# Reverse Polarity



## Murford

Opps! I accidentally allowed my battery cables to come in contact with the opposite terminals of the battery. Big spark! Both of the 40 amp fuses blew. When replaced, I find that not all of the power is working. I am missing power to the radio, TV, and CO2 detector, however, there seems to be no fuses blown. When hooked to land power, the TV works. All of the lights work, as well as the fridge. Any suggestions?


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## CdnOutback

Check the inline fuse for the radio... behind the stereo. Ask me how I know... NOT!

My TV doesn't work on battery. And I don't know about the CO2 detector.


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## spepi

I did the same thing, and last night I noticed the 2 - 40Amp fuses are blown, which are the slide out ones. I'll replace fuses today and report back. The issue is the battery cables are black and white, where the Black is the positive...they should have used the normal red and black cables...so its easy to cross connect black to ground


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## CamperAndy

spepi said:


> I did the same thing, and last night I noticed the 2 - 40Amp fuses are blown, which are the slide out ones. I'll replace fuses today and report back. The issue is the battery cables are black and white, where the Black is the positive...they should have used the normal red and black cables...so its easy to cross connect black to ground


Color coding is based on the more dangerous 120 vac system on the trailer with Black being hot and white being neutral (ground). This is not so obvious at the battery but pull the distribution panel open and how confusing do you think it would be with a mix of black and white wire on the ground buss.


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## KTMRacer

spepi said:


> I did the same thing, and last night I noticed the 2 - 40Amp fuses are blown, which are the slide out ones. I'll replace fuses today and report back. The issue is the battery cables are black and white, where the Black is the positive...they should have used the normal red and black cables...so its easy to cross connect black to ground


actually, automotive with red/black is the real odball. Virtually every other application, low or high voltage uses white as neutral or in the case of low voltage white for ground.


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## hoodscoop

Well, had you guys been a little more timely with your post, I wouldn't have to say, "add me to the list".







My experience was a little different. I put the black to ground first and when I hooked the white to positive I jumped real fast and only got a little spark. Read the book and realize my mistake. Hook up properly but nothing worked even though I had TT hooked to 50 amp land line.

My 2010 321 FRL has one 50 amp breaker and several 15 amp and 20 amp breakers. It also has a dozen 15 amp and 20 amp fuses but no 40 amp fuses? I found out that I had turned off all breakers when I winterized last year. So I flipped them all on but still nothing but microwave.

Put battery back on charger at full power and after 24 hours charger said battery was still not charged. Took the battery to a battery shop this morning and they said it was AOK ?????? Brought it home and reattached in TT and now, only did a limited review, all seems OK, go figure????

Will do a complete check this weekend and hope for the best. Let me know what you guys learn just in case if find more problems.


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## bbwb

Every spring I had the same issue of trying to remember which wire was the positive one...I finally bought some red electrical tape and added some wraps to the positive wire(s) to help with the polarity.
bbwb


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## CdnOutback

The 40 amp fuses are in the back of the converter not in the bank of fuses in the electrical box


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## hoodscoop

CdnOutback said:


> The 40 amp fuses are in the back of the converter not in the bank of fuses in the electrical box


Hello CdnOutback, please help me understand. I thought all my electrical breakers and fuses, except for occasional line fuses, were located in the base of the cabinet in the, lets call it the hallway, of my 321FRL. When I remove the black cover near floor level, there is a row of breakers running horizontally and a row of automotive type fuses running vertically to the right of the breakers. Are there more fuses or breakers somewhere else? How do I access the back of the converter you mention, and is this at a different location than the electrical box? I am honestly confused and really need to know where all the fuses are located. Look forward to you help.


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## CdnOutback

My converter is located behind a panel that is accessed thru the storage under the bedroom. Mine is closer to the drivers side. The fuses for the converter are push in type on the back of the converter. I looked at a floor plan of your unit and the front is about the same as ours so I would assume that it is probably in the same location. Look for a removable panel with screws just inside the pass thru storage. The converter is approx below and behind the fuse panel that is inside. (Hope this makes sense!)


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## Murford

Thanks Folks!

Since I posted the problem your comments have helped to solve the issue. All power is now restored. Next time I will be more careful with the connections!


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## crunchman12002

bbwb said:


> Every spring I had the same issue of trying to remember which wire was the positive one...I finally bought some red electrical tape and added some wraps to the positive wire(s) to help with the polarity.
> bbwb


I did the same thing with the red tape. Wrapped the wire and put a piece of red tape on battery. Fool proof after a long winter.
crunchman


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## Snow

Ok so to make sure I get it right ... *white* wire to *ground* or "-" on the battery and *black* wire to *positive* or "+" on the battery ...


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## KTMRacer

Snow said:


> Ok so to make sure I get it right ... *white* wire to *ground* or "-" on the battery and *black* wire to *positive* or "+" on the battery ...


that's correct. An easy way to verify is that the white (negative/ground) wire should be connected to the trailer frame near the battery box.


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## hoodscoop

CdnOutback said:


> My converter is located behind a panel that is accessed thru the storage under the bedroom. Mine is closer to the drivers side. The fuses for the converter are push in type on the back of the converter. I looked at a floor plan of your unit and the front is about the same as ours so I would assume that it is probably in the same location. Look for a removable panel with screws just inside the pass thru storage. The converter is approx below and behind the fuse panel that is inside. (Hope this makes sense!)


Boy did you hit the nail on the head. I looked in the drivers side pass-through and seen what appeared to be a removable cover with two screws in it. I removed the screws and found a box, now known to me as the converter. More surprisingly it had two "blown" 40 amp fuses in it. WOW! You saved my butt here. Didn't even know this existed. Found all kind of goodies in there including the water heater. Sincerely, thanks so much for taking the time to look up my model and giving me the information. I owe you a cold one!


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## CdnOutback

hoodscoop said:


> My converter is located behind a panel that is accessed thru the storage under the bedroom. Mine is closer to the drivers side. The fuses for the converter are push in type on the back of the converter. I looked at a floor plan of your unit and the front is about the same as ours so I would assume that it is probably in the same location. Look for a removable panel with screws just inside the pass thru storage. The converter is approx below and behind the fuse panel that is inside. (Hope this makes sense!)


Boy did you hit the nail on the head. I looked in the drivers side pass-through and seen what appeared to be a removable cover with two screws in it. I removed the screws and found a box, now known to me as the converter. More surprisingly it had two "blown" 40 amp fuses in it. WOW! You saved my butt here. Didn't even know this existed. Found all kind of goodies in there including the water heater. Sincerely, thanks so much for taking the time to look up my model and giving me the information. I owe you a cold one!
[/quote]

No problem... That's what we're all here for.


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## Cotay

I reversed polarity yesterday when we were picking up our trailer for the first trip of the summer. I guess I was just scatter brained at that moment since I made a mental note the day before not to do that.









In any event, I blew the two 40A fuses, the 10A radio fuse, and a single 15A that wasn't listed as belonging to anything (very odd). I replaced those five fuses and then we headed out to the beach to camp. Later in the evening I noticed that the thermostat wasn't getting the necessary 12V. I checked the fuse and it looked fine, so we just toughed it out and stayed as warm as we could last night. We came home today since the kids didn't sleep well and I wanted to troubleshoot. I cross checked the red to blue and green to blue wires on the thermostat and each was showing 12v, so I guessed it was possibly the thermostat fuse despite the fact that it looked good. On the way to put the unit back in storage, we picked up a 2A fuse and low and behold the thermostat fired right up.

The problem now is that the water heater isn't igniting when in gas mode and it simply won't start at all in electric mode. I can't figure out what the problem is there and don't know where to start. We've scheduled an appt. at Camping World for next week, but if I can fix this myself I'd rather avoid the hassle.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what might be the problem?

Thanks!


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## Leedek

Hey Cotay - Water heaters can be a pain. My bet is you have critters in the main burner orifice. Check page five of the manual here: Atwood H2O Heaters

Your electric problem may be the on/off switch on the heater. The switch is located behind the heater door on the outside the trailer. I have forgotten that switch more than once. Good luck.

NOTE: Your question kind of got lost in the weeds being posted on an old two page post.


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