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Old 07-09-2017, 03:49 PM   #1
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Battery connection

Howdy - well maybe a two part question -

I have been gone and now finally back and ready to hook up the trailer - but I can't remember which wire goes to which terminal.

Looking at the attached pic - any thoughts?

And if I do hookup them up backwards - is there a fuse that is specifically for the battery ?

Thanks.

I have a 2012 Jayco X213.
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Old 07-10-2017, 05:50 AM   #2
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On our 2015 Jayflight, the white wire goes to negative post. Others go to positive post.

If you do the other way, at least the fuse in your radio will blow.
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Old 07-10-2017, 05:56 AM   #3
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Originally Posted by Larryo View Post
Howdy - well maybe a two part question -

I have been gone and now finally back and ready to hook up the trailer - but I can't remember which wire goes to which terminal.

Looking at the attached pic - any thoughts?

And if I do hookup them up backwards - is there a fuse that is specifically for the battery ?

Thanks.

I have a 2012 Jayco X213.
Yes there is a fuse but a fuse won't blow if hooked up backwards. A fuse isn't smart, it is just a thin wire that will melt if too much load passes across it. IF you don't know (I had the same issue with my old camper), you can plug in the camper to shore power and the converter will try and charge the battery. Take a voltmeter and test the output. If backwards the analog style should bury the needle and if right show about 14V. If you are at a storage location or somewhere without power, hook the camper up to your tow vehicle. You should then have power from the tow vehicle trying to charge the battery and if the same readings. Well if the tow vehicle is off it will be closer to 12V and if running about 14V.

Once you sort it out, then unplug it and hook up your battery.
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Old 07-10-2017, 06:43 AM   #4
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It appears that someone removed the inline fuse and replaced it with a wire nut. I would suggest locating an inline 30 amp fuse holder and fuse and placing it inline with the two black wires to connect to the positive terminal of your battery. This will protect your rig in the future and also tell you which wire hooks to the positive terminal on you battery.

Some batteries have different sized screw posts so that you can't put the wrong ring terminal on the post, assuming you have different sized ring terminals on your wiring.
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Old 07-10-2017, 09:54 AM   #5
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Originally Posted by Larryo View Post
Howdy - well maybe a two part question -

I have been gone and now finally back and ready to hook up the trailer - but I can't remember which wire goes to which terminal.

Looking at the attached pic - any thoughts?

And if I do hookup them up backwards - is there a fuse that is specifically for the battery ?

Thanks.

I have a 2012 Jayco X213.
White should go to the negative if like most Jayco units. There is usually a 30 amp fuse on the positive line that if hooked up backwards will blow. Once you get it right take some red electrical tape and wrap near the end of the terminal so in the future you can recognize the "red" hot positive end. I also wrapped blue on the negative end. Those two colors just made sense to me for hot and cold leads.
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Old 07-10-2017, 10:26 AM   #6
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BRILLIANT!

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Originally Posted by sennister View Post
snip...
you can plug in the camper to shore power and the converter will try and charge the battery. Take a voltmeter and test the output. If backwards the analog style should bury the needle and if right show about 14V. If you are at a storage location or somewhere without power, hook the camper up to your tow vehicle. You should then have power from the tow vehicle trying to charge the battery and if the same readings. Well if the tow vehicle is off it will be closer to 12V and if running about 14V.

Once you sort it out, then unplug it and hook up your battery.
That right there could save many folks many hours of grief! Maybe even rescue vacation plans.

If only newbies would read this tip BEFORE they hooked up a battery backwards!
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Old 07-10-2017, 07:08 PM   #7
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Worked!

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Originally Posted by sennister View Post
Yes there is a fuse but a fuse won't blow if hooked up backwards. A fuse isn't smart, it is just a thin wire that will melt if too much load passes across it. IF you don't know (I had the same issue with my old camper), you can plug in the camper to shore power and the converter will try and charge the battery. Take a voltmeter and test the output. If backwards the analog style should bury the needle and if right show about 14V. If you are at a storage location or somewhere without power, hook the camper up to your tow vehicle. You should then have power from the tow vehicle trying to charge the battery and if the same readings. Well if the tow vehicle is off it will be closer to 12V and if running about 14V.

Once you sort it out, then unplug it and hook up your battery.
Method worked great - all systems are a GO!

Thanks
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Old 07-11-2017, 05:52 AM   #8
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Method worked great - all systems are a GO!

Thanks
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.
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Old 07-11-2017, 05:59 AM   #9
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take a picture with your phone before removing battery next time. Then you can look at picture and see how it was hooked up
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Old 07-11-2017, 06:15 AM   #10
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take a picture with your phone before removing battery next time. Then you can look at picture and see how it was hooked up
x2 Especially if you might be running two batteries together!
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