Replaced the Battery and now Problems

[Fred and Christine]

Went out to the 5th wheel this morning to turn on the Fridge before leaving for a week and the battery was almost dead. (2013 320RS}It's almost 5 years old so I went and bought a new one. Now the slides and landing gear work backwards. To put the slide OUT I need to push IN. To Retract the landing gear I need to push EXTEND. The lights in the living room that are on a dimmer are ON and I cannot get them to shut off and no electric to the Fridge. And yes the battery is connected properly.
Any ideas? maybe the converter?

[ependydad]

DC motors operate in reverse when connected backwards to a battery.

I know you said it’s hooked up properly but sure sounds like it might not be.

[flyflotrtim]

Originally Posted by ependydad

DC motors operate in reverse when connected backwards to a battery.

I know you said it’s hooked up properly but sure sounds like it might not be.

that is my thought also.

[Fred and Christine]

That was my first thought. I think I'll take it back to battery and bulbs in the morning and have it tested.
Thanks!

[Qwkynuf]

Originally Posted by Fred and Christine

That was my first thought. I think I'll take it back to battery and bulbs in the morning and have it tested.
Thanks!

Before you take it back out, look at the battery and the cables. Don't rely on the position of the posts, look at the markings. Every modern batter I have see has each post's polarity molded in to the battery case. Make sure that your positive cable is connected to the positive terminal, and negative to negative.

Be aware that if you did connect it backwards, you likely blew fuses. So if you see it was wrong, and you fix it, you will want to test and troubleshoot all of your DC powered circuits. You will likely be replacing fuses and possibly resetting circuit breakers.

Good luck

[CHICKDOE]

did the slides and lights operate normally before you replaced the batterie(s)? is all you did was replace the batterie(s)? if yes to both of these questions you have the batterie(s) hooked up in reverse.

[Flybob]

Reversed connections on the battery explain what you are seeing.
If you have LED lighting in the RV they should not operate.


If you can follow battery cables, one should be short and go to the frame ( ground). If you have a meter. Disconnect battery. Measure resistance between frame and both connectors on the power wires. ( make sure you are not connected to shore power or have solar on). The negative cable should have close to zero resistance to ground. The positive cable will have a higher resistance. Remember RV wiring does not follow a standard like Auto or residential wiring.

[GrampaRowland]

Batteries are not always exactly the same on top.
By comparing the tops of both batteries you may discover that they are not the same.
If that is true, then when you put the battery in you put it in 180° off from the original battery. That would have the terminals in the right appearance, however they would be reversed by positive and negative. If you put the battery in backwards, there's also the possibility that it could have destroyed some of the other devices in your trailer.

[Scubanut]

Originally Posted by Fred and Christine

Went out to the 5th wheel this morning to turn on the Fridge before leaving for a week and the battery was almost dead. (2013 320RS}It's almost 5 years old so I went and bought a new one. Now the slides and landing gear work backwards. To put the slide OUT I need to push IN. To Retract the landing gear I need to push EXTEND. The lights in the living room that are on a dimmer are ON and I cannot get them to shut off and no electric to the Fridge. And yes the battery is connected properly.

Any ideas? maybe the converter?

White wire on your trailer is normally the negative circuit. Also check your reverse polarity fuses in your converter.

[AirDave]

Originally Posted by Fred and Christine

Went out to the 5th wheel this morning to turn on the Fridge before leaving for a week and the battery was almost dead. (2013 320RS}It's almost 5 years old so I went and bought a new one. Now the slides and landing gear work backwards. To put the slide OUT I need to push IN. To Retract the landing gear I need to push EXTEND. The lights in the living room that are on a dimmer are ON and I cannot get them to shut off and no electric to the Fridge. And yes the battery is connected properly.
Any ideas? maybe the converter?

A very common mistake is when purchasing a new battery, the LAYOUT of the terminals look the same when they are not! Most parts houses - you apparently went to Batteries+ - will ask you "when looking down from the top, which corner is the positive terminal on". Batteries can be configured either way. If your original battery(s) had the positive on one corner and you bought the new one with the positive on a different corner, that is you problem. That being said, as the others have stated, the cables probably couldn't be hooked up well due to differing lengths - maybe yours could though. If you can't figure this out, call the manufacturer or your trailer service department and ask the tech to walk you through!

[CHICKDOE]

I ran into this on my wife’s car when I replaced the battery. There are group 24 and group 24F batteries. The difference is the battery terminals are reversed between the two. In our case the existing cables were not long enough to attach to the proper terminals of a group 24 battery. The worked perfectly on the group 24F.

[awellis3]

There is another explanation. When I worked as a VW mechanic, the batteries we got from VW came to our shop dry. I added the electrolyte right before I installed the battery. After filling the battery, I would place it on a charger to ensure correct polarity. (If a battery is totally dead, you can bring it back to life with polarity reversed.) The OP is going to have it tested so this far-out possibility will be eliminated.

[AirDave]

Originally Posted by CHICKDOE

I ran into this on my wife’s car when I replaced the battery. There are group 24 and group 24F batteries. The difference is the battery terminals are reversed between the two. In our case the existing cables were not long enough to attach to the proper terminals of a group 24 battery. The worked perfectly on the group 24F.

The 24F battery is a Ford design! Why, who knows but Ford...lol!
There are, as you probably know, several groups which are the size of the battery - Group 24, Group 31, etc. Hopefully the person who started this thread can get his issue figured out.

[dnicoll]

But, if the battery was connected reverse polarity - wouldn’t the reverse polarity fuses blow? Typically (I think?) two fuses in the fuse panel and a battery installed reverse polarity would take out both fuses? In which case nothing would work.

[BehindBars]

Here is some fun reading about switches working in reverse: https://www.forestriverforums.com/fo...ds-210995.html

[Daniel.mullins4]

It is possible the battery supplier initially charged the battery in reverse, to check place the dc volt meter pos to pos, neg to neg, if the volt meter reads -12v then battery was charged in reverse polarity, take it back, now I believe the reverse polarity fuse will only blow when connected to shore power, never happened to me just a thought

[AirDave]

Originally Posted by dnicoll

But, if the battery was connected reverse polarity - wouldn’t the reverse polarity fuses blow? Typically (I think?) two fuses in the fuse panel and a battery installed reverse polarity would take out both fuses? In which case nothing would work.

On our trailer, I had hooked up the two smaller gauge wires that are on the battery terminals backwards. I'm not able to look at my configuration now, but once I switched the black and white wires everything came back on and worked fine. The wires are black and white usually. I would call the manufacturer or a dealer that sells your brand and ask them.

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by AirDave

The 24F battery is a Ford design! Why, who knows but Ford...lol!

Strangely enough, that's the type battery that came in my late wife's Chrysler New Yorker.

That post orientation was always called a "Ford Battery" but in reality it has to do totally with the need to get the positive terminal in a certain position to both make for efficient wire routing but also to make sure there isn't something nearby (like where fender pieces are bolted/welded together and might overhang battery top. Same with other battery groups as batteries can be mounted on either side and with possible clearance issues. Don't want that positive post coming in contact with body parts.

One thing to note, if your battery has regular posts instead of just threaded terminals, the POSITIVE post is LARGER than the negative.

[wmtire]

Originally Posted by BehindBars

Here is some fun reading about switches working in reverse: https://www.forestriverforums.com/fo...ds-210995.html

Yes, thanks for the link to that thread as I was going to post the same. The OP is going to have a battery physically connected in reverse.... or a reversed polarity battery.


The thread link above will explain both.

[CHICKDOE]

24F battery is used in my wife's toyota land cruiser.