Battery Hookup Question

qtla9111 · 06-03-2011, 01:29 PM

Yes, I have had my FF for over eight months and am now just getting ready to buy batteries. The places we have gone, mostly boondocking, we use the generator and battery powered LEDs.

So now I am ready to install batteries, two 6V deep cycle. Here is what the cabling looks like.

Which is positive, negative and ground? I have green with a built in fuse, a black and a white.

Thanks in advance.

webslave · 06-03-2011, 04:38 PM

Black w/ white stripe is positive, white is negative.

The green fused wire? Could your FF have had, at one time, a power jack? Is it possible the previous owner had a powr jack installed, but, removed it and put the "stock" manual jack back in place while leaving the power lead for the jack? My black w/ white stripe has a green section of wire spliced into it that has a fuse, however, that is the trailer's main fusible link for the battery bank and wouldn't be hanging down with no terminal mounted to it.

qtla9111 · 06-03-2011, 06:17 PM

[quote="webslave"]Black w/ white stripe is positive, white is negative.

The green fused wire? Could your FF have had, at one time, a power jack? Is it possible the previous owner had a powr jack installed, but, removed it and put the "stock" manual jack back in place while leaving the power lead for the jack? My black w/ white stripe has a green section of wire spliced into it that has a fuse, however, that is the trailer's main fusible link for the battery bank and wouldn't be hanging down with no terminal mounted to it.[/quote

It is a 2008 but was new out of the box.

fourfourto · 06-04-2011, 05:05 AM

ismt the green wire for the trailer brake ?

webslave · 06-04-2011, 04:14 PM

Where does the other end of the green wire go? I'm not aware of any wiring of that gauge, going to the tongue, that is "standard issue". Your break away switch uses a black wire, ~12 ga, and your electric brakes don't come off the wiring at the tongue. Your 7 pin connector should go to a central distribution box, along with the black (+) and white (-) wires from the battery...from the distribution box they split off to the various components of the electrical system; converter, trailer running lights, trailer turn signals, electric brakes, etc. All of those wires run aft of the front bulkhead, not, back up to the area where the batteries mount (behind the LPG tanks and foreward of the front bulkhead).

The brake's wiring comes off the distribution box (where the 7 pin connector cable goes) and runs aft along the trailer's streetside frame where it branches off to the brakes at the axle mounts and doesn't contain a seperate fuse (for safety purposes). The brake wire is also heavier gauge wire than what your green one appears to be.

Here's a couple of pictures of the wiring at my battery. The black wire with white stripe is connected to the battery's + post. You can see the green wire with fuse spliced into it near the left rear corner of the battery box. My power jack's power wire is also connected to the secondary + post by the red wire and fuse assembly looped under the battery handle. The white wire is connected to the - post of the battery. That should be all the battery connections.

Your black/wh stripe cable doesn't have a connector and your green wire with the fuse looks like it has been "ripped" out of something...how was your previous battery hooked up? You mentioned "new out of the box '08", but, the condition of those cables doesn't look "new". You should have gotten the TT with at least one battery installed...it isn't legal to tow one without a battery installed for the break-away switch to be active.

qtla9111 · 06-06-2011, 05:09 AM

The trailer was a consignment from the factory to the dealer. The dealer went broke and Cruiser took back the units. They sold it directly to me. Everything was still in the box and new. There was no battery when it was delivered.

I guess I should call the factory and ask for advice. I am buying my batteries this week.

webslave · 06-06-2011, 08:10 AM

You can call the factory, but, in the meantime, the black w/ white stripe would go to the positive post on the battery and the white will be your negative / ground wire.

For the most part, electrical wiring (12v) is set up such that only the "hot" lead (positive lead) gets a fuse and that fuse is before the load; i.e., battery positive, wire, fuse, wire then load / device then a ground, either wired or directly to the frame. You can hook up the black/white stripe and white wires to your battery(ies) and then look for the device(s) that don't work. That would be what the green wire powers...

qtla9111 · 06-13-2011, 08:00 PM

Webslave, I noticed in your pictures you have the same green cable but as you said it is spliced into the black cable. Two questions:

What does your green cable with the built in fuse do?

Should I just do the same thing and splice the green cable into the black?

I attempted to call Cruiser and was switched over to DRV. The guy said he had no idea. I asked him if I could send a picture and he was irritated that I aske him twice for his email. I still didn't get it right so I blew it off.

We are getting close to our departure date of July 9th and I need to get the batteries installed.

Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions. We have no rv dealers here in Mexico or repair facilities so I am pretty much on my own. My experience with Cruiser was less than stellar since I purchased the trailer.

webslave · 06-14-2011, 08:03 AM

The green cable with the fuse (mine) is spliced into the positive cable that goes to the battery... It is the main fusible link for the 12v power...should there be a direct short of the 12v pos cable (rubbing the frame before going into the TT, for instance), it would blow the 30 amp fuse and, in effect, disconnect the battery.

Your green wire, on the other hand, only has one free end... I don't imagine that it is the main fusible link for your TT. If it were, the ends would be attached between the TT and the disconnected end of your black w/ wh. stripe (pos) cable. On yours, it is obviously a separate wire to something...the question is what (that's why I thought maybe a power jack). You can see my power jack wire (red at the positive side of the battery) with its own fuse in my picture.

I would go ahead and install your battery(ies) and hook the white to the negative side and the black w/ white stripe to the positive side. That should give you power to the 12v mains of the TT. Once you have power to the mains, look for something that doesn't work...that will be what the green wire (in your photo) with fuse is for... If you can't find anything that doesn't work, take a 12 volt tester and see if there is current flowing through the green wire by putting the positive wire of the tester to the green wire and the negative wire of the tester to the frame of the TT... With the trailer unplugged from shore power, the green wire should have no current flowing through the tester. Plug the TT into shore power...if the green wire then has current flowing through it, it is the charging line from your converter. Usually the converter charges through the battery's black w/ white stripe cable, but, your converter may use a separate line (the green) to perform the charging duties and the fuse in that line would be to protect the converter's charging circuit from a direct short...

Sorry...that's the best I can do "long distance"

Let me know if the above doesn't make any sense to you...

Megabusa · 06-20-2011, 01:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by qtla9111

Yes, I have had my FF for over eight months and am now just getting ready to buy batteries. The places we have gone, mostly boondocking, we use the generator and battery powered LEDs.

So now I am ready to install batteries, two 6V deep cycle. Here is what the cabling looks like.

Which is positive, negative and ground? I have green with a built in fuse, a black and a white.

Thanks in advance.

Green Wire with Fues goes to the +POS & White Wire goes to - Neg , BUT! NOTE if you or to use a TWO 6 VOLT Batterys to make 12 volts then +Pos on one battery goes -Neg on to other battery & from there Neg to RV & vice-a-verca, You have to check on the Black Wire with white stripe , NOT SHORE Maby had something added

qtla9111 · 06-27-2011, 04:44 PM

I bought the batteries last week at CostCo. I also picked up the additional cable to connect the two 6V batteries together.

Today, after removing the LP bottles to mount the batteries, I discovered another one of my "I don't pay enough attention" bumbles. The connector end of the black cable was taped to the frame and it appears the green cable was pulled out of the wire crimped red connector between the trailer and the black cable.

So it is just like Webslave and Megabus have said and appears in Webslave's photo.

I appreciate all the help. You wonder how I am ever able to rv with my limited skills but it just goes to show you that rving isn't that difficult

Thanks to everyone, I will be trying out the new batteries tomorrow.