Volante 2018 Battery Question

[collinpr-XRD]

I removed my dual batteries from the trailer for the winter. Then I realized I did not take a good look as to which cables to connect Pos and Neg. One of those DUH moments on my part. Any body lead me thru this please?

 

[dagst1]

Hello and welcome!

Please include the Make,Model and year of your camper in your signature. It helps others better help you.

Is your camper a bumper pull or a 5th wheel?
What colors are the wires?
Can you trace one wire back to the frame?
Does one wire have a inline fuse in it?

 

[collinpr-XRD]

Good point. The unit is a 2018 Volante (pull) travel trailer model 30 EK. Came with dual batteries.

 

[mark5w]

Good point. The unit is a 2018 Volante (pull) travel trailer model 30 EK. Came with dual batteries.

This is how to add a signature to your posts:


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[collinpr-XRD]

Now it works.. Thanks !!

 

[Lloyd S]

If Cross Roads hasn't changed things recently-----black pos and white neg.

 

[collinpr-XRD]

I am going to take some photos and attach. I have a battery disconnect installed which will show in the pictures. I have a gaggle of wires, some with some red cable coming out of boxes on the right side. I am double kicking myself for not taking a photo of the set up when I removed the batteries in the fall....

 

[dagst1]

A picture will help. A quick question - do you have a power tongue jack and can you see where the wires for it go. Usually with it being close to the batteries you can trace down the red wire from the jack to the battery.

 

[collinpr-XRD]

Yes, I do have a power jack, never thought of that (I'm am an electrical dummy lol). Anyway, here is the set up. Part of my confusion stems from the mention of white being negative. I have always thought red pos and black negative... AS you can see the "extension cables are there to connect the batteries pos to pos and neg to neg.

 

[collinpr-XRD]

A picture will help. A quick question - do you have a power tongue jack and can you see where the wires for it go. Usually with it being close to the batteries you can trace down the red wire from the jack to the battery.

Had a look today, the cable from the power jack runs along the tow bar alongside the battery box to a (what I think) is a junction box of sorts...

 

[TexSon]

Mine has a label on the trailer frame that indicates the wire placement and I see a couple red and white labels there. Mine is 2010 Zinger with white ground and black positive, while black is normally ground. Red is usually hot, but I wouldn't want top speculate. Putting power to something you know for sure that which are positive and negative might help. Look where the refrigerator compartment is and see if the wires are labeled. That might help. Or, if it is not hard to get too, check the inverter and see how it is wired.

 

[Wingerdinger]

It is hard to tell from the photos what goes where. It is important to know if you have two 12 volt batteries, or two 6 volt. Because you said that they were wired positive to positive and negative to negative, that would make them 12 volts, but please confirm that before connecting the wires.
The best way to confirm what is negative is to trace it to a frame ground.
The wires go into that black plastic cover, you can crawl under that area and look to see where the frame ground is. That will be your negative. Don't mistake a relay connection for a frame ground.
You should also be able to carefully isolate the battery cables from shorting to anything, and plug in shore power. The convertor (not invertor) will supply 12+ volts to those cables. You can then meter the wires to find positive.

 

[collinpr-XRD]

It is hard to tell from the photos what goes where. It is important to know if you have two 12 volt batteries, or two 6 volt. Because you said that they were wired positive to positive and negative to negative, that would make them 12 volts, but please confirm that before connecting the wires.
The best way to confirm what is negative is to trace it to a frame ground.
The wires go into that black plastic cover, you can crawl under that area and look to see where the frame ground is. That will be your negative. Don't mistake a relay connection for a frame ground.
You should also be able to carefully isolate the battery cables from shorting to anything, and plug in shore power. The convertor (not invertor) will supply 12+ volts to those cables. You can then meter the wires to find positive.

Correct, there are two 12 volt batteries.

 

[Tonyg2724]

If you have an ohm meter, Do a continuity test. There should be continuity between the frame and one of those wires. It looks like your black will be negative. I’d start there. Put one of the meter leads on the black then touch the other to the frame.

 

[Camprgram]

my thoughts

I got confused the same way. My son, the electrician, set me straight. AC (house, plug ins, etc) are Black=+ positive, white= neutral -, green is ground.
Now, in Batteries (any volt) Black =-neutral, red = neutral -, goes for cars, rv's etc. I am assuming you will need to connect positive terminals to the red wire and the negative terminals to the black wire. I am just an old lady who has had a camper(not the same one) for over 20 years. I've done all the maintenance and upgrade all by myself.

 

[dagst1]

Are you near a 110 volt plug then plug the camper in if not back your truck up and plug the cord to the truck. Get a 12 volt test light and connect the ground lead to a good ground on the camper frame then check with the other end what wire will light the light. Should be the white one-SHOULD BE- but you never know what someone else has done before you got it.That is assuming the 12 volt to the truck plug is working. I am thinking the GRAY from the disconnect is the - and the white is the +.

As said if you have a VOM you can check for continuity between the GRAY and ground. Just make sure the disconnect is turned ON.

 

[collinpr-XRD]

A big THANK-YOU to everyone for reading and offering advice.


Now......Today, I went to the trailer, removed ALL the snow covering the tow bar etc. and low and behold I find a little white decal stating "Red cable is positive and Black cable is negative". LOL !!!!


So the mystery is solved. Onto the next conundrum, which I'm sure I can find...

 

[Lloyd S]

A big THANK-YOU to everyone for reading and offering advice.


Now......Today, I went to the trailer, removed ALL the snow covering the tow bar etc. and low and behold I find a little white decal stating "Red cable is positive and Black cable is negative". LOL !!!!


So the mystery is solved. Onto the next conundrum, which I'm sure I can find...

Good deal!! Glad you got that one figured out and taken care of.

 

[dagst1]

Good you got it!

Just wandering what the white wire is.

 

[Tonyg2724]

Thanks for posting the results. Let us know if we can help with the next conundrum