OK, I know I'm a rube. Cut me some slack. :)To the battery, ya' got your white wire and your black wire. If my logic is correct, as opposed to AC, the white wire connects to positive and the black wire to neg. So far so good?My further problem is that yesterday morning, in the midst of a thunderstorm, shore power was lost. That's when I discovered that I have no DC. I have 2 batteries that I maintain regularly, but only one connected to the rig at a time. They measure respectively 12.84 and 13.11 DCV. I connected both in turn. Zip, zero, zilch coming in. And yes, I pulled every single fuse and cycled every breaker. Continuity checks out across the board. With AC connected, everything works. What am I missing? Thanks in advance for any help

noplace2 wrote:OK, I know I'm a rube. Cut me some slack. :)To the battery, ya' got your white wire and your black wire. If my logic is correct, as opposed to AC, the white wire connects to positive and the black wire to neg. So far so good?My further problem is that yesterday morning, in the midst of a thunderstorm, shore power was lost. That's when I discovered that I have no DC. I have 2 batteries that I maintain regularly, but only one connected to the rig at a time. They measure respectively 12.84 and 13.11 DCV. I connected both in turn. Zip, zero, zilch coming in. And yes, I pulled every single fuse and cycled every breaker. Continuity checks out across the board. With AC connected, everything works. What am I missing? Thanks in advance for any helpThat would be rather unusual. I have only seen red to positive and black to negative.Follow your main battery cables and look for a shutoff switch, main fuse, fusible link, rusted connection, etc. and check where the break is. If you can, use a 12 volt light bulb to check the voltage - not a voltmeter which can indicate voltage even if the resistance is too high to let much power through.

The battery is not hooked to the RV in some way. Broken wire, bad ground or disconnect switch?

Typically black is (+) and white is (-) in an RV - it follows the AC wiring scheme.

K Charles wrote:The battery is not hooked to the RV in some way. Broken wire, bad ground or disconnect switch?Yessir, I understand that. 3 weeks ago all was well with the DC, now nothing. I simply don't know where to look. I'm fairly confident that it is not a broken wiring or ground issue, I know how to troubleshoot those. As to a disconnect switch, what am I looking for and where might I look? Thanks.

Check to see if you have a very small breaker in the battery compartment. Had the same problem once and it was a very small push button reset in the battery compartment.

DC circuitry in an RV | Good Sam Community

ksg5000
Explorer
Oct 07, 2014
Look for an auto reset circuit breaker near the battery - when that goes south you lose your DC when you lose your shore power.

Also - you negative wire to the battery should connect to the frame - just follow the wire to determine which is +/-.
DutchmenSport
Explorer
Oct 07, 2014
As stated above, it sound like your in-line fuse (near where the battery connects) has blown. These are made different ways. Some use push-button resets, others use the little flat fuse used in automobiles, and some use a fixed square box looking thing that, when it blows, you have to replace the entire thing. I've had all 3 types on my campers. Check for a fuse on the wires connected to the battery. Should be quite obvious if one is there. And there SHOULD be one there.
WyoTraveler
Explorer
Oct 07, 2014
There does not appear to be any standard for DC in the RV industry. I would go with what is connected to the positive terminal of the battery. Mine are heavy duty and all black. However, I would go with your white being the positive and black negative. I have owned RVs since the 60s. Seems like the color turns out to be whatever is available at the time.:B
pianotuna
Nomad III
Oct 07, 2014
Hi,

Did you check the reverse polarity fuses on the converter?
Jack_Diane_Free
Explorer
Oct 07, 2014
Check to see if you have a very small breaker in the battery compartment. Had the same problem once and it was a very small push button reset in the battery compartment.
noplace2
Explorer
Oct 07, 2014
K Charles wrote:
The battery is not hooked to the RV in some way. Broken wire, bad ground or disconnect switch?

Yessir, I understand that. 3 weeks ago all was well with the DC, now nothing. I simply don't know where to look. I'm fairly confident that it is not a broken wiring or ground issue, I know how to troubleshoot those. As to a disconnect switch, what am I looking for and where might I look? Thanks.
ken_white
Explorer
Oct 07, 2014
Typically black is (+) and white is (-) in an RV - it follows the AC wiring scheme.
K_Charles
Explorer
Oct 07, 2014
The battery is not hooked to the RV in some way. Broken wire, bad ground or disconnect switch?
solismaris
Explorer
Oct 07, 2014
noplace2 wrote:
OK, I know I'm a rube. Cut me some slack. :)

To the battery, ya' got your white wire and your black wire. If my logic is correct, as opposed to AC, the white wire connects to positive and the black wire to neg. So far so good?

My further problem is that yesterday morning, in the midst of a thunderstorm, shore power was lost. That's when I discovered that I have no DC. I have 2 batteries that I maintain regularly, but only one connected to the rig at a time. They measure respectively 12.84 and 13.11 DCV. I connected both in turn. Zip, zero, zilch coming in. And yes, I pulled every single fuse and cycled every breaker. Continuity checks out across the board. With AC connected, everything works.

What am I missing? Thanks in advance for any help

That would be rather unusual. I have only seen red to positive and black to negative.

Follow your main battery cables and look for a shutoff switch, main fuse, fusible link, rusted connection, etc. and check where the break is. If you can, use a 12 volt light bulb to check the voltage - not a voltmeter which can indicate voltage even if the resistance is too high to let much power through.

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