Calling all Electrical/Battery connection Gurus

[Boyd]

Shown below are two pictures of the same battery connections and components. If someone could help me identify numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4 I'd be able to sleep better. Click on the individual pictures to enlarge them. I think you'll be able to read my notes. Thank You

[tsmcmillen]

I am new here and my be wrong. However, they look like circuit breakers. I have 2 on my Cherokee Lite. On mine they allow the slide to go out on 110. Along with allowing my battery to run the meters and lights. Not sure why you have so many though.

[DAISY BOYKIN]

They all look like circuit breakers to me. If you look close you may find a small pin on the end or side to reset the breaker if tripped.

[TimeFurnace]

Items 3 and 4 certainly look like self-resetting circuit breakers. I can't really see Item 2 to get a reading on it. Item 1 could be a shunt as you suppose, it might also be a master fuse. I lean towards the fuse scenario though. A shunt might typically have much smaller gauge wiring going to it like 14-16AWG. Plus it looks like it has a cover on it which would be typical of a fuse.

Does your rig have a large inverter in it? That looks like some large cabling (>= 3/0?). The terminal block suggestion seems odd to me too. If that were the purpose, wouldn't it have been easier to just group a few of the wires into one ring lug connector and eliminate the need for an separate terminal block?

[onetonford]

1 looks like a master fuse
3 & 4 are Circuit Breakers
2 looks to be a relay Main or slide control power because of the smaller wires to it.

[Boyd]

The internet is a wonderful tool. I took a picture of #2 using a mirror and then reversed the picture using a photo program. You can see what is printed on the side. After a little poking around on the interweb I found it: I now know what it's called but not sure what it's use is designed for...unless it's for keeping a constant flow of voltage, eliminating spikes, from the altinator...which I doubt.


White-Rodgers 120-105111 solenoid coil 12v DC cont... Solenoid, SPNO, (12 VDC Grounded Coil), Continuous Duty, Normally Open Continuous Contact Rating 100 Amps, Inrush 400 Amps. White-Rodgers part number 120-105111... Shelf Elec5...

[Boyd]

Someone tagged these earlier as some sort of breakers. Numbers 3 and 4. Right! They are Shortstop Mini Breakers, without any type of reset switch or button. I guess one needs to do a continuity check to see if they have blown...or just simply bridge them. The smaller wired one is a 20 Amp and the larger wired one is a 50 Amp

[Boyd]

Google says: #1 is a High Amp Bolt Down Fuse. I don't know the particular amperage of this fuse as it's not stamped on the outside. Probably a generic that's bought by the factory by the thousands. I'm installing an in-line fuse for my inverter tomorrow and there isn't much "beef" to it. So I'd guess the main fuse, #1, is much larger.

Thanks again everyone for helping me with Battery Electrical basics 101.

[Boyd]

Does your rig have a large inverter in it? That looks like some large cabling (>= 3/0?). The terminal block suggestion seems odd to me too. If that were the purpose, wouldn't it have been easier to just group a few of the wires into one ring lug connector and eliminate the need for an separate terminal block?[/QUOTE]

The converter is 55 Amp inverting to 12.75 volt to the batteries. I don't think that's particulary large, but what do I know...

Right on about using one lug ring, it would have been much easier and less expensive. As you've probably read by now I found it by looking on the web, White-Rodgers 120-105111 solenoid coil 12v DC cont
White-Rodgers 120-105111 solenoid coil 12v DC cont.

[TimeFurnace]

As I said earlier when discussing the circuit breakers, I believe that these are self resetting. They are good for things where you might get a brief spike above a certain level but are better served by having the circuit reset. For example, when I installed a brake controller, I used a self-resetting circuit breaker.

I am not sure what the solenoid is doing unless is part of a system that isolates an inverter or some such. (Your response spoke about your converter, not an inverter. If you are positive that no inverter exists in your rig, perhaps the previous owner removed some electronics but left some wiring in place?

It sure looks like he was doing some "engineering" in there...

[Boyd]

I am not sure what the solenoid is doing unless is part of a system that isolates an inverter or some such. (Your response spoke about your converter, not an inverter. If you are positive that no inverter exists in your rig, perhaps the previous owner removed some electronics but left some wiring in place?

It sure looks like he was doing some "engineering" in there...[/QUOTE]


We bought the rig new two summers ago so all of the pictures is Forrest River wiring.


An inverter did not come as standard equipment. I installed a 400 watt inverter last year but am bumping that up to an 800 watt, pure sine, tomorrow.

[Boyd]

I am not sure what the solenoid is doing unless is part of a system that isolates an inverter or some such. (Your response spoke about your converter, not an inverter. If you are positive that no inverter exists in your rig, perhaps the previous owner removed some electronics but left some wiring in place?

It sure looks like he was doing some "engineering" in there...[/QUOTE]

We picked up the rig two summers ago new. So, all the wiring in the pictures are from Forrest River. There was no inverter but I did install a 400 watt that I'll be bumping up to 800, pure sine, watt tomorrow.

[TimeFurnace]

Thanks for the update. My rig came pretty simple from the factory when I got it about 3 weeks ago. I quickly added my solar panels, inverter, battery monitor, etc so it is no longer simple. Tonight is our 9th night camping in it and it has been pretty nice.

I am a little surprised that the factory install came with one of those high current fuses. That is probably a 175-250A item in there and a base configuration of a trailer probably doesn't have anything in there to pull more than 30A. I suppose if you were simultaneously opening slides, and using power jacks.

Of course, if someone were to look underneath my battery covers, I am sure they would be questioning what I did.

[Boyd]

We picked up the rig two summers ago, new, without an inverter. So, all of the pictures I've posted are of wiring done by Forrest River. I put in a 400 watt inverter but took it out and will be replacing it with an 800 watt pure sine, hopefully tomorrow.

[Boyd]

Originally Posted by TimeFurnace

As I said earlier when discussing the circuit breakers, I believe that these are self resetting. They are good for things where you might get a brief spike above a certain level but are better served by having the circuit reset. For example, when I installed a brake controller, I used a self-resetting circuit breaker.

I am not sure what the solenoid is doing unless is part of a system that isolates an inverter or some such. (Your response spoke about your converter, not an inverter. If you are positive that no inverter exists in your rig, perhaps the previous owner removed some electronics but left some wiring in place?

It sure looks like he was doing some "engineering" in there...

It sure looks like he was doing some "engineering" in there...[/QUOTE]

We picked up the rig two summers ago, new, without an inverter. So, all of the pictures I've posted are of wiring done by Forrest River. I put in a 400 watt inverter but took it out and will be replacing it with an 800 watt pure sine, hopefully tomorrow.

[MikeInColo]

When I hear solenoid, I always think of starter. Do you have a generator? Maybe the solenoid is there for the generator starter?

[Iggy]

Originally Posted by onetonford

1 looks like a master fuse
3 & 4 are Circuit Breakers
2 looks to be a relay Main or slide control power because of the smaller wires to it.

X2

[Boyd]

Originally Posted by Iggy

X2

The official name for #2 is:

"Solenoid w/ Intermittent Duty, Normally Open Continuous Contact Rating 80 Amps (12 VDC Isolated Coil)"

I still am not sure what it is for. Perhaps as the previous post suggested, "Something to do with the onboard generator or as you said, slide power. I guess the only way to find out is trace back the wire and see where it goes.

[Boyd]

Originally Posted by Boyd

The official name for #2 is:

"Solenoid w/ Intermittent Duty, Normally Open Continuous Contact Rating 80 Amps (12 VDC Isolated Coil)"

I still am not sure what it is for. Perhaps as the previous post suggested, "Something to do with the onboard generator or as you said, slide power. I guess the only way to find out is trace back the wire and see where it goes.

How does this sound for the solenoid's purpose?

"A solenoid's function is basically a switch for heavier amperage equipment. Your slideout motor uses a lot of amperage so the switch on your dash or wherever is a low amp switch that would tell this solenoid to turn on and off to operate the high amperage motor."

[dlhoppe]

That is exactly the reason to use a solenoid (relay).