How to hook up battery
- Thread starter wvcadle
- Start date
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Hilldweller
Southeast Expedition Society
Set your multimeter to tone. Touch it to a ground with one probe and to one of the battery terminals with the other. Only one of the battery terminals should produce tone. That's your negative.
Mark CASTELLANI
Super Active Member
@wvcadle ....unless somebody messed with the leads, your 2014 Flagstaff should have battery cables coming out of the front of the PUP...the RED Lead goes on the Positive [+] Terminal of the Battery. Conversely, the BLACK Lead goes on the Negative [-] Terminal...I connect the POSITIVE FIRST
Happy Trails!
Happy Trails!
Mark CASTELLANI
Super Active Member
@wvcadle ....we'll, now I understand your dilemma...and...apologies for my original rudimentary advice
with 4(four) cables (two taped together and the " jumper" box with the yellow lead), my first question would be ...what, if any, add-on equipment/appliance is in your PUP that's NOT Original Equipment?...it sure looks like somebody did some "home grown" wiring to get power to something....it don't look "factory" to me
Happy Trails!
with 4(four) cables (two taped together and the " jumper" box with the yellow lead), my first question would be ...what, if any, add-on equipment/appliance is in your PUP that's NOT Original Equipment?...it sure looks like somebody did some "home grown" wiring to get power to something....it don't look "factory" to me
Happy Trails!
The only add-ons (upgrades) are heated mattresses. An A/C unit was added after it was purchased, but surely that doesn't run on battery. Could the mattresses be the reason for the additional wires?
Could the "jumper box" be a fuse holder or circuit breaker? Could it have anything to do with charging the batter from a 7-pin connector? My car only has a 4 pin, so I don't utilize trailer brakes. I'm wondering if I can just leave this off and connect the orange and black wires to the positive terminal, and the white to the negative. Would that work?
Could the "jumper box" be a fuse holder or circuit breaker? Could it have anything to do with charging the batter from a 7-pin connector? My car only has a 4 pin, so I don't utilize trailer brakes. I'm wondering if I can just leave this off and connect the orange and black wires to the positive terminal, and the white to the negative. Would that work?
davido
Super Active Member
- Jul 17, 2014
- 1,788
But what's weird in his picture is that there's a red and a black electrical-taped together as if they were supposed to be connected to the same terminal. That leaves me wondering is one of them just whatever cable someone had laying around when they did a repair, and they didn't care about color? If so, you pretty much have to trace each wire back to its source to see what it is for.
Hilldweller
Southeast Expedition Society
Yeah that's a bird's nest. Do the multimeter tests. It's a little quicker than tracing everything back to its source but you might still have to do that anyhow. Good luck
Is there something you need to do to flip over between an electric winch and hand crank? My electric winch works when the battery is connected, but my hand crank won’t raise the pop-up. The gear is turning once I get the crank started, but nothing happens.
If you have an electric (power) winch you need a charged battery to operate it. These winches can be raised by hand or power drill but it takes a long time. So, make sure your battery is charged. Use a multi meter or other type of DC power meter to determine this. Battery should be producing 12.6 volts,
Last time it was hooked up, it was fully raised in about 10 seconds. In fact, the person who sold it to me wasn't watching, and the guide wire came out because he extended it a little too much. But when I'm cranking with the hand crank, absolutely nothing happens. I can crank for 10 minutes, and it will not have moved an inch.
Hilldweller
Southeast Expedition Society
You can buy the blue pills online now, discreet shipping...
NelsTomlinson
Member
- Aug 1, 2018
- 23
At least one of those cables is going to have its other end connected to the frame. Everyone now is using negative ground, so any cables that have continuity to the frame are to be hooked to the negative terminal of the battery, the others (guessing probably all but the white) go to the positive terminal.
Use a multimeter to measure resistance from the cable ends in the picture to clean metal on the frame, very low resistance means continuity.
Use a multimeter to measure resistance from the cable ends in the picture to clean metal on the frame, very low resistance means continuity.
Mark CASTELLANI
Super Active Member
simple solution...RECONNECT IT THE EXACT SAME WAY YOU DISCONNECTED IT [you said it was working before]...make note of the configuration...and buy a new battery
also, you could contact the previous owner and ask the how THEY had it connected
FWIW: I've learned for my mistakes...when I'm about to disassemble anything, take PICS BEFORE STARTING
Happy Trails!
also, you could contact the previous owner and ask the how THEY had it connected
FWIW: I've learned for my mistakes...when I'm about to disassemble anything, take PICS BEFORE STARTING
Happy Trails!
It sounds to me like when you purchased it, the previous owner was using the electric winch and allowed it to raise too high. This has not happened to me, but my guess is one or more of the cables has come loose and is not connected to the frame. This is not a battery problem but a structural one. Does anyone on the forum know how to reconnect such cables or what to look for. I think that would help.
Also, from what I have read about power winch winches, is that they are very hard to raise manually. Even with a power drill. That could also be your problem but I am not sure. In this case, a fully charged battery should address that possibility
My 2015 Rockwood Freedom 1950 came with a power winch. It worked but I replaced it with a manual.
Also, from what I have read about power winch winches, is that they are very hard to raise manually. Even with a power drill. That could also be your problem but I am not sure. In this case, a fully charged battery should address that possibility
My 2015 Rockwood Freedom 1950 came with a power winch. It worked but I replaced it with a manual.
NelsTomlinson
Member
- Aug 1, 2018
- 23
Mark's way is the best way, but if it's too late for that, my way will work.
Mark CASTELLANI
Super Active Member
not to be argumentative but, NAH...seems to me that the "Cable" was probably only the "Height Limit Cable"...they're non-electical, non-structural...just an exact length of cable to determine the maximum height to raise the roof...easily replaced
got to assume that the electric winch worked when OP collapsed the PUP to motor it home
the OP should have never disconnected the battery without knowing which power cable went where on the battery
Sorry @wvcadle ...you're in a jam if you don't know the original battery configuration
Happy Trails!
Using a continuity test to find the neg wire. All the rest are pos. Connect the pos first then the neg wire. I also see a circuit breaker was added which is most likely for the power winch.
One more thing, get a real deep cycle battery. I would recommend a AGM battery and a battery charger that can handle a AGM battery.
One more thing, get a real deep cycle battery. I would recommend a AGM battery and a battery charger that can handle a AGM battery.
Thanks for the replies. After talking with the original owner, my brother in law, he said he didn’t raise it with the battery. He plugged it in to the power outlet, using his house’s electric to raise the pop up. He had already disconnected the battery and couldn’t remember how to hook it back up. So from the time I first saw it, the battery was already disconnected.
Since posting last, I took the battery to auto zone and it’s good. Still had a 68% charge. So if it was hooked up correctly, it should’ve raised the pop up. I had the white hooked to the negative and everything else to the positive and nothing happened when I used the switch on the winch to raise it. I’ll try to hook it up to the house power when I get home and try it again.
If it works, I just need to figure out what’s going on with the battery and cables. And let’s just say I hope it works so I don’t have to figure out what’s wrong with the winch.
Since posting last, I took the battery to auto zone and it’s good. Still had a 68% charge. So if it was hooked up correctly, it should’ve raised the pop up. I had the white hooked to the negative and everything else to the positive and nothing happened when I used the switch on the winch to raise it. I’ll try to hook it up to the house power when I get home and try it again.
If it works, I just need to figure out what’s going on with the battery and cables. And let’s just say I hope it works so I don’t have to figure out what’s wrong with the winch.
