Burned out WAGO connector behind the WFCO 2024 Boondock

pthomas745

Not my trailer, but this showed up on one of the FB pages today. Owner was having problems with battery charging, and intermittent loss of 12V power. He searched hard enough and found this scorched WAGO connector behind the WFCO. I'm trying to get more info…but what would cause a connector like this to fail in this way?

Yoshi_TAB

Hi, It's hard to really see from the resolution of photo but is the scorched wire larger diameter than the others? A larger diameter wire leads you to think a higher amp circuit.

The most obvious would be an overcurrent or overloaded current situation that exceed the wires capacity. Really need to know what is on that entire circuit.

-What items does that wire provide current to?

-What fuse protection is on that circuit?

-Improper or loose connections can heat up wires.

-A short circuit can also cause damage like that.

Horigan

That WAGO connector looks undersized for that large diameter wire…

MuttonChops

https://tab-rv.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/comment/222323#Comment_222323

That was my first thought on seeing (poor quality) picture plus a usage event above the connector rated amperage.

WAGO appears to have two 5-terminal blocks:

• 221-415 UL rated 20A, 12-24 AWG wire compatible
• 221-615 UL rated 30A, 10-20 AWG
• Note: IEC rates both about 10A higher then UL testing

The picture suggests the connector is on a higher current circuit, if part of the battery charger or an electric tongue jack circuit high currents will be common.

pthomas745

I managed to get a better photo of the WAGO and asked the owner to see if they can spot where this wire connects to the WFCO.

MuttonChops

pthomas745 said: managed to get a better photo of the WAGO

Helpful, it is the 30A WAGO Model