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Old 12-02-2021, 01:51 PM   #1
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Battery wiring

Hey guys, I'm new here. I have a 1994 vectra, I believe it's model M-31RQ. SOMEONE STOLE A BATTERY FROM UNDER THE STEPS COMPARTMENT. I GOT A SECOND BATTERY REPLACEMENT. THE PROBLEM IS, I CANNOT FIGURE OUT WHICH WIRES GO ONTO WHICH BATTERY. I have included a photo of the batteries and loose cables. I have labeled what wire I think go where and put a question mark on top of the cables that I'm unsure of. I'm guessing it should be pretty easy for anybody who knows anything about batteries in motorhomes. Please, whatever help you can offer I appreciate it. I have no electricity and the solution seems pretty simple but I don't want to start a fire. Thank you very much.
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Old 12-02-2021, 04:27 PM   #2
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Tough to say for sure as I am not looking at your coach, but if you have 12V batteries and a 12V system the batteries would be wired in parallel, meaning positive to positive and negative to negative. then from the combined positive line to the coach and same with the negative. If you connect pos to neg you are hooking in series which would give you 24V
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Old 12-02-2021, 04:42 PM   #3
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Where is your Chassis Battery located?
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Old 12-03-2021, 07:08 AM   #4
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It's difficult to tell from your photo if you have two 6V or two 12V batteries, which is critical and makes all the difference in the world as to how they should be connected. If you have one 6V and one 12V, you have a big problem. As soon as you can verify your battery voltage, we can help.

Your ? labels show black battery's neg to green battery's pos and black battery's pos to green battery's neg. This is correct only for two 6V batteries. Were you to connect two 12V batteries in this way, they'd output 24V and cause significant damage to your MH's 12V system.

Your pre-existing battery looks pretty old. It's usually recommended that new batteries shouldn't be paired with old batteries so your best bet is to buy another "green" battery after the voltage issue is settled. Note that there are differing opinions on this subject but from the looks of it, I'd say you're headed for a replacement soon anyway. If you know from the date sticker that it's fairly new (one or two years), you'll probably be OK. Any older and I'd replace it. Both batteries should also be of similar capacity in terms of Amp Hours (Ah).
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Old 12-03-2021, 10:02 AM   #5
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I studied your photo yesterday and wanted to reply, but the photo just isn't clear enough to know for sure what you have.

I do think you have 12v batteries and they would be wired neg to neg and pos to pos. But then the wires to take the battery power to the chassis look a bit confused in the photo. So, I erased my response.

The really odd thing is I searched and searched your model's wiring diagrams and find nothing about the battery wiring. Usually Winnebago will provide such a diagram in the wiring diagram layouts for each model. I even searched a few other model years and there is nothing. Not that I could find anyway.

All of this assumes that your chassis battery (engine starting battery) is somewhere else on your RV.

And BobC is correct - you really need to replace the one missing battery with two brand new batteries. It's never good to have one new battery and one old and used battery.
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Old 12-03-2021, 12:38 PM   #6
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After studying the photo, and zooming in on it, it would appear that the batteries were connected in parallel. I can see the negative lead coming from the old battery which was probably connected to the missing batteries negative post, and same for the red positive lead.
Otherwise, those two negative black coach leads laying in your photo near the new battery, would have been connected to the old battery still there. Make sense?
You could connect the two black cables (lying near the new battery) to the old battery’s negative terminal, and see if you get power to the RV, (assuming it has a charge). You won’t have the full ah you would with two batteries, but you don’t need that just to test it out. If it’s a 24v system you won’t hurt anything, just not have enough voltage to run anything. If it works, amd you have some power in the rv, you have a 12 volts system and can wire them up accordingly.

Did you already have two batteries of different age, and that’s why they took the newer one?

Oh, and I concur with everyone else. If you have the wherewithal to do so, replace both batteries at once.
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Old 12-03-2021, 12:55 PM   #7
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Judging from the space available and the extra connections I was wondering if there were originally three batteries in the tray, as in maybe a chassis battery along with two house batteries. Just can't tell from the information provided. That's why I asked about where the chassis battery was.


With no responses, maybe they figured it all out, fingers crossed for them.
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Old 12-03-2021, 03:30 PM   #8
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The Chassis Wiring Installation diagram for your coach shows the battery wiring.

https://www.winnebago.com/Files/File...994/110896.pdf
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Old 12-03-2021, 03:49 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cbeierl View Post
The Chassis Wiring Installation diagram for your coach shows the battery wiring.
According to the diagrams, there should be three batteries in the tray, two house batteries and a starting battery. There's no way to tell from the photo if the missing battery is a house or starting battery.

Also, if the missing battery is a house battery and the black battery is the starting battery, and the OP bought the green battery based on the black battery's specs, he may have two starting batteries. If he does, there's really no harm done since the black battery needs replacing in any case.

I'm guessing the thief might have made off with the two house batteries, which makes the most sense. Thieves, on the other hand, aren't known for being smart.

I hope the OP checks in soon with more information, including battery specs, model numbers, etc. Otherwise we're shooting in the dark.
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Old 12-03-2021, 07:01 PM   #10
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Does this help?
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Old 12-03-2021, 08:48 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cbeierl View Post
The Chassis Wiring Installation diagram for your coach shows the battery wiring.

https://www.winnebago.com/Files/Files/Winnebago/Resources/Diagram/1994/110896.pdf"
Replacing the link which somehow disappeared: Chassis Wiring Installation
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