What wires go where? connecting the battery

[kateandmama]

Hi everyone! We inherited my dad's home-made tiny trailer, (Kayakrguy's Snuggle Inn, built in 2006!). However, we inherited it without a battery...

We've bought a marine deep cycle battery, and are trying to figure out how to connect it. We have a relatively thicker black wire and a relatively thick white wire, and then two red wires. All of which have the circle-thingies on the end for connecting to a battery.

How do we know what goes where?

Help?

Kate

[tony.latham]

We have a relatively thicker black wire and a relatively thick white wire, and then two red wires.

I'm assuming the black is negative and the red are positives... but assuming with 'lectricty can get exciting.

Can you trace the wires out and see what they connect to?

Tony

[kateandmama]

Thanks for the quick response! And good advice, tracing it back led us to the inverter and the wiring from inside the trailer (see pic#1). gallery/image.php?album_id=5268&image_id=166290

It looks like the white and red wire come from the inverter. (see pic #2) gallery/image.php?album_id=5268&image_id=166289 On the inverter label, it says "Red wire to battery positive", that seems clear.

But then it says "white wire for negative #10GA circuit." And that makes me a little confused because there are two white wires coming from the inverter. One on the same side as the red wire. And one grouped with a black and green on the other side. The white, black, and green all go to an extension cord plug for our street power connection. So, what is the white wire coming out with the red. Is it the white wire for negative #10 circuit? Or something else?

The black and red wire come from inside the trailer somewhere (see pic#3) gallery/image.php?album_id=5268&image_id=166288 If the red wire from the inverter goes to battery positive, where does this red wire go? And the black wire?

I will freely admit that I do not understand the logic of electricity, and am happy to receive any and all guidance here.

TIA, Kate

[MtnDon]

I think it might help to find the installation/user manual for that inverter and see what the manufacturer shows for wire hookups. There should be DC connections to the inverter that come from the battery. The DC to battery cables should be larger than 10 gauge for all but the smallest of inverters. What is the rated outp[ut for that inverter?

As well there should be AC output wires from the inverter, or on some there will be a standard house outlet either on the front or rear panel. The pictures make it seem that this inverter does not have a built-in outlet.

I see two sets of black, white, green. One set through the more obvious port in the rear of the inverter. There is a second set through a port on the inverter case side. Which set of wires connect to the extension cord plug? Is the plug you mentioned a male or a female?

Is that an inverter/charger combination? Or just an inverter? Brand name and model would help us look up data on it.

[kateandmama]

Thanks! Again, good advice. Found the "manual" which is 4 pages long. ; )

From the picture, it looks like the red and white coming out the same side are the positive and negative connections to the battery. So that is solved.

My remaining question is, what are those black and red wires coming from inside the trailer. Is one of them the ground? What is the other one?

[MtnDon]

That does not look like an inverter. It appears to be an AC/DC power distribution box or panel.

The group of 5 (white, red, yellow-striped, green-striped and blue appear to be DC power. White and red connect to battery and the other three distribute 12 VDC power to various devices in the trailer.

The three wires named 30 amp power cord, would be connected to the power plug that would be plugged into a campground pedestal or a generator. There could be one or more AC outlets installed in the trailer. Those would be powered by the incoming 120 VAC when or if the trailer is connected to the campground or a generator. One set of those white, black, green triple grouping would be connected to the plug you mentioned and the other group of three (white, black, green) would distribute the 120 VAC power to the one or more standard outlets.

There should, or could. be some fuses or circuit breakers. One or more for the 120 VAC power distribution and likely three for the 12 VDC power distribution. That is a guess but it would be logical to me.

FYI, with 120 VAC power, the green should always be the ground wire, which in a cable such as household romex will be the bare wire that is grouped in the sheathed cable that includes the white and the black. The black should be the hot wire. The white should be the neutral wire. I say "should" because I don't know if it was all installed correctly. Also when the AC wires are traced back to the plug, the white wire should be connected to the wider of the two flat prongs, the black connected to the narrower of the two flat prongs and the green connected to the roundish prong.

[kateandmama]

MtnDon, Thank you so much, what you are saying makes total sense and aligns with what I'm seeing. I just still don't know what the extra red wire and black wire coming out of the trailer, but with battery attachments on the end of the wires. Are they grounds?

[MtnDon]

A ground wire should never be anything other than green or bare.

I am not certain what that red and white would be.

In DC power some people call the negative wire "ground". But doing that can lead to confusion. In a DC circuit when you see a red and a white, more or less together, the red should be positive and the white should be negative.

Are those the only wires that had ring terminals? If so, my guess is that those should connect to a battery positive and negative.

Do you have or have access to a multimeter. They can be used to measure voltages and also be used to check the continuity of a circuit.

[working on it]

* I found a similar wiring diagram by searching Google.

WFCO wf-8712 30 amp converter

IMG_1183.jpg (79.02 KiB) Viewed 826 times

https://www.doityourself.com/forum/electrical-ac-dc/526249-30-amp-converter-breakers.html

It looks the same as yours

cleaned up and made easier to view

wfco wiring.jpg (105.15 KiB) Viewed 826 times

[kateandmama]

The more you know, the more you know...

I followed the red and black wires through the wall between the battery compartment to the sleeping compartment. Where I see that they are connected to the other face of the converter, which holds the fuse panel (see pic). The thicker gauge black wire is attached to the top of the fuse panel, and the red wire is attached at the bottom.

So to summarize, in the battery compartment, I have 4 ring connectors to do something with. A white wire with ring connector and red wire with ring connector, which come from the converter and are labeled for the negative and positive poles of the battery. Then I have the black wire with ring connector and red wire with ring connector that are coming from the fuse panel, and I can't tell from the manual where or if those are supposed to be connected to the battery.

Thoughts?

[MtnDon]

A white wire with ring connector and red wire with ring connector, which come from the converter and are labeled for the negative and positive poles of the battery.

Those would connect to the battery for two purposes.
1. to allow the converter to charge the battery when the converter is connected to 120 VAC
2. to allow battery power to flow through the converter DC section when the trailer is not connected to a 120 VAC source.

Then I have the black wire with ring connector and red wire with ring connector that are coming from the fuse panel, and I can't tell from the manual...

It would seem this is an accessory fuse block. It is not mentioned in the manual because WFCO did not supply it. THose would connect to the battery to distribute 12 VDC power. Usually, the red would connect to positive and the black to negative.

[kateandmama]

Thanks MtnDon, we are trying it out and will let you know.

[kateandmama]

And we have power!

[MtnDon]

And we have power!

Super!