Maya wrote:
instead of what I was thinking black being common color code for ground I hooked up my positive from my house battery to black and my white to ground on house battery
Apparently I wasn't clear. The wires were backwards. The person that did this wiring didn't know what they were doing.
By convention, black is always ground and white is (usually) positive. So, you were right. I would strongly advise sticking to this convention and reversing your wires at the battery and the controller terminals. That way, you or someone else, won't be confused when they look at this again.
