Well stated David.
I had to look-up *recursively* (darn, I learned a new word today).

On 2011-11-03, at 6:10 PM, David Beierl wrote:

> At 08:57 PM 11/3/2011, Phil Zimmerman wrote:
> 
>> Conventional and simple resistive DC circuits theory says so� E=IR
>> I have no argument here David.
>> 
>> However, Ohm's law does not, with any satisfaction, explain the burnt contacts Alistair et al, have experienced.
>> Some sort of magic must have occurred that sent those D15 contacts directly to ground!
> 
> No magic.  Same thing that happens to all the high-current connections on the van.  They age, oxidise (it's Alistair's van...) and the resistance goes up, which starts to develop a little heat there.  That increases the oxidation rate recursively, so you have a long runup with a fairly abrupt failure at the end.  Contacts with marginal capacity to begin with will succumb faster.
> 
> Yours,
> David