Melting wires on kitchen lights

[jon hoon]

hi there
Looking for advice. I have string lights in my kitchen and twice now, where the wires connect to the transformer they melt! I have the transformer connected to the mains which comes from the wall switch. Any idea why the wires are melting?

 

[Deleted member 105166]

can you upload photos, Jon?

 

[ackbarthestar]

Poor connections spring to mind. If these lights are halogens then you might be overloading the transformer which would endanger the output cables, connections, transformer's internal fuse, if it has one.

 

[Pete999]

Heat build up, are these wires in contact with the transformers? is there any insulation involved in the building fabric?

 

[Wilko]

Pics please of what has melted and where they operate

 

[Lucien Nunes]

If these are the type where the lights are suspended from insulated cables, to which they connect using a pointed screw that pierces the insulation, the problem may simply be that the same method is being used at the transformer. I have seen kits of these where the transformer has pointed screws too implying that the cable need not be stripped, but the connection was not adequate for the total current of all the lamps resulting in overheating. IIRC stripping the cable and folding it back on itself was advised in the instructions.

If this is not the problem, the overheating resulting from bad initial terminations might have left the terminals too corroded to make a good connection at all, or high-resistance on the inside, resulting in repeated overheating.