why did my 2 awg batt cable to melt?

[66 joe]

Where do I start looking for trouble? New starter and good batteries. The cable I was using was 2 awg jumper cable that I made for temporary use. It was a set of jumpers I picked up somewhere that seemed nice and pliable for the outboard ( I know,,, keep in mind only temp fix ) I do have a replacement solenoid, I didnt replace old one, cause seemed to work ok. 96 112 johnson thanks , Joe

 

[Fuzzytbay]

Re: why did my 2 awg batt cable to melt?

They melted due to high current, now it could be bad connections, poor wire (not all jumper cables are made of really good wire, thats why the electrical store sells it for a buck a foot, and you can buy an 10 foot set of cables for 5 bucks), a combination of both, a short to ground somewhere, your soliniod could be old and the contact is burnt causing the high draw. I'd get the proper wires, then give it a test.
How long did you crank it to get the wires burning anyhow?

 

[66 joe]

Re: why did my 2 awg batt cable to melt?

truthfully, cranked quite a bit (10 secs) few times. got new cables on order and i will replace my starter solenoid. Hopefully that is source of heat,,, cause, starter and all connections are clean and tight.

 

[Fuzzytbay]

Re: why did my 2 awg batt cable to melt?

You can test the solinoid's resistance before getting one. Just disconnect the + from the battery , jumper the start terminal, on the soliniod(jumper wire from battery +) and use an ohm meter to measure through the two main terminals, the reading should be low, like almost a dead short.