Battery wiring

Perrytrails

First post here, We bought our 2017 T@G Outback in June and love it.

I have a question about wiring at the battery. I tried to plug a battery tender into the solar charging port, it wouldn't charge. I took the battery cover off and
I have two red wires going to the positive, one with a 30 amp fuse, and two white going to the negative side.

I switched the wires going to the solar charging port, white to positive and red to negative and now it's charging with the tender plugged in.

Is the solar plug wired wrong or should the red wires be negative, and white wires positive?

Brian

The solar port is wired to match Zamp solar panels. I checked a battery tender with mine and it showed reverse polarity so in order to use the port with the charger the wire connections to the battery would have to be reversed. There is nothing wrong with doing this -- you would just have to remember to change them back if you ever wanted to use Zamp solar panels with the connector.

Brian

BTW, I have Coleman solar panels and the port matches those panels the same as Zamps.

Perrytrails

Thanks Brian, makes since now.

Michigan_Mike

Zamp wires their solar port to match their panels and to ensure safety. Otherwise the bare connection end would be hot and should someone touch a ground by accident the solar panel could be damaged and you could easily blow a fuse. Any easy fix would be to cut the tender cable, flip the leads and splice them together and not mess with the battery terminals.

You posted up a very good question and something that is asked and occurs frequently.

Perrytrails

That's exactly what I'm gonna do, rewire the battery tender plug and change the wiring back to original. Good idea.

That way there is no confusion when someone looks at the battery wiring. And when I eventually get solar panels there will be no issues.

Joea

You can also use this connector that reverses the polarity so you don’t have to cut the wires:
https://www.amazon.com/OptiMATE-CABLE-27-Adapter-polarity/dp/B00AHCWGOO/ref=cm_wl_huc_item

Michigan_Mike

True, that'll work too and allows for use of the battery tender.

1Crow_1Magpie

@Joea said:
You can also use this connector that reverses the polarity so you don’t have to cut the wires:
https://www.amazon.com/OptiMATE-CABLE-27-Adapter-polarity/dp/B00AHCWGOO/ref=cm_wl_huc_item

Great product and simple solution!! 👍