I just replaced the converter/charger in my 2002 Itasca Suncruiser 35U with a multi-stage converter/charger and discovered that the wire connecting the positive terminal of the converter to the battery is black, not red!
I'm partially color blind (often confusing red and green) so I assumed I had a large black wire = Neg, a large red wire = Pos, and a smaller green wire = ground. I'd already disconnected the battery and the old converter.
Wrong!
![Facepalm](https://www.winnieowners.com/forums/images/smilies/facepalm.gif)
After I hooked everything up and plugged in the converter, I blew both 40 amp fuses on the converter.
After disconnecting the converter, I reconnected the battery and checked polarity with my multimeter. I had my wife look at the wire colors and what I thought was a large red wire and a smaller green wire was actually two red wires. Black = Pos, Large Red = Neg and Small Red (not green) = Ground.
To make things even more confusing, Winnebago's wiring diagram for my 2002 35U shows a black = pos and two greens, one for neg and one for ground.
After replacing the fuses, the converter seems to be OK so I've reconnected everything and it's putting out the correct voltage and not blowing the fuses. I'll check later to see if it's stepping through the stages.
I'm not new to DC circuitry, having owned several sailboats, a trailer, numerous vehicles and, to top it off, I'm a Ham radio operator. I know I should have checked everything out with a multimeter first (or had double-checked when I disconnected the old converter) but I still think Winnebago should have used Red = Pos, Black = Neg and either Black or Green for ground. And why they used two reds instead of the two greens specified in their schematic is beyond me.
I didn't check the wiring diagrams for any other models so be careful, your's may be different. To avoid any future issues, I'm marking all three wires with tape and a Sharpie as to their function.