Is there any good reason for this???

[RooDude09]

It was really bothering me that in me new fifth wheel I could not figure out how my house batteries got their power to the distribution center. I see 8 gauge wire going into my power distribution panel however I don’t see a corresponding 8 gauge wire going from my front compartment back that direction. There are two circuit breakers on the wall in my battery area I traced most of them. The only 8 gauge wire that loooked right went up into the front cap. Low and behold after opening a junction box up behind the pin box I find the wire (8gauge) goes from the battery to a cut off switch to a auto resetting breaker, all the way up to the pin box through another breaker, jointed with the biggest wire nut I’ve ever seen to the 12 volt wire from the vehicle plug and another 8 gauge wire which ultimately makes its way back down through the battery area down the frame and into the power distribution center. Is there any good reason why they would do this? I notice my converter never goes into float mode and I wonder if this extra 10 feet of cabling could be contributing to it not sensing right. Any thoughts?

[bucky]

Don't expect competency from an unregulated industry.

[RooDude09]

wa8yxm wrote:
I think I see the issue here.

Battery--8ga wire---Breaker---12 ga wire

The O/P is concerened that the wire shrinks.

Not a concern. the breaker is, I assume the proper size to protect the 12ga wire...

It’s more of a question of why would they make the house battery power feed go all the way up into the pin box before going back into the coach. Why not have A wire to the battery from the tow connector and a wire from the power distribution box to the battery? I understand the breaker placement you put them close as possible to the power source on either end. Just wondering if I should cut the long line that goes from the pin box to the converter and connect it to the battery effectively removing about ten feet of cable. The charge circuit will still be in tact from the tow connector.

[wa8yxm]

I think I see the issue here.

Battery--8ga wire---Breaker---12 ga wire

The O/P is concerened that the wire shrinks.

Not a concern. the breaker is, I assume the proper size to protect the 12ga wire...

[profdant139]

No reason. As Napoleon said, "Never attribute to conspiracy that which can be explained by incompetence."

[CA_Traveler]

There is no requirement for good wiring or a good charger. The only requirement is cheap and last past the warranty.

Sure it can be your wiring or the charger, perhaps both. You may not even have a battery charger but rather a basic constant voltage converter.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

I visited several RV manufacturers 30 years ago and gagged. There was usually one individual in charge of electrical design. You don't want to know the rest.