Allternator wire burnt in to

I was working on my explorer and noticed the wire going to my alternator was burnt and when touched it, it broke. I have a 200amp alt with 0 gauge wire running to the battery. Not hitting against anything that I was aware of, anyone have a idea of what it could have been?

 

[Turdle]

The 0 guage wire burned? Oh geez!!

 

[FIND]

Wow... you should be able to handle 2400 watts on 0 gauge no problem... Heck, that wire could be 14 feet long and handle that kind of wattage without overheating. Is it sitting on an open flame or something? There shouldn't be anything in your truck that can generate enough of a current to overheat that wire... That short length of it should easily handle a little more than 3300 watts at 12 volts (275 amps).

The only thing I could even think to suggest is that you have breaks or corrosion in your wire that are causing spots of high resistance, or that your wire is somehow defective or made of a far more resistive material than copper. Are you using cheap wire that uses aluminum strand? Even still, I would be surprised at that happening, but it is an outside possibility.

 

[waskly]

if it burnt at the connector on the alt, where it screws down, the cable or screw or the crimp was lose.

 

[dmathews]

It was all tight that I know of. It must have been that thought, I can't explain it any other way.