help hooking up my batteries

[rvshrinker]

Hello, well six months later I fixed my battery wires/connectors and am ready to hook them up. These corroded through so I don’t have a before picture.

There are 2 batteries. I’m not very familiar with how all this works. The 2 red wires come from the main travel trailer body. The black wire in the middle hooks to the second battery. The black wire on the right connects to my power jack.

Do I hook the two reds to the positive and the two blacks to the neg terminal?

[opnspaces]

Another diagram. (the one on the right is for your setup. If your tongue jack has only one wire then it goes to the positive side of the battery where all the other positive wires are hooked up (Labeled: To RV Positive +) The yellow wire between the positive and negative terminals should be the only wire that is hooked up there. I believe the yellow wire in my diagram is the same as the single black in your picture. But look yours over and make sure. Or post us a picture with both batteries exposed so we can see the other side.

[pianotuna]

This may help;

http://www.smartgauge.co.uk/batt_con.html

[rvshrinker]

Hello everyone,

I didn’t ‘redo the wiring.’ The ring tabs corroded off, I just put on new ones and now am ready to hook everything back up. My trailer has been plugged in since then.

Yes these are 6V batteries. All the wiring etc is completely stock.

Does that help?

I did find this link which suggests the power jack is internally grounded, thus the single wire should connect to positive.

https://rvsnappad.com/blogs/news/how-to-install-an-electric-rv-jack#:~:text=Run%20Electrical&text=Mo....

The wire from the power jack is black. It does reach to the positive battery terminal so perhaps that one’s simple. I think it’s possible all 3 off these wires were on the pos terminal. Meanwhile I will check the second battery to see if the fat black wire is to the pos on the second battery, as suggested in the diagram from W8-4-me, suggesting this end should attach to the neg (which is all it reaches to, so that makes sense)

[CapnCampn]

Ok, if that's all you did, then I'd check that other battery and see if the "connector" center wire goes to it's positive, and the other cable(s) go to the frame from the neg.  

If so, then the big center wire in your picture goes to the pictured battery's Neg, and it's likely those other 3 do go to the Pos on this battery.  

CC

[rvshrinker]

yes I think that’s exactly it. Thank you!

There are 2 white wires coming out of “the second battery” (the one still under the cover in the photo) and one goes to frame/ground, while the other goes into the trailer along with 2 red wires going to the “first battery”.

So I’ll reconnect the short black wire between first battery neg and second battery pos. I’ll connect the 2 red coming out off the trailer to first battery pos. And I’ll connect the black wire coming out of the trailer jack to first battery pos.

Right?

Now I am also buying 2 new batteries and need a tip on that but I’ll put that in a separate thread.

[opnspaces]

The white wire straight to the frame is a perfect indication of a ground wire. So I would assume the other white is ground from within the trailer.

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@rvshrinker wrote:

So I’ll reconnect the short black wire between first battery neg and second battery pos. I’ll connect the 2 red coming out off the trailer to first battery pos. And I’ll connect the black wire coming out of the trailer jack to first battery pos.

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@rvshrinker wrote:

yes I think that’s exactly it. Thank you!

There are 2 white wires coming out of “the second battery” (the one still under the cover in the photo) and one goes to frame/ground, while the other goes into the trailer along with 2 red wires going to the “first battery”.

So I’ll reconnect the short black wire between first battery neg and second battery pos. I’ll connect the 2 red coming out off the trailer to first battery pos. And I’ll connect the black wire coming out of the trailer jack to first battery pos.

Right?

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The way I read your post I believe you have it right. But to be sure, based on what you are describing you should be wired as below. Except I had to use green to signify ground since a white wire obviously wouldn't show up. I also labeled the batteries to avoid confusion.

[rvshrinker]

Hello everyone,

I didn’t ‘redo the wiring.’ The ring tabs corroded off and I just attached new ones. I’m ready to hook everything back up. My intention was to change nothing. No new wires, colors haven’t changed, etc. Does that help?

Yes they are 6 V batteries.

[W8-4-me]

Your battery shown appears to be a 6volt battery  is your second battery the same?  Your rv should run on 12volts so you need to run your batteries in series like in the diagram which will ADD the voltages.  (Don’t pay attention to ah in diagram. You may need to follow some of your wires to determine where they are attached.

[CapnCampn]

You said you redid the wiring, I hope you kept the color scheme as it was before (or at least consistent - trailer wiring is usually "Black Pos | White Neg", not "Red Pos | Black Neg").  It's possible you have some black wires that are pos and some neg now...  Make sure you know where everything goes!

This size of battery can release a lot of power in a hurry, welding things together, making sparks, melting, exploding, causing equipment damage and injury.  If you're unsure of what goes where, get a second opinion from someone who knows about battery wiring!

Both of the prior responses are correct.

These are GC2 (golf cart) 6V batteries, you need to connect them in series to get 12V.

There should be one wire loose on both ends - that will go from one battery's Pos terminal to the OTHER battery's Neg terminal.  You will not connect anything else to these 2 terminals. This will put the batteries in series and give you 12V between the free battery terminals. 

Find the wire that goes directly to the frame, that will be Negative.  Connect this to the free Negative terminal.

The other wire (eventually going to the converter's Positive terminal) will be Positive. Connect this to the free Positive Terminal.

The Jack wire will go to the same Positive terminal, and get it's Negative through the frame with no wire.

Notice I did not specify any colors - with it being a rewire, I would check and double check where everything goes before hooking it up. Labelling the wires for future reference would be good too!

Good luck, and here's hoping for no sparks!

CC

[joebedford]

That looks like a 6V battery. You have to hook them in series to get 12V

[nickthehunter]

Lock and see which colored wire is attached directly to the frame, that goes on the negative. The other wire probably goes into a junction box nearby.