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Old 09-09-2018, 11:37 AM   #1
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2011 Forest River 2011Cedar Creek 36RE

I m replacing the hot water heater and have some wiring questions , the wires coming out of hot water heater are Red/Blue/green and the wires from RV are Brown/Red/White any help would be green

Model # 5147. Hot Water Heater
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Old 09-09-2018, 01:33 PM   #2
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Assuming you have a Suburban gas only WH the wires are as follows:
Green - Ground
Red - +12 to turn on the gas mode of operation (from switch on RV control panel)
Blue - +12 for the DSI fault indicator light (located by above switch on RV control panel)
The above is based on the manufactures install manual for a Suburban SW6D, one of the most common (but not the only) WH in RV's.
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Old 09-09-2018, 01:40 PM   #3
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Welcome

Welcome to the forum and good luck finding someone who can help with the wiring. Basically you are relying one someone who has the same unit as yours, with the exact same wiring, has done the job before, and has the memory and knowledge to share in this forum. I am not that person. I can only provide some general information based on the good, but inadequate photos provided. Generally, the color of a wire means little. And the color of a wire cannot be relied upon when making electrical connections. The green wire in the photo is a chassis “ground wire.” Red wire is usually wire used for “positive 12V DC circuits.” Black wires are usually used for “hot (line) 120V AC circuits.” White wires are generally used for both “12V DC and 120V AC neutral circuits,” Blue and brown can be used for anything, although blue and brown are not usually used as a ground or neutral wire. These are only general wire color destinations in the industry and by no means may have anything to do with your water heater installation. Yet no water heater brand or model number has been provided. Most installation manuals are on the Internet and I think a new water heater should be supplied with installation instructions, including its electrical connections to go by rather than wire colors.
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Old 09-09-2018, 04:42 PM   #4
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Originally Posted by Splitshaft View Post
Welcome to the forum and good luck finding someone who can help with the wiring. Basically you are relying one someone who has the same unit as yours, with the exact same wiring, has done the job before, and has the memory and knowledge to share in this forum. I am not that person. I can only provide some general information based on the good, but inadequate photos provided. Generally, the color of a wire means little. And the color of a wire cannot be relied upon when making electrical connections. The green wire in the photo is a chassis “ground wire.” Red wire is usually wire used for “positive 12V DC circuits.” Black wires are usually used for “hot (line) 120V AC circuits.” White wires are generally used for both “12V DC and 120V AC neutral circuits,” Blue and brown can be used for anything, although blue and brown are not usually used as a ground or neutral wire. These are only general wire color destinations in the industry and by no means may have anything to do with your water heater installation. Yet no water heater brand or model number has been provided. Most installation manuals are on the Internet and I think a new water heater should be supplied with installation instructions, including its electrical connections to go by rather than wire colors.
I’m looking for info on how to tell what the 3 wires in RV are or how to test them to tell
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Old 09-09-2018, 04:52 PM   #5
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Simplest way would be to cross reference them from the original WH installation. If that is no longer possible. Then you will need a DVM to determine what is what. Most likely the white is ground, Brown is +12vdc and the red is the DSI light.
Put your meter across the white and brown, turn the WH with on and you should have 12 volts. 0 with the switch off. To confirm the red wire goes to the light the easiest way will be to remove the control panel and check for continuity end to end.

Keep in mind you have not provided any model numbers of the old or new WH so this is all a educated guess and based on gas ONLY WH. From the pic you supplied (not sure if that is the old or new WH) the green is a frame ground, which may indicate a 120 VAC connection. But again without more info....
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Old 09-09-2018, 05:13 PM   #6
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Simplest way would be to cross reference them from the original WH installation. If that is no longer possible. Then you will need a DVM to determine what is what. Most likely the white is ground, Brown is +12vdc and the red is the DSI light.
Put your meter across the white and brown, turn the WH with on and you should have 12 volts. 0 with the switch off. To confirm the red wire goes to the light the easiest way will be to remove the control panel and check for continuity end to end.

Keep in mind you have not provided any model numbers of the old or new WH so this is all a educated guess and based on gas ONLY WH. From the pic you supplied (not sure if that is the old or new WH) the green is a frame ground, which may indicate a 120 VAC connection. But again without more info....
The owner before me put in a on demand WH and did not drain it for the winter correct I’m guessing since one of the copper pipes split . He was nice enough to buy me a brand new Suburban SW12DE WH so me matching things is out , also the wires change color the time they get to the panel inside , but I can use a meter to trace “ good idea “ I’m guessing if I was just using 120v to heat WH these wires prob mean nothing since switch is out side for switching on elec part of heater . The Red/ White/Brown are prob for gas portion
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Old 09-09-2018, 05:41 PM   #7
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Yes you are correct that the 3 wires you show are 12 vdc for the gas side.

Just something to think about while you are opening things up, you may want to run a pair of wires from the WH back to the control panel so you can add a realy to control the electric side of the WH without going outside. All you need is a pair of 16 gauge wires and a relay which would be mounted in the outside access for the WH.

Sounds like you have your hands full cleaning this up. Good luck.
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Old 09-10-2018, 09:15 AM   #8
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Originally Posted by Steve-W View Post
Yes you are correct that the 3 wires you show are 12 vdc for the gas side.

Just something to think about while you are opening things up, you may want to run a pair of wires from the WH back to the control panel so you can add a realy to control the electric side of the WH without going outside. All you need is a pair of 16 gauge wires and a relay which would be mounted in the outside access for the WH.

Sounds like you have your hands full cleaning this up. Good luck.
Then I’m looking at this prob but I’ll check it out
Blue from WH to Red on RV
Red from WH to Brown on RV
Green from WH to White on RV
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