I had a short circuit that lead to some burning under the dash. After removing the dash its evident the source was the alarm install.

The burning/short started on the black/yellow wire that goes to the ignition. I believe this wire then splits into two black/yellow wires (I think that part is factory).

Anyways, I can fix this and at the same time I will relocate/rewire the alarm ... but want to know why this really started. If anyone would want to check out the pics and see if they see anything abnormal there I would appreciate it. I rather email the pics than post them here even though I will relocate things.

Please PM me your email address if you want to check it out.

Also, I was looking at this with my dad and he suggested a fuse be put in inline with that black/yellow wire in case it was because of too much amp draw ... do people put fuses inline with that wire or there is no need?

Thanks, J

 

How were the connections made?

I had an older Alpine 790XV in one of my cars that used a small (18-20ga at most) wire that came off the IGN wire, haven't had issues with it yet. Replaced that yesterday with a viper 5901, but left a little bit of that small wire in there now (the new vipers use 14ga or so). Did the wiring get exposed and cause a short/spark that started it or just overheat?

 

Dave,

The install seems shady to me. Most of the connections are using butt connectors, one or two of the wire connections are just taped together with electrical tape.

The Clifford wires that tap into that ignition wire seem to be going to the brain, they are deffinitely not as thick of a gauge as the stock wire. That was a concern.

I wish I knew how the burning started, at first I thought it was the amp draw too much causing the butt connector to melt and heat things up. But after removing some of the shielding from the factory harness, I see that they used a razor to open the shielding and another of the wires is exposed there and not protected.

I just want to make sure that I solve the problem here and not "patch" it up ...

See this pic:







J

 

Using butt connectors isn't the worse thing, I've used them (just did this weekend in fact on the alarm I just installed, although I do plan to reinstall it, this was more of a "something is better than nothing" deal). I've never seen a butt connector melt like that on a normal Ignition wire. Did it start on the starter or IGN wire? Kinda hard to tell from the pic, although the IGN does look more melted.

Definately fix those twist-and-tape connections though. Although even then, Senuous Sounds installed the alarm I have in my 2000 GS-R back in 2000 and used the twist and tape crap and it still works, but I'm not a fan (I have been planning on reinstalling that for awhile, but there are more important things to do )

Anyways, I'd be surprised if the cause was the butt connector itself, unless there was some arcing in the connector (maybe loose?).

Vipers install manuals for those wires only "strongly discourage" the use of t-taps and scotchlocks. Soldering or Crimping are the two suggested methods. Did those have tape, or heatshrink over them or just the split loom? Any possibility that they got wet?

 

I am not sure which wire it started on, but both butt connectors are attached to the same ignition wire ... one on the part coming from the ignition key, and the other from the other side.

I will be using butt connectors as well. But I will be using the type that are heat shrinkable and have glue inside. You can hang 50 lbs and they will not come apart + they are sealed. On top of that I will use heatshrink to cover the connections.

The installed butt connector did not have tape or anything covering it. The factory insulation was pulled to the side as seen in the picture.

Now that you mention the water. On that particular day, I was on the way to work and we were getting very very heavy rain ... streets were soaked. But I cant see how water can get in there?

My guess for now is that this is how it went:
- Installer cut apart insulation damaging some wires and leaving the exposed
- somehow some water found its way under there and the whole thing started arching.

These are the butt connectors I will use (appropriate size of course)



Molex Perma Seal

J

 

Those perma seals look nice, I should pick some up for when I rewire mine again.

Does the alarm have Blackjax (or some similar anti-car jacking system) built in or added on? Most DEI alarms interrupt the starter wire, not ignition as far as I know. Anti-Car jacking will interrupt the IGN as well. Unless they did something weird for the IGN in/out wire instead of just joining it with one end in the butt connector.

I'm sure you already have, but if not, inspect the other connections, you may be able to find one started to cause a problem which might give you an idea on what happened to that wire...