Thanks James.

For sure re: clamp. I didn't think it was involved in electrical
continuity. I just wanted to clarify that the boot had failed. And
yes. The white neutral wire had poked out of the broken boot.

All 3 wires came out pretty easily. I find this a little
disconcerting. Like what else did the PO do? Oh I know. They installed
a really cheap cigarette lighter socket! The light bulb socket on it
recently failed.     ;)

On 2/2/15, James <jk_eaton@hotmail.com> wrote:

> The clamp holding the boot is not the problem - that clamp is not meant to
> have anything to do with electrical continuity, only to keep the wires lined
> up with the screw terminals, and to reduce, a little, the tendency for the
> wires to shift when people mistakenly unplug by pulling on the wire, not the
> plug.
>
> Your failure is an electrical classic - that right hand terminal was not
> properly tightened, and the wire that was on it (the white one that poked
> out of the boot?) came loose.  But before it came completely loose, it was
> touching the right hand terminal well enough to conduct some electricity -
> but poorly enough that there was a measurable resistance across the wire to
> terminal junction - probably about 0.5 to 1 ohm.  Not much, and if you only
> ran a lamp, you'd not notice the plug heating up, but the power lost across
> that connection rises with the square of the amperage flowing through it, so
> if you go from 0.5 amp to 5 amps in a 0.5 ohm connection, you go from 0.125
> watts of power to 12.5 watts - the first you'd probably not notice, the
> second follows the metal blade of the plug and melts the next connector
> along!
>
> Your advice, though, is right - check your connectors, plugs and outlets.
> And if there are any screw terminals among them, re-tighten them.  If they
> seem corroded, open them up, scrape clean, re-connect and re-tighten.
>
> And if a plug ever seems even remotely warm to the touch, inspect it pronto!
>  Replace it if even slightly in doubt.
>
> James (Instructor in Electro-Mechanical Engineering)
> Ottawa, ON
>
>> Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2015 14:59:06 -0800
>> From: musomuso@GMAIL.COM
>> Subject: Re: Canadian Westfalia Shore Power Cord Warning
>> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM

>> Looking at my pics again, it appears the clamp was holding but the
>> boot itself tore apart
>> allowing the wire to get pulled out.
>> Regardless, heat and time took their toll.

--
Neil n

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