I've never seen such a mess

[Javi]

I finally got a chance to clean up the wiring and upgrade to Lithium batteries in the 5th wheel
I was more concerned with how the batteries were very loosely wired in parallel and had not paid attention to how the charging circuit from the converter/charger was wired.

When I got elbow deep in it this morning I found the charging wire to. a pin on the 50 amp auto reset breaker, on the same pin was the positive wire for the hydraulic pump and a 14 gage un-fused wire going into the depths of the trailer.

From the other pin of the breaker were another 14 gage and a 16 gage wire with a 7.5 amp fuse, plus a 6 gage jumper to a 30 amp auto reset pin which had the positive wire from both batteries on it and a 16 gage wire headed off into the bowels of the trailer. Finally the other pin of the 30 amp breaker had 2 10 gage wires.

I'm off to order 3 manual reset breaker from Bluesea, a 30 amp, a 50 amp and an 80 amp.
Then next weekend Ill fix this mess.

[chuckster57]

Welcome to my every day world.

[Javi]

Originally Posted by chuckster57

Welcome to my every day world.

I couldn't believe the charger feed going directly to the positive wire of the hydraulic pump with no fuse or breaker. Plus, the breaker is a 50 amp, and the converter is 55 amps; so the breaker should be at least 20% more than the output of the converter..

I'm changing to a 60-amp Progressive Dynamics lithium converter; hence the 80-amp manual reset. I will take the charge feed one pole and out the other to the 2-gage battery wire and jumper from there to the 50-amp breaker, then through it to the hydraulic pump and jumper to the 30-amp and connecting the other wires to the breakers based on wire gage.

[chuckster57]

My thinking: if it worked during planning stages it was signed off for production.

Remember it doesn’t have to be “right” it has to be simple and easy to assemble. The guy on the line only gets 15 minutes to do all that and I’m sure other wiring.

[wiredgeorge]

I liked the fact that the blue fused wire connected to a red. Must have been part of the master wiring diagram!

[sourdough]

After looking at mine, now Javi's, I think the guy putting this stuff in just keeps putting wires together, replacing fuses, until nothing blows and stuff seems to work; there seems to be no other explanation for the hodge podge of connections they make.

[wiredgeorge]

I recall an old 3 Stooges movie where the boys were plumbers and went to a mansion to fix a leak and just kept putting pipes in when the leak came out the last installed pipe. At the end of the show, there was a TV set with an ocean going ship being aired and of course, water from the boys plumbing insanity came out the screen. I bet Airsteams don't have these issues!

[flybouy]

Originally Posted by wiredgeorge

I liked the fact that the blue fused wire connected to a red. Must have been part of the master wiring diagram!

If you look at the other posts you'll see a rainbow of colors connecting to the red battery connections. If I were going to start all over, especially in a 5 th. wheel compartment I would use bus bars and fuse blocks. A wire from the battery positive to a bus bar then the "heavy cables off the bus. I'd run one connection of the bus to feed a fuseblock for the lighter loads (15 amp or less) and cut out the in line fuses and wire to the fuse block. I'd mount it all on a peice of marine plywood.

In my opinion the simpler you can make it the better. A label maker can make life easy when troubleshooting issues. Much easier for example to look at the fuse block and identify say TPMS repeater and check the fuse than bend, find, and check an in-line fuse holder. I did this with a marine grade battery post mounted fuse block that fits under the battery cover. It's much easier to remove it than the 4 or 5 wires previously stuffed under the post nut.

[Javi]

Originally Posted by flybouy

If you look at the other posts you'll see a rainbow of colors connecting to the red battery connections. If I were going to start all over, especially in a 5 th. wheel compartment I would use bus bars and fuse blocks. A wire from the battery positive to a bus bar then the "heavy cables off the bus. I'd run one connection of the bus to feed a fuseblock for the lighter loads (15 amp or less) and cut out the in line fuses and wire to the fuse block. I'd mount it all on a peice of marine plywood.

In my opinion the simpler you can make it the better. A label maker can make life easy when troubleshooting issues. Much easier for example to look at the fuse block and identify say TPMS repeater and check the fuse than bend, find, and check an in-line fuse holder. I did this with a marine grade battery post mounted fuse block that fits under the battery cover. It's much easier to remove it than the 4 or 5 wires previously stuffed under the post nut.

I'm here at the trailer and still finding some surprises I can't wait for the next one 😉

But back to the battery cables, I will have two busbars . And the new fuses tomorrow so got that covered.
Going home in a little bit to order some cable, connectors and heat shrink.

[flybouy]

Have fun! It's a lot of work but I'm sure it'll be very gratifying when you're finished.

[Javi]

Originally Posted by flybouy

Have fun! It's a lot of work but I'm sure it'll be very gratifying when you're finished.

Thanks, that's how I am spending my 3 day weekend for Memorial day.

[flybouy]

Originally Posted by Javi

Thanks, that's how I am spending my 3 day weekend for Memorial day.

Copy that. My wife was a NICU nurse and when she was working she had to choose between having off Memorial Day or Labor Day. She would choose Labor Day because we started out as boaters before campers and Labor Day was warmer.

Good luck with your project.

[wiredgeorge]

An old friend of mine and fellow businessman in the vintage Japanese motorcycle industry bought a really nice Kawasaki KZ turbo bike from a fella. When he got it home he discovered EVERY wire was the same color. I believe that is even worse then the rainbow Keystone uses or used and the haphazard way they chose the colors. I guess they decided to standardize colors in the last few years and considered that an innovation!

[chuckster57]

Originally Posted by Javi

Thanks, that's how I am spending my 3 day weekend for Memorial day.

In my previous career, my days off were Fri/Sat. If a holiday fell on a workday I had to work.

[Javi]

Originally Posted by chuckster57

In my previous career, my days off were Fri/Sat. If a holiday fell on a workday I had to work.

This is the first job I've had that didn't work Memorial Day. At my age I like days off any time I can wrangle one.

[chuckster57]

I hear you loud and clear. I’m months away from having 7 days off a week.

[sourdough]

Back in the day I had to work every holiday. Missed anniversaries, birthdays, funerals and holidays were not even considered. What it took to keep a job. Nowadays if you don't like the rules just quit and the gubmint will send you a check. Back when you just starved as it should be.

[ChuckS]

Originally Posted by chuckster57

I hear you loud and clear. I’m months away from having 7 days off a week.

You will enjoy the 7 days off a week... I often dont even know what day of the week it is anymore... retired back in 2016 from my second career.. Am more busy now then ever and loving it

[GaryUT]

I couldn't stand the mess in the battery compartment. Especially using the auto resetting breakers as terminal posts. I used breakers that allow turning off a circuit for troubleshooting. I also rewired the battery disconnect so that it completely disconnects the batteries. Before and after photos.

[Ibdagriz]

Originally Posted by wiredgeorge

An old friend of mine and fellow businessman in the vintage Japanese motorcycle industry bought a really nice Kawasaki KZ turbo bike from a fella. When he got it home he discovered EVERY wire was the same color.

Back in the day (70's) we wired up kick start HD scoots with all black wires so there was no colors other than black.
My '98 RK has more wire than that for just the turn signals.. LOL.

Griz