Hooking up new battery, I'm paranoid.

[brentbarrie]

I'm replacing the battery on my trailer that I had stolen. I've never hooked up a battery but I know positive first and then negative, is what I'm hearing. Is that correct?

My worries are about the battery sparking when I hook it up, especially since it's just a couple feet from the propane tanks. Do I have to worry about an explosion if I do get a spark from the battery?

Electrical stuff always scares me, so it makes me really paranoid.

Thanks for any input.

[us71na]

If you can't smell propane, there is no danger of explosion. If you are smelling propane, you have a leak and you should get it fixed.

[Screwby]

Positive then negative, and your probably going to get a small spark like you’d see if you’d ever been shocked by static electricity. The small things on your trailer drawing power will do that when you hook up the battery. Don’t worry about it, you’ll be fine.

[norty1]

Hopefully when you removed the battery, you marked the pos and neg wires so that they can be re-installed in the same spot.

RV wiring colors are not always standard colors and there may be more than one color wire on a terminal..

[MichaelO]

So was it the trailer or battery that you had stolen?

[brentbarrie]

Originally Posted by MichaelO

So was it the trailer or battery that you had stolen?

The battery. Thankfully, they cut the wires up near the terminals (they must have left the terminals on the battery) so all I had to do was buy new terminals and not new wiring as well.

[Jagiven]

It is fairly easy, as others have said. I like to pull the inline fuse at the battery (there should be a 30 amp fuse there. If they cut it out, install a new one. I always pull the fuse when (dis)connecting the battery, that eliminates sparks. It also helps reduce the risk of blowing the internal fuse for reverse polarity (at least until you put the fuse in).

I also like to place a piece of yellow electrical tape on each wire lead, and mark a "+" or "-" on the wire, so I can quickly identify which wire is what. Also I use wingnuts on my battery terminal, just to make (dis)connecting quick and easy. I pull my battery each fall and whenever it is stored away from home.

Good Luck

[brentbarrie]

Got it all hooked up. Piece of cake. Thanks for your responses!