Battery hook up

[Zeus1972]

We just discovered over the weekend in our 2007 Roo 21ss. We tried hooking up the battery by turning off all power. When we connected the ground wire it sparked meaning there is a short in the battery wiring system somewhere not sure how to find and and not even sure since we always use electric hook up on our site if we need to worry about it. We did connect the red to the postive and the white wire to the negative.

[cfo111]

That may not be true there my be something left on pulling power anything inside like refrigerator,tv can draw power even off, convertor.

[CHICKDOE]

Most likely something is left on. If you had a direct short in the 12 volt system it would be there and short out the converter when you plugged into shore power. That would blow the converter fuses and you wouldn’t have ant 12 volt power. At least that’s my thoughts.

[mysery1]

I've only had 2 trailers, a popup and a tt. In both cases the CO monitor is wired direct to the battery.

[Zeus1972]

So now you guys or gals have me thinking we have pulled the fuse from the Propane detector since it is outdated and purchased a new plug in style which I know I unplugged but I also know we didn't turn off the refrigerator. I try to remember to unplug everything do you think that or the microwave being plugged in could be the problem. I have never had to do this before so I wanna do it right.

[wharfrat48]

I see a small spark every time I connect my neg cable to the battery. I don't think it indicates anything is wrong, does it?

[ependydad]

Originally Posted by Zeus1972

So now you guys or gals have me thinking we have pulled the fuse from the Propane detector since it is outdated and purchased a new plug in style which I know I unplugged but I also know we didn't turn off the refrigerator. I try to remember to unplug everything do you think that or the microwave being plugged in could be the problem. I have never had to do this before so I wanna do it right.

You're mixing 120v items and 12v items. The battery only comes into place for 12v items - things like lights, propane detector, CO detector (which is usually 1 thing), radio, bathroom vent fans, breakaway switch/brakes, and fridge if it runs off of battery+propane, etc. These are the fuses in your power distribution panel.

120v items are things like the household plug for the fridge, microwave, and really anything else that plugs into a standard household outlet.

If you're getting a spark, it's because there is a 12v draw on the system.

[Flybob]

Any 12V item with a remote ( Radio) etc will be drawing a small amount of power. I would not worry about a small spark as it just indicates something is on.

[Zeus1972]

Alright so hubbie just told me that we didn't turn off the fridge and when he connected the white ground wire it sparked and kept sparking would that be the fridge causing that. I wanna try again this weekend so wE have the battery if we need it but this scares me.

[Chuck_S]

Kept sparking?!

-- Chuck

[dward51]

By "turned everything off" did you also disconnect from 120v power (unplug the trailer)? If not the converter is still running and producing current to the battery. That would make the spark you described. Even if the battery was fully charged, the converter will cycle through to determine the state of charge and spark a little.

FYI, your car/truck will do the same thing when you hook the battery back up. Little phantom loads abound.

[Zeus1972]

Originally Posted by dward51

By "turned everything off" did you also disconnect from 120v power (unplug the trailer)? If not the converter is still running and producing current to the battery. That would make the spark you described. Even if the battery was fully charged, the converter will cycle through to determine the state of charge and spark a little.

FYI, your car/truck will do the same thing when you hook the battery back up. Little phantom loads abound.

We did not unplug the trailer. We turned off the main switch at the plug. Will try doing it this way again this weekend unpluging at the main and turning everything off inside the camper. Fingers crossed that it works.

[llr]

Are you sure the correct wires are hooked to the correct battery terminals? The color codes are not very standard so you need to pay attention to what is connected where.

Is there ant damage to the terminal or battery where the spark cam from? If it was actually a short there should be some melting and black marks. If not I wouldn't worry about it to much.

[wharfrat48]

Originally Posted by Chuck_S

Kept sparking?!

-- Chuck

I have the same question as Chuck.... what do you mean by kept sparking? Once the battery is connected (the circuit is completed) there should be no sparking. A small spark when the initial contact with the battery is made is OK, but constant sparking would indicate a short/bad battery/wires connected to incorrect terminals.

[Zeus1972]

Originally Posted by llr

Are you sure the correct wires are hooked to the correct battery terminals? The color codes are not very standard so you need to pay attention to what is connected where.

Is there ant damage to the terminal or battery where the spark cam from? If it was actually a short there should be some melting and black marks. If not I wouldn't worry about it to much.

I did trace the white wire back and it is connected to the frame and the red wire goes further and up into the camper so I am hoping that is correct. There is no damage to the battery or the terminal that I can see.

[Chuck_S]

Kept sparking -- as in sparking continuously?!

-- Chuck