Did The Dealer Wire My Batteries Connections Incorrectly?

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Gizmo

Gizmo

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Joined
Apr 22, 2012
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1,805
Location
Bellingham,WA
We were provided in our new TC 2-12V group 27 batteries wired in parallel as expected.  There are two positive & negatives connected to the batteries, the first is the main from the TC and it has the positive lead going to the positive lead on one battery and the negative lead going to the negative lead of the second battery which is what I would expect.  However the second leads are from the generator and both go to one battery, positive and negative poles respectively.  Would also be correct to attach? the generator leads to each battery rather than one.  Everything, including the generator works.  I am planning to replace these batteries after I get through the mods and adding solar, so I am not overly concerned right now, but want to make sure it is right when I do replace the batteries. Thanks.
 
Assuming the two 12V batteries are really connected in parallel (+ve to +ve and negative to negative), there should be minimal difference having the generator connected to one battery, or two (the way the 'main' connections are made).

Does the generator attempt to crank?
 
Are those wires for charging the batteries from a 12V output from the generator, or are they for starting the generator, or for sensing the battery voltage for an auto start generator? If either of the latter, it probably makes little difference.

Joel
 
Thank you for the replies.  The batteries are indeed connected in parallel as they are each 12v batteries and they were done correctly, i.e. positive to positive & negative to negative.  The generator does work correctly. I do not know the answer to Great Horned Owl's question, other than they are marked "Generator".  I do not think there is an auto start capability, but I am still learning our new rig.  My understanding in connecting loads to a battery bank wired in parallel is the pos & neg should come from the batteries on each end rather than from one battery, and indeed the dealer has done this on the main connection.
 
The difference is miniscule assuming the batteries are connected together with heavy cable as they should be. The drop over an 8-12 inch  cable will be millivolts even at high current drains. Don't worry about it!

Ernie
 
AStravelers said:
You mention you are installing solar and other mods.  Not saying you don't know the info in the links below, just that reading the info in the links my help in the long run.

Here are links to some great info about RV electrical systems and solar:

http://www.jackdanmayer.com/rv_electrical_and_solar.htm
https://handybobsolar.wordpress.com/the-rv-battery-charging-puzzle-2/
Click to expand...

Yes very familiar with these links and have often recommended them to others as they contain very good & sound info.  Thank you.
 
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