Positive ground?

Originally posted by furpod Actually, Black Hot, White Neutral or GND is normal. All the red/black/blue etc etc is just user preference. Go open any piece of 2/1 Romex. Black, White, Bare or Green. There are some "standards" for colored wires, mostly on multi-pin connections, like your 7 pin. While there are still a few positive ground systems in the world, unless you own a vintage British car or motorcycle, and a couple BMW motorcycles, also vintage, you are VERY unlikely to have to deal with it. As long as cable "X" goes from the + on the battery to the "POS" clamp on the 12v distribution panel and Cable "Y" goes to the "NEG" clamp. It's all fine.

I think the black/white/green is standard for AC circuits with 10/2 or other gauge romex. Other colors come into play with wires having more than one phase.

I did some research and it seems that reverse polarity batteries are easy to find in deep cycle marine batteries.  I wrote to the company that sold them and they said they were for applications where the battery would only fit in a certain way.  I think there is some other reason for it because batteries are the same dimension regardless which way you insert it in the battery box and if the cables don't reach you can get longer cables.  I see no reason for a reverse polarity battery and a google search only turns up items about people that charged their batteries backward.  There has to be a reason for it but the vendors of the batteries excuse makes no sense.  It's one of those imponderables in life I guess.

There are many batteries that come in "normal" and "reverse" polarity. I discovered this years ago when I had to replace the battery in my tractor. The model number was ****R, where the "R" meant reverse polarity. When I ordered the replacement, I omitted the "R" when I picked up the battery, only to discover that the terminals were reversed. Oh my!

Mystery resolved.

Turns out the battery had reversed polarity; I don't know how, when, why, where that could have happened. In talking to a local RV service guy, he mentioned to put a volt meter on the battery itself. Sure enough, it should -11.58 volts.

I bought a new battery and as soon as I finish this yummy pb&j sandwich I'll wire it up.

Thanks All!

Here' a picture of what I have; I can't really trace the wires back as they go directly into a loom, but you can see they are clearly labled as are the terminals.

Battery Set Up