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mikeyg2347 
Groupie 
Joined: 27 May 2015 Location: MT Online Status: Offline Posts: 75 |
 Topic: Battery Disconnect SwitchPosted: 18 May 2019 at 5:27pm |
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I just received a battery disconnect switch from Etrailer.com, but unfortunately it didn't come with a wiring diagram. Being a total electrical idiot I need pretty explicit instructions to undertake this installation. It's the kind with a key and two posts. Anybody care to point me in the right direction? Thanks.
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Mike
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marwayne
Senior Member 
Joined: 25 Oct 2011 Location: Edmonton AB Can Online Status: Offline Posts: 1002 |
Posted: 18 May 2019 at 5:43pm |
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If you want to use the positive black wire, black wire to post in, other post black wire out. All it does is interrupt the current. If you want to use the neutral white wire it's the same procedure. Some people use the positive others use the neutral.
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If you want something done right, do it yourself.
2011 RP172, 2016 Tundra 5.7 Litre, Ltd. |
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podwerkz
Senior Member
Joined: 11 Mar 2019 Location: Texas Online Status: Offline Posts: 966 |
Posted: 18 May 2019 at 6:30pm |
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My new r-pod has a black and a red wire from the trailer to the battery.
It's usually best to interrupt the positive cable, (red if you have red and black, or black if you have white and black). The switch can be installed in the battery box if there is enough room, or inside the trailer near the converter where the positive cable enters the trailer. Installing the switch at the battery box up front means the battery will be offline for maintenance charging if hooked up to shore power and the switch is off. Or, if hooked up to shore power, turn the switch ON. But if you plan to leave the trailer NOT hooked up to shore power when stored, this is a good option, as it removes all drain from the trailer electronics during storage. |
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r･pod 171 gone but not forgotten!
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mikeyg2347
Groupie
Joined: 27 May 2015 Location: MT Online Status: Offline Posts: 75 |
Posted: 18 May 2019 at 6:56pm |
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Thanks for your answers. But like I said, I am an electrical idiot, so I'm still in the dark. I need an explicit picture, verbal or visual, preferably in crayon.
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Mike
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offgrid
Senior Member
Joined: 23 Jul 2018 Online Status: Offline Posts: 5290 |
Posted: 18 May 2019 at 7:22pm |
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The red vs. black wire thing can be confusing, just find the positive (plus) battery terminal and connect it between that wire and the battery post. As podwerks says, you should put the disconnect in the positive line. The negative is a grounded neutral so shouldn't have any breaks made in it.
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1994 Chinook Concourse
1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft 2015 Rpod 179 - sold |
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StephenH
podders Helping podders - pHp
Joined: 29 Nov 2015 Location: Wake Forest, NC Online Status: Offline Posts: 6329 |
Posted: 18 May 2019 at 8:35pm |
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Personally, I disagree with having it on the positive side. Please read this, then tell me I am wrong for putting the switch on the negative side (and disconnecting negative first, connecting negative last) |
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StephenH
Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,... ouR escaPOD mods Former RPod 179 Current Cherokee Grey Wolf 24 JS |
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Jeepinator
Groupie
Joined: 08 Sep 2017 Location: Seacoast NH Online Status: Offline Posts: 72 |
Posted: 18 May 2019 at 9:20pm |
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I’m also installing a battery switch as well as a Victron battery monitor. Thoughts on installing them at the converter vs outside in the elements?
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2018 Jeep Wrangler Willys
2017 179 |
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podwerkz
Senior Member
Joined: 11 Mar 2019 Location: Texas Online Status: Offline Posts: 966 |
Posted: 19 May 2019 at 1:20am |
You're free to disagree and wire yours the way you feel it should be done...you are not 'wrong'...but I am also free to recommend 'best practice'. We're not disconnecting a positive cable (instead of a negative) for a few minutes for routine battery replacement with one or two cables, and leaving them loose, to possibly short a loose positive cable to a grounded frame member accidentally. This is about installing a battery switch, which is different. Once it is installed, flipping the switch (killing the positive side) produces no 'hot' loose ends, with metallic frame or jewelry or wrenches nearby to short to anything. They are two different solutions for two different scenarios. Similar to vehicle starter relays, heavy duty contactors on electric forklifts, the power switch on your car radio or the light switches in your house, which always close or open the positive (or hot side), it's usually best to switch the positive (or hot) side in most cases. There are always exceptions, of course. Sometimes the ground is the side that we switch...if it makes sense such as the one-wire, grounding plunger-type switches in the typical old-school dome light car door switches. The problem with switching only the negative side in a battery disconnect switch installation (in a trailer) is that now, even with the switch turned off, the entire hot side cable still has 12v battery potential on it, all the way to the converter and other electronics inside the trailer. If there is a short-to-ground failure in any of those components that have a ground connection, (and most do) then now we have a completed (but probably inadequate) ground, which might 'liven' things up more than we would like.
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r･pod 171 gone but not forgotten!
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offgrid
Senior Member
Joined: 23 Jul 2018 Online Status: Offline Posts: 5290 |
Posted: 19 May 2019 at 4:28am |
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+1 to podwerks.
The differentiation is between permanently installed disconnects and maintenance activities. The national electric code only allows grounded (neutral) conductors to be disconnected for maintenance or under special circumstances that we don't need to go into here. We should all follow the Code when wiring our trailers. If you look at your home wiring you'll see that the white (neutral) conductor is never disconnected or fused. The colored conductors are always protected by breakers or fuses and are the ones that are switched. By following that practice you can be assured that if you have a fault somewhere you won't end up with more current flowing through an unprotected conductor than its rated for.
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1994 Chinook Concourse
1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft 2015 Rpod 179 - sold |
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offgrid
Senior Member
Joined: 23 Jul 2018 Online Status: Offline Posts: 5290 |
Posted: 19 May 2019 at 4:54am |
I think you probably answered your own question.  Obviously you'll want the Victron display inside. The shunt has a pc board attached so that should be protected from moisture and temperature extremes as well. So, I'd suggest placing the shunt in the negative battery connection near the charger and the disconnect either at the same location but in the positive battery connection or outside on the battery positive terminal.
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1994 Chinook Concourse
1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft 2015 Rpod 179 - sold |
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Battery Disconnect Switch