Posted by Jerry Henry [172.71.146.99] on Tuesday, January 03, 2023 at 11:51:47 :
I have a 9000 watt electric start portable generator that my son used to start the framing on a house. When he returned it a few days ago, he rolled it down a ramp from the back of his pickup. He noticed smoke coming from the wiring harness. The generator was NOT running.
There's a ground wire (maybe #6 copper) in the harness that is connected on one end to a 220v receptacle on the generator control panel and connects at the other end to the housing of the generator itself. That ground wire was what caused the problem. It got so hot it melted almost all of it's plastic cover. This also caused some smaller wires in the harness to melt and expose the wire. There's no sign of any shorting between the battery and the generator frame or anywhere else. I intend to replace these wires and run the generator to see if it still works.
I would like to hear of any ideas of what could have caused this. Thanks
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