Electrical Fire

Hi all,
I had an electrical fire this morning and it started on the small wire that came off my positive battery terminal. What is this wire connected to?

 

That's something that somebody added without a fuse.

 

Just cut it and shorten it as far as it goes. It's no longer live.

Get it off the negative terminal first though haha.

 

Thanks for the reply. It ran down along my fender and underneath. Not sure what it would go to... is it a factory deal? Would that be for my canopy light?

 

Aftermarket lights, alarm, or powered sub? It's not factory.

 

Do you have a brake controller?

Most canopys tap into the brake lights.

 

The only aftermarket electrical I have are trailer lights and canopy light. Figured trailer lights would be connected at the rear.

 

As I mentioned, someone added that wire for whatever purpose they needed power. It was stupid and irresponsible for them to not put in a fuse near the battery. You're lucky your truck didn't burn to the ground.

 

Youre right! Man, I noticed smoke and pulled over by a church. Grabbed an extinguisher quick.

 

Could be either. If you had a aftermarket 7 pin trailer harness installed they could have run the power from there. Does the canopy light still work?

As mentioned, a properly sized fuse near the battery would have prevented this.

 

Not sure. Didn't think about the canopy till just now. Had it towed to the dealership this morning. Guess I'll find out tomorrow...

 

Why did it need to be towed?

 

Looking closer at that 2nd pic, I see there's a lot more damage than just that 1 melted wire. This may end up being something you want to turn in on your comprehensive insurance. Depending on what your deductible is, it may be worth it in the end.

 

I wasn't sure what was going on. Didnt want to run it incase it was still burning. It was attached to a clip of some sort down low and had a small flame I couldn't get out until I got the extinguisher. I was worried I might burn something up. Gotta get to the dealership asap tomorrow morning to make sure the dont "over-diagnose" it

 

Depends on who did the wiring. If the dealer installed the cap and wired the light like that I'd let their insurance handle it.

 

That's a bummer. I hope it works out for the best.

 

Having it at a dealership, this is concerning. It wouldn't surprise me if they say, "we need to replace the whole wiring harness for $2900".

A competent repair shop could cut out each damaged wire and solder/heat shrink short sections of new wire in.

 

That wire could have been for a remote starter too, previous owner of my wife’s CRV had one of those wired straight to the battery like that. Maybe in your case they wired it in and removed the hardware before they sold it. Who knows.

 

Probably goes to the powered converter for your trailer lights. Even if it’s a 4 pin, some will still use a converter box.

 

I bought it new. Aside from a 2" lift, K&N Cold Air Intake, canopy and trailer lights I have not had anything else done to it. I hope insurance will cover it if too costly. The guy who owned the shop that did my trailer lights retired a few years back, so they've been outta business. Canopy guys are still in business though.