Quote:
Originally Posted by Larryo
Method worked great - all systems are a GO!
Thanks
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Glad it worked out for you. I keep a tool bag in my camper with some basic stuff and one of them is one of those cheap less than $10 Harbor Freight Multimeters. They are great for stuff like this. You don't need an accurate reading just is it a positive reading or a negative one as you are only looking for polarity. If I am diagnosing anything where I need accuracy (which is pretty rare in the camper) then I go to my shop and grab my expensive Fluke.
The one thing I thought of after my post is that if you hook up to the TV as your power source, if the ignition isn't at least on in the TV or it is running you might not see 12V depending on how it is wired. I think many of them have the 12V feed on a switched circuit. If not lets say you parked overnight and the break away switch on the trailer tripped for some reason. You would come out the next day to a dead battery in the TV and the camper.
We can all guess and assume what color is what but the meter will tell you the truth every time and eliminates the possible risk if something was wired different or was changed from the norm somewhere down the line.
Edit: Still not sure how a regular old inline fuse would blow if hooked up backwards unless the current (Amps) exceeded what the fuse is rated for. There is no intelligence to them to detect direction of flow or polarity. They either get hot enough to blow or not. A fuse isn't there to protect appliances, lights or other things on a circuit. Their sole responsibility is to protect the wires. Which in turn can protect those other things. This is why when sizing a fuse or a breaker you normally calculate the rating used based on the gauge of the wire and distance of the run. Not what is hooked up to it. So unless the rating is exceeded and the fuse heats up enough to trip it will not blow. I am not going to test my theory though.