Red hot smoldering wires

[Campingwith2kids2dogs]

This is DW. We just replaced our battery yesterday to bring 5er home from a 4 weekend stay. Our 3 yr old original battery had overheated the prior weekend. It was unplugged in order to mow grass this evening. Smoke was seen soon after from the hitch wire & metal box under 5er hitch. Front battery compartment was smoking with glowing red hot wires. DH used camper fire extinguisher. Smoking continued a little, but has since stopped. DH said he had found a wire nut on the ground & must have crossed 2 bare wires messing around. The tow wire had prior damage from dragging it while towing & dropping 5er on truck tailgate a couple times. Lol, you have to know DH to understand. DH "fixed it" himself with electrical tape. He was able to unhook & remove battery. Is this towable to get fixed? We have a $1000 deductible. He thinks he can haul it to get it fixed. Not to our dealer, but a smaller one about 10 mi away. Regardless, it's not making it to our Memorial Day wkend trip, I'm sure. How bad does this look? There was no other smoke found inside or in other cabinets. It's a good thing DH was outside or it may have went up in flames.


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[f5moab]

Just me....but to save the 1K deductible, I would head out to a parts store and get a set of auxiliary lights to add to the trailer, and then take it to the dealer via backroads, at a quiet time of the day (maybe a Sunday AM) and drop it off. Also, have a second vehicle to follow the TV and trailer. Need to be VERY careful and go VERY slowly since there will be NO brakes.

You might also be able to jump over from the connector to the brakes...maybe?

[trackmanbfa]

Just remember that the break away switch will not function without 12 volt power. Good luck

[Campingwith2kids2dogs]

Thanks for the replies. The local dealer/shop wouldn't even look at it; Something about liability & what damage that could be hidden that they would not know about. They said it may even need sent back to the factory. So, we are waiting to hear back from the insurance & then it's going back to the original dealer who thinks they may be able to fix it very quickly. I think we may try to get it towed there by the insurance.

With all that said, our Memorial Day weekend plans at Jellystone Park are still on, but we had to rent a cabin. It's more $ of course, but we got to use some of our reward Pts towards it. It was the only cabin available. We lucked out. The kids are happy because they get to sleep in the loft. Our camping "club" families are happy we're still going too.


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[f5moab]

Good luck....

[Jim in Halifax]

The junction box up under the hitch of our 29RE was held up in place with "two" yes "TWO" 3/8" #8 screws......It was pulled down by the 7 wire hitch cable to the truck and a 12v hot wire shorted out on the grounded metal box causing other wires to burn.......I replaced the metal box with a plastic waterproof box and put it back up with "4" 3/4" #10 wood screws..No problems since..Oh yes I did away with the plastic marette connectors and soldered all the wires together and taped well.......J

[D. J. Schuler]

Thanks for the follow-up. Great idea to change the box to plastic and solder the connections. I am going to anchor the cable so it can't pull on the box too.

[Jim in Halifax]

Originally Posted by D. J. Schuler

Thanks for the follow-up. Great idea to change the box to plastic and solder the connections. I am going to anchor the cable so it can't pull on the box too.

Yes I also did that..Used "Two" cable brackets with 3/4" #10 screws.....Should never come undone........There is a lot of tension on that cable when pluged into the back connector above the bumper...I spliced into that harness and ran the wires up thru the back square hole in the box and put another connector on that cable.....Much better..Should have ordered that option when I ordered my Silverado 2500.........J