Mystery wire

[ACDNate]

2008 Winnebago Journey 39z

I picked this motor home up a couple weeks ago now. Been going through everything making sure all is up to snuff. Bulbs, clean up etc

Upon investigating the battery compartment I found a large gauge wire tucked behind the batteries. Wire is black but the terminal appears to be painted red.

I broke out the multi-meter to see what's what.

Taking the positive meter lead to the terminal of the mystery wire and grounding to chassis and battery ground I got no voltage.

Taking the positive lead to the battery and negative lead to the terminal of the random wire shows 13ish volts.

So my gut says this is a ground wire. Not sure why its not tied in. First instinct is to bolt it on to a ground terminal and go. But I don't want to screw something up.

Any suggestions???

 

[Phil-T]

2008 Winnebago Journey 39z

Any suggestions???

Seems like you got it figured out. Someone probably disconnected it to prevent battery drain.

 

[cbeierl]

Here's the Chassis Wiring Installation diagram for you coach, in case it's helpful. If you zoom in on the battery in the diagram it's possible the wiring shown there may be helpful.

 

[BCam]

Is your converter working properly? I found that the black -/red + convention doesn't apply to the converter hookup in my 2002 Suncruiser 35U. You can read my post at:

http://www.winnieowners.com/forums/f260/converter-replacement-be-careful-with-dc-hook-up-350868.html

However, check your wiring diagram first and confirm everything with a multimeter before hooking anything up.

 

[ACDNate]

Funny you ask. I have been having an intermittent issue with the inverter/charger. It will sometimes shut off about half the 12v circuits in the coach including the control panels. To get it back running we have to shut off 110v breaker for inverter, wait a few and reset.

 

[rogerlee]

strange wire

First does the inverter run all the time second have you checked the water level in your batteries. only asking I was having odd elect. problems and inverter ran all the time and the batteries were all low on water when I checked them every month. Found out a wire was off my battery cables that told inverter charger that batteries were charged. Ended up burning up 2 sets of batteries in 4 yrs.Hooked up wire and installed new set of batteries and the batteries have been full of water for last 2 yrs. Remember to use distilled water in batteries.Hope this is of help

 

[BCam]

First does the inverter run all the time second have you checked the water level in your batteries. only asking I was having odd elect. problems and inverter ran all the time and the batteries were all low on water when I checked them every month. Found out a wire was off my battery cables that told inverter charger that batteries were charged. Ended up burning up 2 sets of batteries in 4 yrs.Hooked up wire and installed new set of batteries and the batteries have been full of water for last 2 yrs. Remember to use distilled water in batteries.Hope this is of help

I think you mean "converter" not "inverter", the converter converts 120v to 12v and charges the house batteries. The inverter converts 12v to 120v.

 

[ACDNate]

I think you mean "converter" not "inverter", the converter converts 120v to 12v and charges the house batteries. The inverter converts 12v to 120v.

I'm still wrapping my head around the whole thing but the wiring diagrams suck. They are actually quite thorough but the battery layout really doesnt help in thia case.

I talked to a mobile rv repair guy I used once before on a pull behind. He had two reccomendations (and didn't want to touch the job)

1. Ditch the Dimensions unit and move to a Xantex (spelling?)

2. Re the wire, he said Winnebago's tech line might be able to help. Also stated a lot of Winnebago wiring is printed with labels (part #s) that may be of help.

 

[cbeierl]

I think you mean "converter" not "inverter", the converter converts 120v to 12v and charges the house batteries. The inverter converts 12v to 120v.

The OP has a 2000W inverter/charger which incorporates a 100W (?) 12V charger along with the 120v inverter. No separate converter.

 

[ACDNate]

This Dimensions unit apparently is the inverter/converter/charger all in one if i'm understanding it correctly.

 

[BCam]

My bad.

 

[ACDNate]

So i was pulling my alternator today as it crapped out on the way back from a trip last week. Noticed more oddities.

When i pulled the negative on the chassis batteries i noticed those terminals were painted red as well. What's with all the red grounds on this thing???

 

[BCam]

My take-away from all of this is to never, never take a color code for granted, even if it matches the schematic. Always double-check with a multimeter. Who knows, maybe they ran out of black?

Another thing to remember is that polarity depends on where you are in a circuit. For example, if a positive, red wire goes to a two terminal device, the wire "leaving" the device at the second terminal is legitimately negative (and could appropriately be black) at that point but, if it goes to another device in series, it now is positive again going into the second device and negative again as it leaves.

To make things even more confusing, we Winnebago owners are dealing with circuitry from two sources, Winnebago and the chassis manufacturer.

 

[njlwa]

There is an anti corrode product that is red, could that be what you are seeing?

Are these termina the standard lead or 5/16 lugs. If the lead type the pos and neg are different inside diameters.

 

[ACDNate]

There is an anti corrode product that is red, could that be what you are seeing?

Are these termina the standard lead or 5/16 lugs. If the lead type the pos and neg are different inside diameters.

I'm pretty sure it's not an anti corrode product. it doesn't wipe off.

I didn't make note of the inside diameters.