Battery help please.

[Scamper Jim]

Mary Ann,

Very sorry to hear about your accident. Thank goodness you weren't hurt more seriously. Take good care of yourself and I’m sure you will also receive good care from your family. In the mean time, you have photos of previous camping trips to provide fond memories until you are able to enjoy camping again. Just let me know if I can be of any help in getting you and your camper back in the woods.

Best wishes,
Jim

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by Bob Miller

If you look at your car you will find the (+) will often be marked red. (Old School (+) is HOT) Common practice in RV wiring is that (+) is black. This is why I never believe color codes when hooking up a battery.

The confusion may be for some due to Escapes being a wired a little different from the old school trailers such as Scamps. Discovered that this last summer while helping a friend with a battery issue.

On the Scamps the Black is the Positive and White the Negative. Scamp sells for $1 a waterproof decal which states that. I purchased one and stuck it on my battery box as I have had more than one person on occasion attempt to connect mine up backwards.

[jennykatz]

We have the Lil Snoozy they put battery under couch with vents This is a lead acid battery . I would like to change out battery to an AGM 31 Do I need to vent this one or are they ventless?
Another question I wonder if I should put battery outside on tongue
Would a 100 watt Solar collector be good for this 105 Amp Hour battery ?
The battery that was supplied was a marine /RV series 24 65 amp hours
What other batteries could one use ? thanks JIm

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by jennykatz

We have the Lil Snoozy they put battery under couch with vents This is a lead acid battery . I would like to change out battery to an AGM 31 Do I need to vent this one or are they ventless?

Lots of people will suggest to you that they do not need to be vented but I would highly recommend reading the actual manufactures instructions in that regard as I know that at least one very popular AGM battery manufacture states on their instructions that they need to be vented.

[Scamper Jim]

Since Scamp now has a sticker indicating black (+) and white (-), it indicates to me that they have probably wired the fuse holder closer to the camper shell, and resumed with a short piece of black wire to the battery positive terminal so there will now be a uniform color code. It's for us earlier Scamp owners who have to be careful how we hook up wires.

The wiring codes for the plugs I gave in an earlier post are from the towing vehicle side. As Don, Carol and the rest of us have probably seen, the wiring on the trailer side can vary with manufacturer and the color scheme preferred by the “Home Electrician Specialist” depending on whatever color wire he had handy. So you can't just rely on the "Color it is supposed to be", or the "Color it usually is" philosophy when working with electricity.

The photo of Mary Ann's wiring showing smaller gauge red and black wires indicates to me that is not something from Scamp. They use larger gauge as is done for the white and yellow wires seen. I hope the black wire grounds to the frame and not for lighting/accessories. If there is heavy resistance from some accessory, that wire could light up like a toaster wire and burn anything around it.

It's important to have a multimeter and continuity tester and know how to use them. They just may help keep you out of the auto repair shop and hospital emergency room.

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by Scamper Jim

Since Scamp now has a sticker indicating black (+) and white (-), it indicates to me that they have probably wired the fuse holder closer to the camper shell, and resumed with a short piece of black wire to the battery positive terminal so there will now be a uniform color code. It's for us earlier Scamp owners who have to be careful how we hook up wires.

The wiring codes for the plugs I gave in an earlier post are from the towing vehicle side. As Don, Carol and the rest of us have probably seen, the wiring on the trailer side can vary with manufacturer and the color scheme preferred by the “Home Electrician Specialist” depending on whatever color wire he had handy. So you can't just rely on the "Color it is supposed to be", or the "Color it usually is" philosophy when working with electricity.

The photo of Mary Ann's wiring showing smaller gauge red and black wires indicates to me that is not something from Scamp. They use larger gauge as is done for the white and yellow wires seen. I hope the black wire grounds to the frame and not for lighting/accessories. If there is heavy resistance from some accessory, that wire could light up like a toaster wire and burn anything around it.

The decal has been available from Scamp for a number of years - at least 7 that I know of.

I have a 92 16' like the OP's that still has stock from the factory wiring - grateful for no PO make overs etc on the wiring.

It came with only the black and white lines coming off the battery and I agree something on the OP's has been changed as the gage size of the black wire looks wrong - thinner than the factory install. From the factory mine came with the inline fuse just off the battery as well as one just inside the house (buried under the rat fur in the passenger side front hatch).

Your correct that there is a short piece of wiring leading to the battery that taps into the main wiring harness before it goes into the house, which makes me wonder if someone changed out the wiring harness on the OP's trailer and got creative in using what wiring they had laying around in the garage to do the tap in.

[jennykatz]

We have the Schumacker XC6 Auto battery charger .If we get an AGM battery do i have to get another battery charger or change settings going from a lead acid 65 amp hr to a series 31 105 amp hours ?

[jennykatz]

I looked at the instructions for the XC6 and it does not support gel or AGM batteries ? So maybe just get a lead acid battery and put it outside on the tongue like casita,parkline, and scamps ?
The place Snoozy has the battery is cramped as it is ,so a 27-31 battery would not fit . If I put it under the bed I have to drill some more holes to let it vent
Does AGM batteries vent as much ? Jim

[Steve L.]

In general, the fuse (or switch) is supposed to go in the positive line of a pair. The intent being that if it blows, the wires at the device (load) end are “dead”. The electricity is interrupted “upstream” from the device. If the fuse is in the negative side, then it's downstream of the device and then even after the fuse blows there is still juice as far as the device and it’s still looking for a path to ground. Perhaps through a screwdriver, or wrench, or a ring on your finger, that happens to touch something grounded at the same time as the exposed end of a wire.

Checking wires before connecting is not always a no-brainer as well. Putting an ohmmeter between the wire end and a known ground and measuring pretty much zero resistance is confirmation that the wire is to a ground. On the other hand, measuring infinite resistance isn’t assurance it’s the positive side since infinite resistance can also mean a ground wire with a blown fuse in it or a switch turned off in the negative wire. As mentioned before, older trailers modified by owners with doubtful electrical knowledge levels can lay all sorts of traps.

[Scamper Jim]

Hi Jenny,

I am not up to speed on gel batteries as I use the lead-acid type. I think the advise Carol gave in post #24 is good, and a call to Lil Snoozy to see what they advise regarding the placement and venting of gels would be a prudent way to go.

Jim