Had to rewire a whole panel after a battery fire in Phoenix last August

I was swapping batteries on a 737 during a hot ramp shift when a terminal shorted and started smoking. We lost the whole electrical bay panel before we could pull the battery disconnect. Any tips on cleaning up melted insulation without replacing every wire in the harness?

2 comments

2 Comments

gavin81614h ago

A buddy of mine had the same thing happen on a Dash 8.

walker.robert11h ago

Yeah you're gonna want to be real careful with that. The melted insulation usually comes off in big chunks if you hit it with a heat gun on low, but the real problem is the wire itself might be heat damaged underneath. I'd do a continuity check on every single wire that was near the short before you even think about cleaning them up. If you find one that's crunchy or discolored past the insulation, just cut it out and splice in a new section instead of trying to patch it.