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Topic ClosedTrailer/Battery is positive-ground?
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GlueGuy View Drop Down
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Posts: 2702 		Direct Link To This Post Topic: Trailer/Battery is positive-ground?
    Posted: 10 Sep 2019 at 10:04am
Yeah. That would do it. The battery was toast & whoever just connected it up to sell it. 
bp
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StephenH View Drop Down
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Posts: 6417 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Sep 2019 at 8:42pm
If the battery were dead when it was connected, that could explain why things weren't fried.
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Motor7 View Drop Down
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Posts: 196 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Sep 2019 at 2:04pm
I'm stumped, how could that have not fried things on the pod?
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ChrisSuter View Drop Down
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Posts: 4 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Sep 2019 at 9:27am
Thanks for all the suggestions. We contacted the previous owner and they said they hadn't done it on purpose and hadn't made any electrical changes. We replaced the battery, hooked it up the normal way (red to positive, white ground to battery negative) and everything has worked fine. So, we're all good, just a weird thing.
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offgrid View Drop Down
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Posts: 5290 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Apr 2019 at 2:14pm
Originally posted by podwerkz

 

If they did that when the battery was healthy and fully charged, it probably damaged the converter or at least blew some fuses. The electronic control boards in things like the fridge and the furnace and water heater might be fried as well.

If the battery was completely dead, and if the cells are dry, then the battery is 'open', so when it was hooked up just for a quick driveway sale, probably nothing was harmed, but nothing would work.

Yes, I agree.  You can see from the pics that indeed the + battery terminal is connected to the white conductor, which going to the frame. So yep, I would expect that at the very least there would be open fuses in the charger circuit as those are there for reverse polarity protection. I've seen some comments on other sites that when folks have accidentally reversed the battery connections those have blown and protected everything else so maybe that's all that would happen,  but that is something I don't personally ever want to find out Disapprove. 
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podwerkz View Drop Down
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Posts: 966 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Apr 2019 at 1:24pm
Originally posted by offgrid

I think someone in the past just got confused and connected the battery cables improperly. 

If they did that when the battery was healthy and fully charged, it probably damaged the converter or at least blew some fuses. The electronic control boards in things like the fridge and the furnace and water heater might be fried as well.

If the battery was completely dead, and if the cells are dry, then the battery is 'open', so when it was hooked up just for a quick driveway sale, probably nothing was harmed, but nothing would work.
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GlueGuy View Drop Down
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Posts: 2702 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Apr 2019 at 12:33pm
Yah. Stuff happens. We may never know what happened here, but it sure was curious.
bp
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Tars Tarkas View Drop Down
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Posts: 1452 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Apr 2019 at 11:31am
I'm disappointed that the OP hasn't followed up.  If he found out what was going on, I think we'd all like to know.  If he didn't, we'd be interested in continuing to troubleshoot.

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offgrid View Drop Down
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Posts: 5290 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Apr 2019 at 7:57am
I think someone in the past just got confused and connected the battery cables improperly. That happens because your trailer is wired per the electric code wire color conventions with white as neutral like it is in your house (negative in a negative ground 12v system) and colored wire (red) as the hot (+12v) conductor. Someone expecting the automotive convention black negative/red positive got confused most likely. Happens a lot.
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GlueGuy View Drop Down
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Posts: 2702 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 Apr 2019 at 7:34pm
Good point TT. Based on the original description, it sounds like + and - might be reversed on that battery. A DVM would verify that.
bp
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