OlyFireMedic
Olympia
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Looking for guidance on a what I thought would be a simple task.
I was in the process of switching out my old shot GRP 27 deep cycle battery with a used but still good GRP 27 battery which I had just charged up with my own charger. While putting this newer battery in, I mistakenly hooked up the negative cable before the positive, resulting in a large spark upon touching the hot wire to the positive terminal. This in turn blew two of the 30amp fuses in my converter panel. So, I turned off the main breakers on the panel and replaced the blown fuses. Next, I went to try and hook up the battery again, making sure to connect the positive side first. (BTW, I left the converter panel's main breakers off while doing this). When I went to connect the negative wire to the battery's negative terminal, the cable sparked repeatedly whenever I touched it to the terminal. Of course, not willing to give up on the first try, I had to attempt it three or four times before my desire to not get blown up took over. Every time that wire touched the terminal, large sparks would erupt. So I unhooked the battery completely, scratched my head for a while and decided I'd ask you all WHAT AM I DOING WRONG. BTW, my system still works as it should while connected to shore power.
Any guidance greatly appreciated.
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MARKW8
Akron OH
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Joined: 03/09/2004
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Are you hooking red or black to pos. and white to ground?
Mark.
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Capt Eddie
usa
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Trace each wire down to the correct location on the convertor panel. Wire could be wrong. Hot may be touching something along the path.
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Artum Snowbird
Campbell River, B.C., Canada
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Joined: 05/28/2004
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If one battery is uncharged and the other charged, a large current will result between them as the charged one equalizes with the uncharged one.
Could that be your problem?
Oops, upon re-reading... it seems like you are only hooking up one battery. But it sounds to me that the battery is trying to satisfy a load immediately, which should not be the case unless you have a load on.
Or can there be another battery somewhere... does the truck isolator work properly...
* This post was
edited 01/25/09 05:12pm by Artum Snowbird *
Mike and Carole
2006 Triple E Regency 27 foot SXL
2005 16.6 Double Eagle
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dhamblet
Olympia, WA
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Joined: 01/13/2005
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Is the camper plugged in? If so it may be throwing a charge to the bettery connections. Or you could have an internal short in the battery. Or you may have melted some insulation when you reverse connected it and created a short in your trailer wiring.
2005 Dutchmen 35SRV, Pergo, 5th Airborne, JT Strong Arm, Kodiak Disk Brakes, Backup camera
2006 Dodge CTD RAM QC 3500 LWB 4WD, Reese 16k, Airbags, Pacbrake, Britebox, 60g aux fuel tank
04 Harley Ultra, 05 CanAM 400MAX Quad
Spending my kids inheritance
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OlyFireMedic
Olympia
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Here's a picture to clarify.
 [/img]
Mark,
I connect the white/orange cable on the left to pos. and the black to neg.
Joe
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OlyFireMedic
Olympia
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Trying to post pic again.
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OlyFireMedic
Olympia
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Trying pic again.
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tuxsteveo
Wisconsin
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Do you have a hand held volt meter? If you do turn on shore power and all breakers. measure the voltage here at the battery wires it should show you which is positive and which is negative also if it is more than 12.5 volts how much the charge voltage is maybe 15 volts without a battery on it. If it is less than 12 volts you have zapped your charger.
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biggeek
PA
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Joined: 12/23/2008
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I wouldn't trust the color of the wire. Get a volt meter and check the wire as tuxsteveo describes. It sounds like either your connecting the wires to the wrong terminals of the battery or you have a short in your system. The short could have caused the initial problem with the old battery causing it to fail. Do you have a connector in the wire where it might have been spliced together. If so it can be building up a resistance that could cause overheating and other problems. If you do, remove the connector and solder the wire together.
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