Check Your Wires

PSA to travelers, check your wires regularly. While in Canada, I noticed my charge controller not operating the way I expected so I looked at all the wires in the back and slowly figured what was happening.

One of my charge wires had arched and burnt within the charge controller. When I had reset the charger a couple weeks back, I must not have put the wire back in securely enough. It burnt out the wire and melted a bit of the charge controller. I had to take the panel a part and drill a hole through the plastic that was melted and was preventing the wire from connecting properly.

Luckily, I had a backup wire that I spliced to replace the wire that burnt. Once I got the new wire installed, everything in the 12v panel worked as it should.

This could have been a very bad scenario and I was lucky that it sparked within the charge controller. It is important to look at your wires and connection point regularly to make sure nothing is loose.

Canada is turning into nothing but roadside fix after roadside fix. At least it’s pretty up here.