House battery hook up ???

georgeblack · 05-19-2010, 08:25 PM

@005 Newmar K.Star - Cummins 350 - Just bought and previous owner had replaced two 6V house batteries with one 12V just to show everything was working. I have just bought two deep cycle 6V batteries
and hooked them up. All is good but I have one wire left over. I hooked the pos. to pos. of one battery and the neg. to neg of other battery with a wire from pos. to neg. between the pair. One person suggested might be
a ground but seems to me batteries are already grounded to the house grnd. Another person suggested coach may have had a thermo switch cut
off between the two batteries to cut current if system over heats.

Any ideas please ??

Thanks
georgeblack

Richard S. · 05-19-2010, 08:38 PM

Not sure that you are connected correctly. Link below
RV Batteries Wiring Diagrams

**RV Wizard** · 05-20-2010, 02:44 AM

Hello georgeblack and welcome to iRV2.com. We are glad to have you join us here and we look forward to reading of your adventures and experiences. I am sure you will enjoy the website and forums. Congratulations on your new to you Kountry Star.
It is not uncommon to have more than on cable for the 12volt - post. One for the frame,one for the generator and even one for the inverter or converter. This is also true for the 12 volt + side. One for generator, one for inverter or converter.
Good luck and keep us posted.

Cousin Ed · 05-20-2010, 06:26 AM

I'm not any type of electrical guy but to get 12V you need to hook them up positive to negative so the two 6s add up to 12.

wa8yxm · 05-20-2010, 07:43 AM

Odds are the left over wire is a "Hot" wire (positive)

Do this, With the odd wire not connected , hook a volt meter to it (The black lead of the volt meter goes to the chassis or to the negative battery lead)

Is there voltage (y/n)

Plug the rig in Now is there voltage (y/n) See 1

Now test EVERYTHING. including the battery disconnect system if there is one.

Does everythign work properly?

If this is a trailer.. Pull the break-a-way switch for the brakes.. Did they go CLUNK

If voltage appears when you plug in.. converter lead, goes to battery positive

If brakes did not go CLUNK or something else did not work. Hook volt meter between battery positive (Red) and mystery wire (Black) and try again.. If suddenly the meter shows voltage (Say when you pull the break-a-way) it is a battery positive lead

One final suggestion.......

When you are done, and have it hooked up properly

RED SPRAY PAINT (or nail polish) all wires on the positive side

Black on the negative

**Gary RVRoamer** · 05-20-2010, 10:31 AM

Odds are that extra wire goes to the +12v post. It most likely powers a relay to operate the battery disconnect switch. Once the battery disconnect is "off", the relay needs an independent source of 12v power to be able to switch back on again. It might also power an LP detector or other safety device that needs to have power even if the battery disconnect is in the Off position.

bigskymt · 05-20-2010, 10:56 AM

My '04 Newmar KSDP has only one extra wire that runs to a temp. sensor on the side of 1 battery case. It's possible when the previous owner removed the batteries he didn't remove the sensor.
Does the end of the wire have a terminal on it?

georgeblack · 05-21-2010, 09:31 PM

Thanks to all for the suggestions. I likely did not explain clearly. The wire I am referring to is not connected to anything at either end. There were two wires lying in the battery box. One red and one black. Both have the
circular terminals at each ends. I used the red one to connect from the
negative of one battery to the positive of the other battery. As mentioned
everything in the coach seems to be working. I was just trying to figure out what the other wire may have been for.

Bigskymt - Could you describe exactly what your wiring looks like. eg: I have two large (black)cables that run into the coach. I connected them to the - pole of one battery and I have one large (red) cable that runs into the coach which I connected to the + pole of the 2nd battery. I then used the heavier of the two loose cables (it is red) to run from the + of one battery to the - of the other battery. This left me with one remaining wire which happens to be black and looks like it may have been added after the coach was built because it looks to be slightly smaller than the red one. It also has those terminals that you can get at the hardware store and crimp on to any wire. It just doesn't look like a factory origin.

Can you tell me 1) Are your batteries set up like I described above ie: one wire joining the two batteries + to - and 2) the extra wire you described, where does it originnate (which terminal) and does it go to this sensor
and stop or does it carry on after the sensor ?

Thanks
georgeblack

jimkate · 05-21-2010, 10:38 PM

Are these extra wires battery cable size, or light wires with ends on them to hook onto the battery cable bolts? Maybe they are for a small battery charger for the house batteries?

M&EM · 05-21-2010, 11:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by georgeblack

@005 Newmar K.Star - Cummins 350 - Just bought and previous owner had replaced two 6V house batteries with one 12V just to show everything was working. I have just bought two deep cycle 6V batteries
and hooked them up. All is good but I have one wire left over. I hooked the pos. to pos. of one battery and the neg. to neg of other battery with a wire from pos. to neg. between the pair. One person suggested might be
a ground but seems to me batteries are already grounded to the house grnd. Another person suggested coach may have had a thermo switch cut
off between the two batteries to cut current if system over heats.

Any ideas please ??

Thanks
georgeblack

My guess is that the previous owner may have had 2 (as in a pair), 12 volt batteries connected in parallel and would have used the 2 jumpers described in above posts to complete the connections. The red one to connect to the positives and the black one to connect to the negatives.

Marty

bigskymt · 05-22-2010, 09:06 AM

Are you saying you only have only two 6 volt batteries?
It sounds like you are connected properly for two 6 volts. Most DPs have four 6 volt batteries.
The 2" round disc "sensor" attaches to the side of one battery case in my application. Two small (20-22 ga) wires in a cable run from it.
I can take a photo if it would help.

georgeblack · 05-26-2010, 08:12 PM

Thanks for your last. I think you may be correct. As mentioned earlier, when I took delivery of the vehicle it had only one 12 battery for the house. Some where I read
that the house batteries should be 6 v so I presumed (two 6 V to make 12V). When
I received your last my initial thought was "I don't even have room in my battery tray
for 4 batteries". Then it occurred to me to take a look at the tray and sure enough there is this big empty space that would nicely fit two more batteries. I will call Newmar tomorrow and ask them how many batteries the unit had when it was built.
I am guessing it probably should be 4. Having said that when you have a minute could you tell me how yours are connected. I will go and get two more batteries
but I am not sure how to hook them in. Thanks george

bigskymt · 05-27-2010, 08:44 AM

George: Here is a photo of the battery setup. I did an RV Battery Bank Google search and found this website that shows a good wiring diagram. www.macandchris.com/RVBatteries.htm
I'm not too good with attachments and such so I hope this works out.
Good Luck

georgeblack · 05-29-2010, 09:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigskymt

George: Here is a photo of the battery setup. I did an RV Battery Bank Google search and found this website that shows a good wiring diagram. www.macandchris.com/RVBatteries.htm
I'm not too good with attachments and such so I hope this works out.
Good Luck

Thanks very much. It opened fine and agree it is a great diagram.
Much appreciate all your help. george