BP88
St. Louis, MO
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Joined: 07/12/2009
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I had taken my battery out and put it in my garage for the winter, but was having problems with my charger on it. Would engage, then shut off and click.
Also when I had first taken it out back in the Fall and hooked it up, then dang thing threw sparks, like I had the + and - crossed.
So I figured I would take it to Autozone and have them test the battery. He hooked up their machine and it told him the cables were crossed. We looked and the red was on positive and the black was on negative. I told him I had problems with it saparking when I hooked it up at home.
So he swaps the cables and the error goes away with red on - and black on the + terminal.
Now I know this battery was normal at one point. So somehow it has reversed polarity.
Has anyone ever seen that before?
The guy at Autozone said he never had.
So I brought it home and put it on my charger with the cables reversed and it is charging fine.
I'm wondering if I somehow caused this, and if so how?
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Fritz7810
IL
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Joined: 07/04/2005
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Wow, never heard of that my whole life!
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skipnchar
Topeka or somewhere else
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Joined: 12/17/2003
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MOST RVs are wired with WHITE as the negative and red AND black are positive wires. I'm a little surprised also. Some of the 12 volt items in your trailer don't care which is which but the stereo and the fridge are a couple that DO care. Also when reversed the slide (if you have one)will probably move in the opposite direction from normal but it won't harm it. I'd check the stereo and fridge carefully to be sure they both work now. USUALLY there are a couple of fuses in the converter that will blow when polarity is reversed but apparently yours doesn't have this protection or it wouldn't charge from the converter until the fuses were replaced.
Good luck / Skip
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bikendan
Napa, Cal.
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Joined: 11/21/2005
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i'm confused. if you took the battery in to have it checked, what cables are you talking about.
batteries only have posts/terminals, not cables. cables have to be hooked to the posts/terminals.
are you saying that you took the battery in, with the cables attached to the posts/terminals?
and no, i've never heard of a battery reversing polarities on its own.
Dan- Firefighter , Shawn- Musician/Entrepreneur , Zoe- Faithful Golden Retriever , 2007 Chevrolet Avalanche LS, 2007 Rockwood Roo 23SS w/Equalizer and Prodigy, and 5 Mtn. bikes and 2 Road bikes
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BP88
St. Louis, MO
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skipnchar wrote:MOST RVs are wired with WHITE as the negative and red AND black are positive wires. I'm a little surprised also. Some of the 12 volt items in your trailer don't care which is which but the stereo and the fridge are a couple that DO care. Also when reversed the slide (if you have one)will probably move in the opposite direction from normal but it won't harm it. I'd check the stereo and fridge carefully to be sure they both work now. USUALLY there are a couple of fuses in the converter that will blow when polarity is reversed but apparently yours doesn't have this protection or it wouldn't charge from the converter until the fuses were replaced.
Good luck / Skip
I'm not sure it was ever reversed in the camper.
I took it out to store it for the winter, so it was disconnected from the camper. I guess if I keep the battery I will have to flip it around when I put it back in the camper.
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BP88
St. Louis, MO
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bikendan wrote:i'm confused. if you took the battery in to have it checked, what cables are you talking about.
batteries only have posts/terminals, not cables. cables have to be hooked to the posts/terminals.
are you saying that you took the battery in, with the cables attached to the posts/terminals?
and no, i've never heard of a battery reversing polarities on its own.
Yes, a battery has top or side terminals.
However unless you have some sort of new wireless charger I am not aware of, you need cables to connect to those battery terminals.
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BP88
St. Louis, MO
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I just found this:
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_does_a_car........ry_polarity_change_into_reverse_polarity
So apparently it is possible.
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bikendan
Napa, Cal.
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Joined: 11/21/2005
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oh, the cables from the testing machine! 
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Chuck_S
Broadview Hts, OH, USA
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Bottom line: The battery is scrap.
I'm guessing the battery was connected backwards in the trailer and the charging circuit in the converter reverse charged it after it was dead. A stone dead battery is likely after a couple of months after sitting on the trailer being discharges by tiny loads like the LP detector and radio.
The converter main fuses should have blown when the battery was connected backwards if there was any voltage in the battery.
White is negative. If in doubt find the wire connected between the battery and the trailer frame, that should go to the negative pole. Nice placard on my trailer tongue regarding wire colors.
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wmoses
Houston, Texas, USA
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Chuck_S wrote:Bottom line: The battery is scrap.
That was my thinking also ....
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Wayne
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