Which wire to positive on battery

[allkidd]

It has been over a year since we got the camper out and I don't remember which wires go to positive and negative. I've got one battery and one red wire and two white wires. I know color doesn't mean much but I thought that I would mention it. The red wire is thicker than the other two.

I vaguely thought I remembered the red to positive and the other two to negative. But, when I hook it up like this the lights are dim and do not charge when I plugged into 110. Everything works except the lights and furnace. My converter is only a couple years old. Since I wasn't very sure about the wire connections, I'm thinking it had to be that I don't have them on correctly.

I've tried followiing the wires but it is very difficult as they seem to disappear under the floor. Like a car, would the negative actually go the frame?

Is there a way to figure this out using a multimeter?

Thanks in advance for any help!

[MEXICOWANDERER]

I listed something unrelated to finding which witch is which. Slipped in a note about wire color coding done safely. I do not trust my own memory working on circus wagon OEM RV circuits. That's what a cell phone camera is for. But the confusion over black for chassis negative versus line voltage and white for chassis negative or AC neutral is entirely stupid. Color coding correctly is the way to go. I used more than 17-MILES of wire on the Kelley II. It has electric steering and 5-remote control stations. Sadly I could not repeat that work again today if my life depended on it. 1981 and there was pure amazement over my using LED and Sonalerts rather than pilot lamps and bells.

[red31]

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
He certainly did not READ the thread - I'm done.

you jest?

[MEXICOWANDERER]

I like the marine YBC coding...

Red battery pos

Yellow battery neg

Black 120vac line 1
White 120vac neutral
Blue 120 vac line 2
Green earth ground

Chinee color coding is a riot. 120vac

Brown
Brue
White with gleen stlipe
Maybe

Chinese house wiring code: 600 volts 24-gauge wire.

I read stats -somewhere- that claimed there was 10,000+ electrocutions/year. They are convinced ground wires are an utter waste.

[allkidd]

dougrainer wrote:

westend wrote:

allkidd wrote:
Okay, traced the white wires and they are both ground. I don't understand why two grounds going to the same place?

What are the sizes of the wires?

Because they were to lazy to run 1 large gauge. It is common on some RV's to have 2 small gauge wires on either the Positive or ground instead of 1 large gauge. Doug

That is exactly what they did. The negative wires are about half the width of the positive.

Thanks everybody for the great responses! Problem solved! Couldn't have done it without the help.

[dougrainer]

westend wrote:

allkidd wrote:
Okay, traced the white wires and they are both ground. I don't understand why two grounds going to the same place?

What are the sizes of the wires?

Because they were to lazy to run 1 large gauge. It is common on some RV's to have 2 small gauge wires on either the Positive or ground instead of 1 large gauge. Doug

[westend]

allkidd wrote:
Okay, traced the white wires and they are both ground. I don't understand why two grounds going to the same place?

What are the sizes of the wires?

[allkidd]

Okay, traced the white wires and they are both ground. I don't understand why two grounds going to the same place?

[dougrainer]

Bob Landry wrote:
Four pages of responses to verify that red is positive and white is ground in trailer wiring. I knew there was a reason why I love the Internet.

Just proves that MOST have no idea what they are talking about. Doug

[Bob_Landry]

Four pages of responses to verify that red is positive and white is ground in trailer wiring. I knew there was a reason why I love the Internet.

[RJsfishin]

wvabeer wrote:
Follow each wire, the one that is fastened to the chassis is the negative.

I agree,....like the negatives are all bolted to the frame in plain sight right there where you can see it.:R

[allkidd]

Thanks for all the great suggestions! I can't believe the great response. Tomorrow, I'm going over to my camper, (it is in storage), and trying these ideas.

I will reply back, hopefully with my success!

[2oldman]

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
He certainly did not READ the thread - I'm done.

Happens a lot. grrr

[MEXICOWANDERER]

He certainly did not READ the thread - I'm done.

[wvabeer]

Follow each wire, the one that is fastened to the chassis is the negative.