New Batteries

Oldbanker · 01-11-2009, 04:13 PM

I will be replacing my batteries (1 chassis and 2 house) this week and need to know if there is a proper way to disconnect the old and reconnect the new ones. I assume that the negative wires must be disconnected first but must all 3 negative wires be done before disconnecting any positive wires? The motor home is a 2007 Itasca Sunrise 35L.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Oldbanker · 01-11-2009, 04:13 PM

I will be replacing my batteries (1 chassis and 2 house) this week and need to know if there is a proper way to disconnect the old and reconnect the new ones. I assume that the negative wires must be disconnected first but must all 3 negative wires be done before disconnecting any positive wires? The motor home is a 2007 Itasca Sunrise 35L.

Thanks for any suggestions.

J. Dean Bailey · 01-11-2009, 04:26 PM

Oldbanker:

You're correct in that the neg. must be disconneted first (eliminates the possibilty of a spark ignighting gas discarge from bats.)
But, you only need to disconnect the one lead from the ground for each bank of batteries (the long lead to the batteries). There will be one for each bank of batteries, that is, one for the house bat., and one for the chassis bat.

If in doubt, it will not hurt to disconnect all three neg. terminals.

becks · 01-11-2009, 04:51 PM

As stated disconnect neg first. Then when installing new ones connect pos first. Just wondering why your batteries need replacing so soon? Think about going to 6 volts for your house batteries. Good luck.

DonavonP · 01-11-2009, 05:02 PM

Take a picture of the setup before you disassemble. I wished I had on the RV before this one. Good luck.

DriVer · 01-12-2009, 06:31 PM

I am posting in support of disconnecting the "Negative" battery terminal first.

CaptChet · 01-13-2009, 05:18 PM

Not to 'steal' the thread but is there any danger to engine and transmisson computers with removing power from these systems, as in when changing batteries??
I thought I had read somewhere that damage could occur, particularly should an arcing occur.
Is this something those of us who might replace our batteries should worry about?

DriVer · 01-13-2009, 07:05 PM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Capt. Chet: </div></BLOCKQUOTE>Unless you are trying to pull a major load from your batteries while disconnecting a cable I don't believe you are going to generate any type of arc while disconnecting a negative cable.

This is the reason why you need to disconnect the negative first to keep from arcing the cables. (Sounds like Yogi)

autofish · 01-14-2009, 01:11 PM

Neg.cables will arc just the same as pos. cables will if there is a load on . The reason you should unhook neg. cables first is so if your wrench happens to hit some thing like ground neg. it then will not arc like the pos. cable would, however this only applies to neg. ground rigs and they are all neg. ground now, so unhook neg. cables first.for safty.