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Old 03-17-2013, 08:06 AM   #1
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Battery Cable Colors ?

My battery was taken out of our 2013 Sabre for the winter. Wich cable is Pos. & Neg. (white- Black) ??
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Old 03-17-2013, 08:14 AM   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jiggerk View Post
My battery was taken out of our 2013 Sabre for the winter. Wich cable is Pos. & Neg. (white- Black) ??
Consider it like house wiring, Black is hot, White is Neutral/Ground.
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Old 03-17-2013, 08:17 AM   #3
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black hot white ground ...

YOUR EXPERIENCE MAY DIFFER !

follow the white and make sure it goes to chassis ground.




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Old 03-17-2013, 08:28 AM   #4
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You would thing black would be negative as it's a 12 volt car battery right?
WRONG! The color code used is for trailer wiring. After all, your RV is a trailer. The color code follows the 7 pin connector color code. Black = positive and white = negative.

I went through this last fall when I took my battery out for winter. I took a picture before battery removal. That's when I noticed black on the positive cable and I though who is the retard that wired this up. Everybody knows white and black is color code for 120Vac. Well it's not a 120 volt application so that thinking is kind of wrong but white wire in 120 Vac is neutral so you are close. You would think factory would use red and black wires instead but nope.

Anyway, here is 7 pin trailer plug color code. White = earth = ground = negative.





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Old 03-17-2013, 08:34 AM   #5
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The best way is to try and trace one back to the frame ground.

If you can't do that plug into the TV or shore power and using a meter check for either positve 13 volts or negative 13 volts.

Positve 13 volts means the red meter wire is connected to the positive wire and negative voltage means you guessed wrong on which one was positive.

Getting it wrong with the battery will result in damage to your converter. Label the wires once you figure it out.
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Old 03-17-2013, 08:42 AM   #6
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Sometimes.....By no means a standard, The Lugs are diffrent sizes. The positive lug and pos. threaded Terminal on the batt. are larger than the neg. Just a note.
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Old 03-17-2013, 08:56 AM   #7
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On my Columbus the Black is hot and the White is neutral.
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Old 03-17-2013, 08:59 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ryand View Post
Sometimes.....By no means a standard, The Lugs are diffrent sizes. The positive lug and pos. threaded Terminal on the batt. are larger than the neg. Just a note.
Huh ?

Only if u use actual battery clamps.

I've only seen ring terminals being used and there the same.
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Old 03-17-2013, 09:54 AM   #9
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The positive lug is 3/8" thread, the negative 5/16"...typically on most 12v deep cycles.
Typically being the key word
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Old 03-17-2013, 10:03 AM   #10
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You should have marked it when you disconnected it!!

I agree with others-- follow the leads- one of them probably goes to
trailer frame somewhere fairly close to the front end of the trailer.
Or use a meter with shore power on.
The one fastened to trailer frame is NEG.

IF you assume anything color wise on a TT you could wrong!

I marked my + with some red electrical tape.
I know 99.99% of you folks don't have red tape but I DO!!
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Old 03-17-2013, 10:05 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ryand View Post
The positive lug is 3/8" thread, the negative 5/16"...typically on most 12v deep cycles.
Typically being the key word
never seen anything but 3/8.
Guess I've not seen it all
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Old 03-17-2013, 10:07 AM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by KyDan View Post
You should have marked it when you disconnected it!!

I agree with others-- follow the leads- one of them probably goes to
trailer frame somewhere fairly close to the front end of the trailer.
Or use a meter with shore power on.
The one fastened to trailer frame is NEG.

IF you assume anything color wise on a TT you could wrong!

I marked my + with some red electrical tape.
I know 99.99% of you folks don't have red tape but I DO!!
I've got red............

I've also got red black tape... wait red red tape hmm red electrical tape .. yep
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Old 03-17-2013, 10:44 AM   #13
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if you have a meter (and you should have one in your repair kit $20 bux gets a decent one for this type of work) put it on OHMS and put one lead on a good clean ground point (The head of one of a bolt works) and the other on each battery lead. The one that reads 0 Ohms is the ground lead.
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Old 03-17-2013, 12:36 PM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by f1100turbo View Post
never seen anything but 3/8.
Guess I've not seen it all
EVERY group size 24 and 27 deep cycle battery I have owned since 1993 had two different size wing nut posts - all being boat/marine applications. Till 2012 and I bought an RV that came with the Interstate battery I posted a picture of. That one has two wing nut posts the same size. All the motorcycle and snowmobile batteries I have used were same size also.

Maybe something special in marine industry that specs two different size posts. Don't want to hook wires up backwards and get sparks down in that engine compartment.
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Old 03-17-2013, 12:41 PM   #15
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Red fingernail polish works well for marking positive wire on cable crimp plastic. Back in the day, fingernail polish was used to mark location of trim pot settings. It was "normal" for sparkies and techs to have a bottle of their favorite red color in the toolbox. Ya I know, TMI.

You know your DW has red polish handy. Nobody will tell if you use it.
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Old 03-17-2013, 12:59 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by joelek View Post

EVERY group size 24 and 27 deep cycle battery I have owned since 1993 had two different size wing nut posts - all being boat/marine applications. Till 2012 and I bought an RV that came with the Interstate battery I posted a picture of. That one has two wing nut posts the same size. All the motorcycle and snowmobile batteries I have used were same size also.

Maybe something special in marine industry that specs two different size posts. Don't want to hook wires up backwards and get sparks down in that engine compartment.
Well see that makes sense ..
I only have , did and will continue to buy interstate batteries.
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Old 03-17-2013, 01:16 PM   #17
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The Indian motorcycles I had (2000, and 2009) were solid mount engines. Interstate batteries were found to hold up/last the longest. The vibration from these bikes killed other brands in a year or two. They originally came with Dekka brand. Those were junk! Dealer in MN made interstate their standard replacement brand in ALL brands of bikes they worked on. Happy customers afterwards!
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Old 03-17-2013, 01:48 PM   #18
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US AC power circuit wiring color codes.

Function label Color, common Color, alternative
Protective ground PG bare, green, or green-yellow green
Neutral N white grey
Line, single phase L black or red (2nd hot)
Line, 3-phase L1 black brown
Line, 3-phase L2 red orange
Line, 3-phase L3 blue yellow


US DC power: The US National Electrical Code (for both AC and DC) mandates that the grounded neutral conductor of a power system be white or grey. The protective ground must be bare, green or green-yellow striped. Hot (active) wires may be any other colors except these. However, common practice (per local electrical inspectors) is for the first hot (live or active) wire to be black and the second hot to be red. The recommendations in Table below are by Wiles. [JWi] He makes no recommendation for ungrounded power system colors. Usage of the ungrounded system is discouraged for safety. However, red (+) and black (-) follows the coloring of the grounded systems in the table.

US recommended DC power circuit wiring color codes.

Function label Color
Protective ground PG bare, green, or green-yellow
2-wire ungrounded DC Power System
Positive L+ no recommendation (red)
Negative L- no recommendation (black)
2-wire grounded DC Power System
Positive (of a negative grounded) circuit L+ red
Negative (of a negative grounded) circuit N white
Positive (of a positive grounded) circuit N white
Negative (of a positive grounded) circuit L- black
3-wire grounded DC Power System
Positive L+ red
Mid-wire (center tap) N white
Negative L- black
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