10 gauge wire getting way hot

[Al Skierkiewicz]

OK,
Interesting discussion so far. Both are/can be right. I think what is the right one here is the loose connections of the wire in the block. It was one of my first concerns when I saw the hardware. The block is made for wires up to #4 guage. When you insert a #10 and tighten the screws, the strands spread out and move up the sides of the block. I raised serious concerns with First early on in the season about this. A fix is to strip the #10 about 3/4-1" and fold over the wire once or twice. (equivalent to three wires) When you insert this bundle into the block, very few of the strands will move up the sides.
Now as to what to do now. Replace the damaged wires and parts. Once they have gone through heat stress, high resistance connections will continue to be a problem. We call it dominoe effect, a heated connection is high resistance, which causes heat, which causes a high resistance...etc. Pictures would be great if you can manage it.