I must have a short to the chassis from a chafing rub through a frame or back seat blockoff and will hunt it down.The short melted a 0g copper lug to the - battery post and put a hole in the battery case from the heat too close.I could use a better battery connector to the post but part of the problem was this was not tight on the post and was no help to the ground.

Always worried about this, how did you know it happened? Car wouldn't start and traced it down.?
With most new cars having the battery in trunk, what's that safety mechanism.
What happens if they cables hold up, battery explodes?

I just drove the car and when I parked it all power went out and I tested for + at the switch panel and a ground with a test light so I made a new ground for the switches and it smoked the 02 power wire like a wick on a firecracker so I undo the ground and go to the battery and find the chassis ground cable barely hanging on the the connector at the post.This could have been really bad and the weak link was the connector.I do have a 200 amp breaker to the switch panel .I believe the broblem is in the starter wire or the switch breaker would have went. I have a volt meter and there was no drop in voltage I could see.

thought that the connector going first was the whole point?
I had one that melted it off the battery first before anything else burned off.
I have also had a short vaporize an inch of 10 gauge. plus a couple inches of insulation on each side.

Only time I've been able to accomplish that was when a battery + cable grounded.
It was a wheelstand that hit the charging post bracket under the rear bumper.
Somehow it didn't kill the batteries or charging system, but it melted the charging cables.

Lets say the connector burns so then the cable is flopping around looking for more trouble what can you do but have a bracket holding the cable or a tether.

how was that battery cable end attached to the cable ?
solder ?
i know it got hot there, but for some reason, the joint doesn't look it was soldered very good. i know my eyeballs aren't the best, but even if it got hot enough to melt the solder, the wire of the cable should at least show some silver in the middle strands.
a while back, i bought a hydraulic cable crimper. i now crimp the cable connection after the cable has been tinned with solder, and the connector has flux in it.
i drill a small 1/8" [or so] hole in the bottom of the connector, then use that hole to allow the solder to wick into the joint, watching the top of the connector, so as to not allow the solder to wick into the cable past the connector end.
i then use marine grade heat shrink with the glue in the "heavy duty" size [which is twice as thick as the regular stuff] to cover the cable/connector area.

please let us know what you find out in that length of cable, as to the place it shorted out.

It could be a short but it could also simply had been a bad connection on that terminal. This will cause an excessive draw and cause it to get hot.
Like the above poster, I also use a hydraulic crimper. This is just as good as a molded terminal. I spend the extra money and get the nice brass terminals.

Found the problem!The starter wire hung down on the muffler that is tight to the rocker panel where I ran the wire next to the brake line so after putting in new wire I will cover,secure things better.

Stuff like that happens.
When I built my 48 Plymouth coupe I ran all the battery cables and wires where I thought they would be out of trouble. Then I added inner fender wells to keep the junk out of the engine compartment.
What I didn't know was when the tires were turned to the extreme right, the tire rubbed against the inner fender, and squeezed the + battery cable between the battery box brace and the inner fender. It took over 5 years before it finally broke through the battery cable insulation and shorted out the positive battery cable. The little fire was out as soon as the cable was disconnected, but I got to replace the battery cable, and about 6" of 3 other wires. You can bet the wires were run differently, and secured better.

thanks for the Update

Mike you really need to get a better quality battery terminal on there.

. You might want to replace that cable because where it has tuned black will not conduct very well.

Gus

I had some better[brass] terminals on my winch battery I swapped but I will get some more and you are very correct on the cable being black and I will make a new 1 with fresh wire.How big should I go on the mini starter cable with 2xyellow top 750 amp batteries?[12' long maybe]

That could have been a real problem if you didn't have any tools when it happened.Thanks for sharing!

A similar thing happened to me a long time ago. Starter came loose during a race. Went to crank it later and POOF!

The only thing that saved me from severe damage was the negative battery cable to the chassis at the rear of the car was 2 sizes smaller than the positive. The negative cable popped like a fuse. Positive cable was fine. If they were the same size i could have easily lit up the positive cable running all the way to the front of the car.

I always tell people to make the negative wire smaller and you would think I told them to drop in a Ford 289 instead of a HEMI. If both are the same size the then the load during a short can cause both wires to melt and be devastating.

I bolted the starter back into place and replaced the negative cable. Back in business in less than 5 minutes.

Glad you didn't have anything worse happen.

Glad thing worked out.I have a +0 cable for the starter I got last fall to upgrade and I had a 4g ground on the battery not a 0g like I thought so I will go with the 4g again,ty

I now put a 120 amp fuse at the alternator and one at the battery. Forget size but I think it’s a 300 amp or so. Protects against these types of conditions.

Just not on the starter cable? I need all the amps I can get for the starter.

I have a 250 275 or 300 on the main battery cable I just can’t remember right not. I will post pics tomorrow.

With a fuse on the alt I’m protected from both ends no matter what happens.

So I did use a 300 amp on the main cable.