirty/poor conection. Resistance causes heat, heat melts battery terminals. If it was just overloaded im sure you would have melted the plastic insulation before the terminal.

X 2 , definatly a dodgey connection , i dont think even a dead short would melt a battery terminal

and going by that pic its safe to say it was the melted cable that is the cause

could it be to much draw theres alot of power cables there they apeer to be standard size
could you swap one to the other battery assuming there is one
Dosent take much to melt lead

Is that a deep cycle battery ?


To me it looks like you are running the winch off the second battery? If so this could be the problem.

BASSYK wrote:the batts themselves are about 1 year old but have only been in this truck for about 3 months (terminals were all clean when changed)
the terminal is similar to that setup you speak of chucky , it has a single post with threaded screw post on top (where the wingnut is)

Mate,

What I'm talking about is a second threaded post. So you have two positive terminals and two neg terminals on the one battery.

my 4runner done the same , we found a live earth wire ?.

set up a 24v system then convert it back to 12v for the winch
At leats with this there is power to burn

Tweak wrote:set up a 24v system then convert it back to 12v for the winch
At leats with this there is power to burn

inverters get hot... i had a 24-12 volt invertor in my MQ, and i sure as hell would not have run a winch off it

Loose terminal or corroded terminal where it meets the batt. if none of the above maybe try the titanium terminals (will not fix the problem but they will not melt)..

cheers mark.

Dodgy connection makes a hot spot under load. Hot spot melts the terminal.

Your connections (steel spade terminals) don't have enough smooth flat surface. The'll be joining on the "bumpy" bits.
Make em flat witha file - real flat. Then bolt them tight, and use lanotec to stop the corrosion.

Paul

SIMMO84 wrote:Id say dirty/poor conection. Resistance causes heat, heat melts battery terminals. If it was just overloaded im sure you would have melted the plastic insulation before the terminal.

x2

The heated color of the copper wire gives it away. Terminal resistance creates heat, more current, more heat, something gives.

Keep batt terms spotless, on posts and inside terminal, clamp up then wipe over with vaseline.
Those batt term brushes they sell work well.

2nd thing is the butterfly nuts do not give a tight enough clamp for those terminals from the winch or batt cable and heat can be generated at the wire terminal not the batt terminal.
Use proper nuts and bolts, clean and tighten properly.

Bazzle

I've seen one melt before, was winching for a fair while and it melted the terminal INSIDE the battery. It was not a bad/dirty connection. Use Two batteries in parallel to halve the current from the winch.

Tweak wrote:set up a 24v system then convert it back to 12v for the winch
At leats with this there is power to burn

If you're car was setup for 24v you wouldnt bother running the winch off 12v!