Why did my fuseholder melt down?

[voski35 0]

So I was driving to school int he morning and I noticed that the volume of my bass was decreasing and it eventually cut out completely. When I got to school I opened my hood and found my fuse holder deformed and melted. Anyone know why this happened? And I cant open the damn thing to put a new fuse in =(

[voski35 0]

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[DevilDriver 28]

Let's get a full run-down of your electrical system, meaning battery, alt, fuse rating, wiring, amplifier, head unit, etc. This will be a start in the right direction.

[Tirefryr 1,742]

Either a hot spot due to a bad connection, which is rather rare in low voltage DC, or your fuse was too large for the current capacity and did not blow.

[voski35 0]

I have a FI Q12 hooked up to a Rockford Fosgate 1100 a2 (manual says 100 amp fuse). I have stock battery in a VW golf with stock alternator its 90 amps. I have a punch 450.4 hooked up to 2 sets of component speakers. fuse was 100 amp ANL. The amp the fuseholder melted on is a 4 gauge. Um anything else?

[mrray13 30]

bad connection, or like tire mentioned, your fuse didn't blow when it was supposed to, and instead, melted down from the current draw. it happens all the time with lesser holders.

wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[voski35 0]

How would I check a bad connection just trace the wire for cuts? Or should i just replace the fuse holder and be done with it?

[Acidburn 10]

is it sitting on a hot part of the engine?

[voski35 0]

No theres another fuse holder right under it for my other amp and that one is fine so i don't think its from the engine heat.

[mrray13 30]

bad connection at the fuse holder or in the crimps for the ring terminals at the fuse holder.

wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[Tirefryr 1,742]

Could also be a corrosion issue. As copper corrodes it will inhibit a good connection and proper current flow basicaly creating a lot of heat.

[helotaxi 46]

The pointof the bad connection will be the point where it melted. That is where the heat will be concentrated. Your screw holding the wire or the screw holding the fuse might have worked themselves a little loose and caused what amounts to a high resistance connection. Higher resistance with higher current means higher voltage drop at that point. Higher voltage drop with higher current means higher power lost as heat.

[voski35 0]

Aright so is it safe to assume this is the culprit?

Thanks for all the help btw!

[Tirefryr 1,742]

There was definately a hot spot there. The exact culprit though, I cannot determinr from the photo.

[voski35 0]

Ok the other side of the fuse looks just like it did when I put it there so I will just trace the wire and if theres noting else that looks burned/melted then is it safe to assume thats it?

[Tirefryr 1,742]

Yes.

[filtor1 13]

I had the same thing happen to me. I think it was due to the screws that mount the fuse holder to the car came in contact with the wire or the fuse itself. I think the fuse didn't blow in your case because it caught a ground before the actual fuse had a chance to blow.

[PaulD 0]

in the 2nd set of pics, looks like the lock washer is not even completely compressed. Before you put another one in, touch each end of the cable to opposite sides of a fuse at the same (might have to have a friend help) to make sure there are no other problems. If the fuse doesn't blow, wire up the new one making sure to make all the connections tight and nothing is grounded out.

[voski35 0]

Well apparently what happened was the fuse got loose and was losing contact so what ended up happing was all the current went through a smaller surface area and that caused a lot of heat. I just replaced the fuse and the holder and everything is working fine now.

thanks for all the help!

[filtor1 13]

Well apparently what happened was the fuse got loose and was losing contact so what ended up happing was all the current went through a smaller surface area and that caused a lot of heat. I just replaced the fuse and the holder and everything is working fine now.

thanks for all the help!

Glad you were able to track down the issue.