Forum Discussion

josephc's avatar
josephc
Explorer
Aug 18, 2018

Some lights blow fuse, others dim, afterwards polarity mixup

When hooking up my battery, I accidentally reversed the polarity by attaching the wires to the wrong terminals. I didn't notice for 3 hours since we went out to dinner right afterwards. We were plugged into AC, but when we got back nothing was runnung. I checked the AC connection and then the battery and noticed it was backwards. As expected (which I now know) the converter 40A fuses had blown.

However, we still have an issue on one circuit that includes the outdoor and two (out of several) indoor lights. When we came home, the indoor lights would only turn on dimly. If we turned on the outdoor LED light strip they'd go off (and the LEDs wouldn't go on). I replaced the fuse and the indoor lights started working fine. The moment I turn on the outdoor lights though, the fuse blows again.

I took off the switch panel and didn't see any obvious issues. What seems weird to me is that the indoor lights don't stop working completely, but only dim when the fuse is blown. I'd expect them to stop working entirely. Is it possible that the indoor lights are fed from two circuits, only one of which is shared with the outdoor lights? Or is there likely something miswired or damaged?

As far as the outdoor lights go, is it possible we caused a short with the reversed battery? Anything to do besides just replacing them? I don't think they were turned on when we left but it's possible they were since I wouldn't have noticed in the daylight.

4 Replies

  • The marine industry adopted YELLOW as NEGATIVE. With some battery cases being black, this makes sense.

    KRYLON paint for plastic works well. Clean the terminal the battery post and the case around the post. Assemble then spray a splotch of paint over the terminal including the post then around the case.

    This lasts a long time and works like a charm.
  • RoyB's avatar
    RoyB
    Explorer II
    If your battery is now wired correctly Go to your battery bank right now and use some RED FINGERNAIL POLISH and dab the cables that goes to the POSITIVE terminal. I also always note the STAMPED word 'NEG' or the symbol '-' on the battery case make sure this is the battery cable that goes directly to frame ground which should be close to the battery.

    Other people use their cell phone and take a picture of their correct battery cable connections. They leave the photo on the the cell phone so they can pull it up and make sure all is where it is suppose to be.

    I have also seen some folks have a see through folder hanging near the battery and have photos or hand drawings in the folder...

    Another rule of thumb is if anything is installed inline like fuse holders etc this will most often be the positive line.

    Most of us older folks grew up with the Automotive wiring scheme of RED is always Positive and BLACK is always frame ground... The RV COLOR SCHEME follows the house wiring colors where SOLID WHITE is always ground and any wire with color in 'HOT'... some of my installed cable where WHITE but had a color stripe on it indicating they were 'HOT' polarity...

    I use the FINGERNAIL POLISH scheme for my cables... A little dab will do ya...

    But then again as we get older I probably will forget which polarity the color dabs will be for - POSITIVE or NEGATIVE hehe

    The bad thing is it only takes one little spark when you hook up in reverse to do all of this damage. Just one little spark....

    I do alot of work around my electrical systems and I still am finding some things wired that doesn't follow the rules... My 12VDC AM/FM JENSON Radio went bad on me and I got a new one. Right out of the box I noticed the fused wire was RED and chassis wire was BLACK coming out of the radio chassis. So at this connection I have a RED WIRE on TOP of a BLACK WIRE. I suppose this causes the really old timers that have left us already to turn over in their grave haha... I have it marked with a POSITIVE SYMBOL and taped...

    Roy Ken
  • wa8yxm's avatar
    wa8yxm
    Explorer III
    Ok most LED lights. you reverse the polarity and they simply do not work, Fix it and they are good again. The LED is kind of an electrical check valve. You put a check valve in a water line backwards. it don't work (Water will not flow) same with the LED's

    HOWEVER if they LED's have an electronic controller.... (Dimmer. color selector. effects generator) then ... You may have fried the controller. It is not always protected...Less I install it.
  • Reversing polarity in a dimming circuit is a nyet nyet. The dimmer takes an even dimmer view of being polarity ambushed. When the circuit throws a tantrum it causes the entire power circuit to do a brownout.

    Diodes unless they fry, block voltage in one direction.

    Replace the dimmer circuit then see what you have. 555 timer circuit are also reverse polarity short-tempered. Most DC stuff complains bitterly in fact.

About Technical Issues

Having RV issues? Connect with others who have been in your shoes.24,242 PostsLatest Activity: May 10, 2025