Question: Battery Connection White Wire? - Fiberglass RV
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Old 08-25-2013, 04:27 PM   #1
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Question: Battery Connection White Wire?

Just checked my battery and found the white wire unconnected.

Should it be connected? 2005 Casita 17 foot loaded.

White is not connected
Black is connected
Green is connected.

Last year we had a break buddy installed in our new truck. This was the last time anyone checked the battery. Why would they have left the white wire unconnected??

I looked in all our Casita stuff, but did not find a diagram. Thanks in advance for help
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Old 08-25-2013, 04:30 PM   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Domenica and Sheila View Post
.........
White is not connected
Black is connected
Green is connected. ..........
When you say connected, do you mean at the battery terminals? The battery only has two terminals..........so this is unclear.
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Old 08-25-2013, 05:29 PM   #3
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The Casita has three wires leading into the its battery chamber. One white, one green and one black. The black and green are connected, but the wire is not.
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Old 08-25-2013, 06:38 PM   #4
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One thing about electricity: it is colour-blind. If common practices are being followed, then a black-insulated wire would be connected to the battery positive terminal, a white-insulated wire would be connected to the battery negative terminal (and both of those would be needed for anything battery-powered to operate properly), and someone who feels that the battery should be tied to a protective equipment case ground might connect a green-insulated wire to the negative terminal (but I certainly wouldn't).

In a Casita or this particular Casita specifically - who knows?

Where do the wires go?
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Old 08-25-2013, 06:44 PM   #5
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Er... Does anything work/not work when you are on battery? What terminals are the Black & Green wires connected to..... What kind of an ending is on the white wire, How heavy is it??



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Old 08-25-2013, 07:20 PM   #6
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....In common sense of most cases, Black is for battery positive terminal. White is for negative battery terminal and Green is for ground of AC, or frame. That is all I know....
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Old 08-25-2013, 07:59 PM   #7
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I believe if you look on the inside of the door to the battery compartment there is a battery connection diagram. If you haven't gotten another answer by tomorrow I'll check our Casita . I had the battery out just last week hooking up the quick disconnect for the solar panels. The white and black were hooked up.. The battery is fused there as well.. Perhaps the fuse was taken out of the circuit???
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Old 08-25-2013, 08:14 PM   #8
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Thanks all. I'm sure you are right. The white should be connected. Thanks for you help.
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Old 08-25-2013, 08:17 PM   #9
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We're all very sure when it's our own trailer with standard connection and following convention.. Be careful before you hook it up
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Old 08-26-2013, 08:22 AM   #10
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Common Sense????

Quote:
Originally Posted by Thinh View Post
....In common sense of most cases, Black is for battery positive terminal. White is for negative battery terminal and Green is for ground of AC, or frame. That is all I know....
Common Sense doesn't always apply to RV's.... Some builders, in their ultimate wisdom, reverse what is thought to be common color code. In addition, hard telling what's in an older RV that many previous owners have "improved" over the years.

When it comes to wire polarity, verify which wire is connected to ground first.... it's cheap insurance and reduces the chance of unwanted smoke.



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Old 08-26-2013, 08:26 AM   #11
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And once you let the magic smoke out things don't work.. Gotta keep the smoke inside
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Old 08-26-2013, 12:11 PM   #12
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Someone might have disconnected white negative to disconnect whole system, either for storage or while working on it.


If that was the case then leaving a green ground hooked up makes one go huh? Maybe to confirm something had ground such as trailer breakaway switch for brakes?
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Old 08-26-2013, 09:20 PM   #13
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Thanks again. You all have proved it is a mystery. The trailer has been ours since new. A break buddy was added to the new truck spring 2012 and we used the trailer twice that season with no problem. We moved the trailer in May - lights worked great at that time.

We are getting ready to head our for the first time this year (sad but true) and found the white wire disconnected and laying on top of the battery. It is a head scratcher.

The shop that installed our break buddy did not survive the recession. Too bad, because they were only 5 miles from our house. SO we will take the trailer to our truck mechanic on Wednesday morn to check it out.

I don't do anything electric.

Again thanks for your thoughts and help.
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