Battery connection question

[DaveT]

Greetings all,

Jayco semi-newby: Had to put the battery on the TT today and realized I did not remember all the wiring particulars. Attached is pic. There are four wires:

• Black with red crimp (assumed to + terminal) ? as shown
• Blacjk with blue crimp (assumed to - terminal) ? as shown
• White with yellow crimp (assumed to + terminal) ?
• Black with clear crimp ( ??? )

Can someone please direct me here where each one goes? Many thanks

[tnchuck100]

The colors of the crimps are meaningless as far a any standard.

Your picture does look like it is wrong.

Standard convention is black = positive, white = negative.

In your case you must trace out where each wire goes.
1 should go to the frame. Probably the white one. Negative terminal.
1 should go to the break away switch +
1 should go to the converter. Should have an in-line fuse. +
1 should go to the electric tongue jack. If you don't have an electric tongue jack you will just have to trace the 4th wire out and see where it goes. +

Short version: The white wire should go to the negative battery terminal. The others should go to the positive terminal.

Be safe: Trace 'em out.

[Hohenwald48]

As tnchuck100 said, there is no standard and the crimp colors are meaningless. Only way to be sure is to track down where each wire goes. And if you get it wrong (or have already hooked them up wrong) you'll probably blow both 30A (40A) reverse polarity fuses in your converter and have a dead battery before long.

[01tundra]

Yeah ^ - I definitely wouldn't rely on crimp jacket color, or wire color for that matter. The crimp jacket color typically represents what gauge wire the terminal is made for, has nothing to do with polarity.

You should be able to trace the ground wire from the battery to the frame, that termination usually takes place relatively close to the battery if it's located up on the TT tongue.

There's likely a positive wire that goes to the trailer break-away brake box up near the coupler as well.

[Seann45]

IN RV's Black is positive and white is Negative.. For my own ease I put red tape on the positive wires. I would guess from your photo that all 3 black wires are positive and the white is the ground.. I would guess the 3 black wires are power to the RV, converter charging wire, and brake-away switch wire.

[Hohenwald48]

Originally Posted by Seann45

IN RV's Black is positive and white is Negative.. For my own ease I put red tape on the positive wires. I would guess from your photo that all 3 black wires are positive and the white is the ground.. I would guess the 3 black wires are power to the RV, converter charging wire, and brake-away switch wire.

If the white wire is indeed the frame ground, it looks a little undersized in the photo. You might want a bigger ground wire (if that's what it is).

[DaveT]

You can be they'll be marked when I'm done with this.

David

[shrpshtr]

DaveT,

Good news is it only takes once to have this kind of problem, regardless of how you address it.

shrp

[GraftonGuns]

to be sure. Take your electrical tester and attach the lead to the positive terminal of the battery. Then touch the free lead or tester to each separate wire. If the test light lights, you know that wire is a ground wire. Quick and simple for finding the ground wires.

[Mustang65]

Originally Posted by GraftonGuns

to be sure. Take your electrical tester and attach the lead to the positive terminal of the battery. Then touch the free lead or tester to each separate wire. If the test light lights, you know that wire is a ground wire. Quick and simple for finding the ground wires.

...Unless the wire being tested has a load (light bulb/LED...) on it that is connected to ground you will receive a voltage reading on the meter.
Don

[RedHorse1]

Use a VOM. Ground wire to frame (bare metal) should have very low resistance, all other wires should have much higher values. I would expect values in the 100's vs 1000's of ohms.

[mike837go]

Originally Posted by RedHorse1

Use a VOM. Ground wire to frame (bare metal) should have very low resistance, all other wires should have much higher values. I would expect values in the 100's vs 1000's of ohms.

Except for both leads that run to the tongue jack. They show infinite. Although hooking them up backwards just reverses the markings on the switch.

[DaveT]

all whites to hot and blacks to ground seemed to be the trick. didn't get to exhaustively check every system but the lights and hitch motor all worked fine.