Battery Cables

[Jersey Jim]

I am installing our new house batteries today, they finally arrived after a several month backorder.

Looking at the cables that connect the batteries, I see a set of cables with clamps at the end that are just connected to the battery strap. Does anyone know what these are for, I presume that they must be to connect another battery or something, since they have been this way since we got the RV, and everything worked fine until the batteries failed this year. In the attached picture, they are clamped to the battery strap in the upper right hand corner of the picture.

Thanks for any help.

[Tombsy]

My guess is maybe there is an inverter or air compressor somewhere?

[Thomas ho]

You need to put baking soda on terminal ends and brush clean . A dab of grease on ends and posts will cut down on corrosion. AGM batteries dont corrode at terminals, cost more but last longer. Those corroded terminals are hindering your charge and battery power usage. Clamp cables ?, trace them out.

[Reverse_snowbird]

Speculating....Perhaps they connect the house batteries to the chassis battery for an emergency start...hard to tell from the picture

[Duckogram]

I did the same thing a month or so ago. Suggestions: After removal of your deados you might want to flush out the battery box with a baking soda solution. Rinse n dry. Then I coated the box with flexseal. Heavy brush on so it leveled out.
I had also added a screen over the vent hole to keep critters out. The flexseal will keep the box from corroding and also keep the batteries from sliding.

As for your clamps. Are you the first owner? If not, they may be running to the chassis battery to charge it from the converter charger. Not a great idea but better than nothing. Also could be what Brian said.

[Jersey Jim]

Originally Posted by Duckogram

I did the same thing a month or so ago. Suggestions: After removal of your deados you might want to flush out the battery box with a baking soda solution. Rinse n dry. Then I coated the box with flexseal. Heavy brush on so it leveled out.
I had also added a screen over the vent hole to keep critters out. The flexseal will keep the box from corroding and also keep the batteries from sliding.

As for your clamps. Are you the first owner? If not, they may be running to the chassis battery to charge it from the converter charger. Not a great idea but better than nothing. Also could be what Brian said.

Thanks, did the wash out today, letting it do the final dry overnight, will probably put the batteries in tomorrow. Probably will do the flexseal.

We are the 2nd owner, I am thinking that the cables might be for the solar panel that we were given by the previous owner. We have never used it, but during our walkthrough, the previous owner showed me how to hook it up, and now I am recalling that the cables may be for connection to the solar panel.

Thank you for your comment.

[Jersey Jim]

Originally Posted by Reverse_snowbird

Speculating....Perhaps they connect the house batteries to the chassis battery for an emergency start...hard to tell from the picture

We do have that capability, there is a cutover switch near the drivers seat that can be held down that will let the vehicle be started from the house batteries. I guess that capability might be needed during an extended dry camping stay where the inside radio is powered from the vehicle batter and if it is used quite a bit.

Thank you for commenting.