Thread: Ever have a power wiring cable go bad?

The ONLY time I have ever had a stranded cable larger then 10 gauge (it was 4 gauge I think) break was the power cable running to my 150gt outboard. It was a bass boat with a high back deck. Each time the motor was trimmed up it caused the wire to bend at a 90 degree angle and pushing against the rear deck. After about 15 years the motor would get harder to start, sometimes. Finally it stopped and would not start. Then when turning the key it clicked a few times, crackled a little and smoke started coming from that spot in the cable. My guess is from the wires moving it was causing a partial connection which when I hit the key caused some heat and eventually melted the insulation finally letting me see where the issue was. The repetitive bending is what caused the wire to break. Is there a chance your wire is bending (moving) in a particular spot?

Originally Posted by MDCrappie

The ONLY time I have ever had a stranded cable larger then 10 gauge (it was 4 gauge I think) break was the power cable running to my 150gt outboard. It was a bass boat with a high back deck. Each time the motor was trimmed up it caused the wire to bend at a 90 degree angle and pushing against the rear deck. After about 15 years the motor would get harder to start, sometimes. Finally it stopped and would not start. Then when turning the key it clicked a few times, crackled a little and smoke started coming from that spot in the cable. My guess is from the wires moving it was causing a partial connection which when I hit the key caused some heat and eventually melted the insulation finally letting me see where the issue was. The repetitive bending is what caused the wire to break. Is there a chance your wire is bending (moving) in a particular spot?

This pontoon is seven years old.

I don't see how it could move. From the batteries, the wire goes through a hole in the deck, angles down to the pontoon guide where it goes straight to the front of the boat. There it makes an angle up to the hole in the deck where it emerges to hook to the terminal strip.

I did not feel any slack in the line when I did a gently pull on the line. It has a cable protector around the wires so the wires themselves should never rub against anything. There is only 6-8 inches of wire that is exposed from where it leaves the guide up to the hole in the floor to attach to the terminal strip.

The new wiring and lugs are due in today so I will probably rewire it tomorrow. I plan on connecting the new wiring to the trolling motor first to test it before I run it through the pontoon guide. I fully believe the wire is my problem but I don't want to go to the work of running the cable to discover that was not the problem.