Do you use white=negative, black=positive for DC in your RV? I know they come wired that way for lights, etc., and I'm not asking about that. I keep to that convention when installing lights or other DC internal house type wiring. I'm asking about other wire runs. As an example, I'm running some water pump remote control wires. I have an LED that will go on when the pump is powered. I'm running red to the LED and black to the switched ground. I've got three battery monitoring wires for a system I built. It feeds battery voltage to the DC voltage meter monitoring switch. I ran red/black to that. I had to run a backup charging cable to my generator battery - again, I used red/black.How many of you use black for positive when running your own DC?

White is negative at the battery so I keep white for a ground EVERYWHERE in the RV. Just confuses the issue if you switch for SOME circuits and not for others. Sounds like chaos to me.Good luck / Skip

Even worse each manufacturer has a different color code scheme Winne / Itasca is mostly consistent with Black/White for 110VAC and Yellow/White for DC Me I stick with Red/Black for DCand Black/White/Green for 110AC All the dozens of wires I have added follow my color codes DC - Red/Black +/- Never Black being Positive and I do not use Yellow or white for any DC connections AC - Black/White/Green Hot/Neutral/GroundThere are exceptions The 4awg and 2awg welding cables used for DC + lines But I did add red heat shrink to ID them

If I see red and black, I know the black is neg. If I see black and white, I know black is pos. If you can't see the second wire and you only see a black wire---oops. Need a meter, find a ground, see if the black is pos or not.I like to put some red tape on a black when the black is positive going to a battery post.

I use the boating convention of Red/Yellow for low voltage DC.

My Yamaha G3 boats (Both of them) use Red/Black for DC plus an assortment of other colors for the communications connections Could just be a Yamaha thing .... Have to agree with BLF get a meter if in doubt Do not assume others did it the same as you do

Do you use white=negative, black=positive for DC in your RV?

Salvo
Explorer
Nov 12, 2013
I have a Winnebago. My stock hot cables are all yellow including those going to the trailer plug. White is ground. Each cable has a specific code printed on the insulation. The codes are labeled in the schematics. A clean design and well documented.

Winnebago does use green to ground the propane pipes.

Sal

Chris Bryant wrote:
The color that really throws people on 12 vdc systems is green as hot- on trailer 7 way plugs it is running lights, and Winnebago uses green as hot a extensively.
wa8yxm
Explorer III
Nov 12, 2013
In my training in electronics black is usually negative.

Still, in wiring the RV I normally use WHITE as negative if the pair is black/white.

If it is black/RED (And that is what I buy) then RED is positive.

(WHy I buy Black/Red is because the store I shop at... That is what they sell)
MrWizard
Moderator
Nov 12, 2013
when i add something new on 12v
i normally use red positive , blk neg

when i work on existing 12v wiring i will mark the white with blk tape and the blk wire with red tape
BFL13
Explorer II
Nov 12, 2013
ISTR a thread here where the OP had a Jayco TT with the battery fuse or DC circuit breaker on a green wire on the tongue ISTR she had four 6s and Prosine 2.0 that was acting up. Been a while.
DryCamper11
Explorer
Nov 12, 2013
Chris Bryant wrote:
The color that really throws people on 12 vdc systems is green as hot- on trailer 7 way plugs it is running lights, and Winnebago uses green as hot a extensively.

Ouch! That's good to know. I've never seen green = hot.
Chris_Bryant
Explorer II
Nov 12, 2013
The color that really throws people on 12 vdc systems is green as hot- on trailer 7 way plugs it is running lights, and Winnebago uses green as hot a extensively.
DryCamper11
Explorer
Nov 12, 2013
RJsfishin wrote:
If you ever found black as neg on a blk/wht combo, then someone did it wrong.

Yes, they did it wrong. That's why I said I always test. It only takes a moment. I've never seen red/black wired incorrectly, but white/black seems to be more confusing. Everyone has seen red/black on batteries (from 9 volts on a garage opener to massive RV battery banks) and some people seem to assume that black is ground on a DC circuit.
RJsfishin
Explorer
Nov 12, 2013
. DC color codes are just too mixed up. I've seen white/black used as positive/negative and negative/positive.
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If you ever found black as neg on a blk/wht combo, then someone did it wrong.

Always seemed simple to me. White is always neg, or common, or ground.
Red is always pos, or hot !
Black can be either, depending if it is in combo w/ red or white.
There should be no question.
69_Avion
Explorer
Nov 12, 2013
I use red or black for the positive mains and always white as the ground. In the old days it was common for the black wire to be the DC negative wire.
I use other colors for separate circuits, depending on need, and white is always the ground. My wiring is always easy to trace. If I don't use different colors for different circuits, I will tape the ends with the color I want.
Common sense goes a long way when wiring. What really bothers me is folks using uncommon wiring colors for things that are standardized, like the 7 conductor RV plugs.
mena661
Explorer
Nov 12, 2013
I use red/black.

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Do you use white=negative, black=positive for DC in your RV?

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