Battery Cable help (see pictures)

djhunnypork · 03-17-2021, 01:50 AM

I am new to RVs. I took my house batteries out over the winter, checked the fluid, kept them charged once a month. But I didn't take a picture of the cables.

I thought if I stuck to red and black and the post size, I couldn't get it wrong but now I am having a problem.

When all my cables were hooked up, I started the engine to move the RV and after about 30 seconds there was clicking and I shut off the RV.

I did some troubleshooting one cable at a time and I have it narrowed down to the one cable that causes the problem. Two pictures attached. But now I am unsure of myself and I don't want to stick it on black just because that is the other choice. It got dark and I won't be able to trace the cables under the RV until this weekend. Any help on what I am doing wrong or should be looking for?

HarryS · 03-17-2021, 02:06 AM

When you touch the suspect cable to the positive lead, is there a big spark?
If not, then it's probably connected correctly. When you say clicking, where is it coming from? How quickly does it click? Do the items that run off 12VDC work inside the coach?

Lt Keefer · 03-17-2021, 03:02 AM

So you have two 12 volt batteries. My Hurricane also has two 12s and the 'load is split between the two. Half the positives go to one battery and the others go to the other battery. Since you don't have pictures or a schematic, I would suggest you follow each cable from terminal to destination. Look for the grounds and mark them. They should be easiest to find. Then take what is left and one at a time connect them to the closest positive terminal. After each positive connection, check and see what is working. Mark each positive terminal. When all done and everything is working, take pictures.

Down South · 03-17-2021, 03:16 AM

Looks like aa positive cable. Trace it down to see where t goes.

Dennisemory · 03-17-2021, 05:20 AM

I was talking to a technician at thormotorcoach.com and they sent me a battery wiring diagram of my coach. Great site and after you register, all the manuals of your coach are available.

djhunnypork · 03-17-2021, 11:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryS

When you touch the suspect cable to the positive lead, is there a big spark?
If not, then it's probably connected correctly. When you say clicking, where is it coming from? How quickly does it click? Do the items that run off 12VDC work inside the coach?

Thanks. I didn't notice a spark but I also had all the breakers including the inverter shutoff so I will test that and other things mentioned in this post with breakers on. The clicking is coming from the front from the engine (alternator maybe?). Looks like I will be spending my Saturday tracing wires and testing power.

djhunnypork · 03-17-2021, 11:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dennisemory

I was talking to a technician at thormotorcoach.com and they sent me a battery wiring diagram of my coach. Great site and after you register, all the manuals of your coach are available.

I registered earlier on their site but could only find the generic manual. I will try to contact a technician and see if I can get more detailed schematics sent to me.

TurnerFam · 03-17-2021, 11:47 AM

looks like it goes on the far right POSITIVE since the far left NEGATIVE is already taken by another main outgoing cable - these two 12v batteries are in PARALLEL, meaning that you are doubling the 12v output 'hours'.

DDK · 03-17-2021, 03:58 PM

I'm glad to see that the wiring in my coach is just as confusing as yours. I'm annoyed that the negative wires are covered in red heat shrink tubing.

If you peel back the split flex tubing, you can see the color of the wire. It's most likely black. You are missing the second negative wire on the battery on the right. That is where the wire should go. That is if everything else is hooked up properly.

HarryS · 03-17-2021, 05:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DDK

I'm glad to see that the wiring in my coach is just as confusing as yours. I'm annoyed that the negative wires are covered in red heat shrink tubing.

If you peel back the split flex tubing, you can see the color of the wire. It's most likely black. You are missing the second negative wire on the battery on the right. That is where the wire should go. That is if everything else is hooked up properly.

Why would you assume there should be a second ground wire to the batteries? There is already one on the far left negative post. The OP needs to ohm out the suspect wire and see's if it goes to ground or not first.

DDK · 03-17-2021, 05:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryS

Why would you assume there should be a second ground wire to the batteries? There is already one on the far left negative post. The OP needs to ohm out the suspect wire and see's if it goes to ground or not first.

My setup, which might be different, has a negative from the inverter and a negative from the converter to the batteries. This why I assume the spare wire goes to the negative.

You are correct though. Instead of guessing, get a multimeter and test.

lrplumb · 03-24-2021, 06:37 PM

I can't tell you where that wire should go but I want to throw a couple fo safety caveats out there. Hooking that wire up wrong could be both dangerous and very expensive .... get a Volt Ohm Meter if you don't ahve one for $10 and first check to see if there is any voltage present on that line - like 12.7 volts if it is hooked up to the positive side of your batteries. If no voltage is present when switching your assorted breakers on and off hook up the ohm meter and turn the breakers on and off- for example if that is the positive lead to your inverter with the breaker off it should show infinity ( very high resistance ), with breaker on should be quite low resistance. This would suggest it is a positive lead and should go to the positive on your battery.
You could also use your ohm meter to see if that wire is grounded ( would show very low resistance ). Tracing the wire if you can is your surest bet but that mightbe very difficult.
As an aside you have a fair amount of visible corrosion on all of your leads and you may want to wire brush the terminals and the batteries to make a good connection. I would consider after doing that using some type of battery terminal corrosion inhibitor. Good luck and let us know what you find...of course if another owner of a similar model sends you a pic you are golden.....

cofred · 03-24-2021, 10:27 PM

Does this help? 2016 Axis. Sorry you can’t see the far right positive post well. I took these before I change my batteries so I knew how to route the cables.

Beau388 · 03-24-2021, 11:10 PM

Every positive wire leaving the battery compartment will go a circuit breaker or to a relay. There is usually only ONE negative (ground) cable what will go directly to the chassis rails. Just to confuse you, some Thor Industries factories use two negative cables: one goes to the chassis ground and the other goes to the inverter. 12 volt batteries are wired in parallel (neg to neg and pos to pos). It does not matter which positive battery post is used for the positive cables or which negative post is used for the ground cable. 6 volt batteries are wired into series pairs and the pairs are wired just like the 12 volt batteries in parallel. If you have more than four 6 volt batteries you need to search the forum for battery connection advice.

Waltbob · 03-24-2021, 11:39 PM

As Down South replied it is a positive ground cable.
Attacges from the coach frame to positive battery post.

petef · 03-25-2021, 03:18 AM

I think this can be tested with a voltmeter, but use the continuity function.

Chateau29Z · 03-25-2021, 10:52 PM

My 2013 château 28Z has a battery compartment that looks identical yours. The big difference is that it has 6 V deep cycle golf cart batteries wired in series. I am just in the process of replacing the batteries which were put in service June 2014. From all the information I can gather from the manual this was the original installation. My experience has shown that wiring 12 V batteries in parallel is a bad situation because as soon as one cell in the parallel loop gets bad it will discharge the whole system. One of my golf cart batteries was only putting out 2.3 V the other one was still over 6.4 but since they are seven years old nearly I didn’t figure that the good one was going to last that much longer. These batteries are a real challenge to get out and in because they are so heavy and the compartment doesn’t have a whole lot of extra room and you have to tip the battery a little bit to clear the outside lip. Besides that, the battery is quite heavy. I wish I could show a picture but I have already removed the wires.

**16ACE27** · 03-25-2021, 11:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Waltbob

As Down South replied it is a positive ground cable.
Attacges from the coach frame to positive battery post.

NO, NO, NO!!

No such thing as a "positive ground cable" on any vehicle made in the last half century.

Popfla · 03-25-2021, 11:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 16ACE27

NO, NO, NO!!

No such thing as a "positive ground cable" on any vehicle made in the last half century.

You beat me to it. My eyes bulged out when I read that. I sure hope the OP doesn't try that!

petef · 03-26-2021, 12:32 AM

I have had one of my 12v die, it starts to suck the power out of the other one. I check voltage every morning, if a see a couple days of very low voltage I will check further. Easy to disconnect one, boondocking still have power.. if a cell goes bad in 6v then you only have 6 v left you can use ( dual battery both situations ) ??

[QUOTE=Chateau29Z;283498]My 2013 château 28Z ...clip.. My experience has shown that wiring 12 V batteries in parallel is a bad situation because as soon as one cell in the parallel loop gets bad it will discharge the whole system. One of my golf cart batteries was only putting out 2.3 V the other one was still over 6.4 but since they are seven years old nearly I didn’t figure that the good one was going to last that much longer.

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