How Do I Wire The Batteries On My Motorhome?

by Kelley

Please someone I need help hooking up the battery terminals on my 1992 Allegro Bay Motorhome. It consists of 3 batteries; 1 which starts the engine & the other 2 are generator & interior related. I am a female and I'm clueless. I already appreciate anyone's help.

Kelley

ANSWER: Greetings Kelley thanks for submitting your question on our Ask An RV Question Page.

Let me start off by saying that if you have any doubts after reading the outline below about hooking up the batteries in your RV, you should get a more knowledgeable friend or neighbor to help you hook up the batteries on your motorhome. If this process is done incorrectly it can cause severe damage to your batteries and the 12 volt electrical system on your motorhome. There is also the risk of starting an electrical fire in your motorhome.

This information is not meant to scare you; it is meant to make you aware that you may be better off having an RV Technician to the job for you. The money you spend to have the job done correctly will cost far less than repairing the electrical system on your motorhome.

That being said let me get started on the guidelines. I am assuming that there are no batteries in the RV currently. If the old batteries are still in the RV all you need to do is hook them up the same way they are currently hooked up. If there are no batteries hooked up in the RV then keep reading.

I am assuming that the two batteries that are being used on your RV for the house battery system are two 6 volt batteries hooked up in series. The way you tell if they are 6 volt batteries is by looking at the top of the battery. A six volt battery will have three caps on top where you add distilled water. If they have 6 caps each then they are 12 volt batteries and the wiring diagram below will not work for two 12 volt house batteries.

First make sure that all 12 volt systems in the motorhome are turned off and the ignition of the RV is in the off position. The first battery you should install is the motorhome starting battery. Once you have the 12 volt starting battery secured in the battery tray you need to hook up the positive battery cable first. The positive battery cable for the motorhome will be a cable that goes to the engine compartment of the Motorhome. You then need to hook up the negative cable to the starting battery.

OK it is now time to hook up the two 6 volt house batteries of the motorhome. These two 6 volt batteries need to be hooked up in series in order to power the 12 volt system of your motorhome. Take a look at the diagram to the left to see how to hook up these batteries.

Now here is the problem, if you are not sure which cables lead where then I am going to again suggest that you have an experienced RV Technician do the job for you. You may have optional electrical accessories in your motorhome such as power inverters, etc. that are hard wired to the house batteries. Again if these electrical accessories are hooked up to the batteries incorrectly it will damage them.

Hopefully this information has been helpful to you. If any of our visitors have suggestions for you they can add them to this page by clicking on the "Click Here To Post Comments" link near the bottom of this page.

Happy RVing

RVing Al

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