solar charger wiring

..Ridged? On otherwise unmarked wire, same color(appliance cords etc) ridged wire is return/neutral, or it will have dashed or solid white line. Wire identification if stamped/printed will be on the hot side if on only one side. But thats appliance cords.

But the provided pigtail isn't color coded also?

Regardless, the lance pigtail on the roof had ridges on one of the wires. As is customary, that was the positive. I'm really pleased that Lance started prewiring with red/white 10gauge. It makes things much easier. I just wish they'd get their stuff together and update the manual with that and the color info. It makes you wonder how much other stuff is outdated.

Redsky wrote:
In your house the white is the neutral, not the negative as this is an automotive construct where you have DC and not AC as in your house. Houses across the country have to conform to local codes and they in turn piggyback off the national code or NEC which changes over time.

The Lance campers are manufactured in California but are treated as a house or dwelling for the purposes of the electrical code conformance. The campers are wired for BOTH DC and AC operation and this is what makes it confusing for the owner making modifications. At least with solar the system is running in parallel and separated from the AC system.

Correct-however your previous post stated your white was positive (like in hot, line)?

In your house the white is the neutral, not the negative as this is an automotive construct where you have DC and not AC as in your house. Houses across the country have to conform to local codes and they in turn piggyback off the national code or NEC which changes over time.

The Lance campers are manufactured in California but are treated as a house or dwelling for the purposes of the electrical code conformance. The campers are wired for BOTH DC and AC operation and this is what makes it confusing for the owner making modifications. At least with solar the system is running in parallel and separated from the AC system.

To assume is to error...

Our white is also primary and seconday ground color.
Primary positive is red, secondary is black.
Most other positive leads, lights etc are purple, few othes, blue, yellows. So for me first assumption (before testing) Is if its colored its positive.
Where I get into trouble is on couple things that use black for ground, the red & black.
So for me (without testing) if its colored it ususally hot. But I never assume polarity by color.

EDIT:
Umm just reread Redskys post, missed where also said house was white positve? Black was negative?
REALLY?

Red sky, I don't know how it is in California, but my lance and my house are both black positive and white negative/ground, as has been every house I've ever been in.

The confusion is that a lot of 12 volt stuff is red positive and black negative and camper black is positive.

Be careful with the wiring as the color coding matches that for a house and not a vehicle. The white is positive and black/red is negative inside the camper. And then with Lance they used blue and white for the solar pre-wiring on my 2008 camper.

If undeterimed Id just hook your red (or blue) wire to some temporary power, white to ground and meter roof plug?

Also, I've got the charge controller wired up already but I'm going to mount the panel this weekend. Anyone know which end of the plug on the roof is positive and negative? It's kind of hard to resistance test the ends of wires when one is inside and one is outside.

Ha -ya thats why I didnt 'say it' but just copied what they wrote. Someone else recently had the same color discrepancy.
But the wires 'should' temrinate down there in or near battery.