This is the strangest thing. I have a Platinum 6110L Leisure battery that I bought last year and it has been working fine in my Swift Challenger 490 SE, I took the battery out to re-charge it on the bench over the winter period, and found that the charger says that the terminals were connected the wrong way round, but they were not! The battery seems to take the charge OK and works fine in the caravan if the negative clip is connected to the positive terminal and the positive clip is connected to the negative terminal, but what can be wrong? and will this do lasting damage to the battery if I continue to use it this way?
Should have a blown a fuse (I guess) or, if the main fuse is quite large (probably is) then a circuit board may be damaged. Have you checked fuses. It probably didn't charge correctly either.
Phil
------------- If you're not on a fell your wasting your feet and for 2014 it's.......Feb Castleton Mar North Yors Moors; Apr Sutton on Sea; May Thirsk; Jun Clapham/Riverside (Lakes); July Wharfedale; August Crakehall; Sept Knaresborough; Oct Wirral Park/Clitheroe
My first port of call would be at a battery specialist to check that the battery is actually OK.
I accidentally connected my battery the wrong way round when once I was distracted and it blew the fuse protecting the primary circuit thus rendering all 12v appliances useless. That's probably the most damage you'll do to the caravan.
As far as the battery being charged with the charger connected the wrong way round......who knows? I'm surprised you don't get quite a flash when connecting up that way and that continuous charging in this manner hasn't buckled the plates and rendered the battery useless.
I'll be very interested to hear what the outcome is. Personally I wouldn't continue in this vein until I had established just exactly what the answer is.
If you have a digital voltmeter if you check the volts, the meter will show a minus reading if you put the positive probe on the nagative terminal and the negative on the positive and vice versa.
Saxo1
Thanks Guys, I agree, it is very Strange, but Phil, there is no blown a fuse in the caravan and the battery works fine in the caravan and the battery has taken the full charge correctly, with the terminals reversed, and Saxo 1, I’ve checked it with a digital voltmeter and it has taken the charge fully, but with the terminals reversed.
Vic, As far as the battery being charged with the charger connected the wrong way round is concerned, that works fine, I only get a flash when the terminals are connected the normal way round. I’ve taken it to a battery specialist that I bought the battery from, and he has done a test on the battery and says that it has taken the charge and is in excellent condition. He says that the only thing he can think of, is that the manufacturers must have put the + and – signs on the wrong terminals, but I find this very difficult to believe! and I am concerned about whether or not I will do any lasting damage to either the battery or the van. Any further thoughts would be much appreciated.
------------- If you're not on a fell your wasting your feet and for 2014 it's.......Feb Castleton Mar North Yors Moors; Apr Sutton on Sea; May Thirsk; Jun Clapham/Riverside (Lakes); July Wharfedale; August Crakehall; Sept Knaresborough; Oct Wirral Park/Clitheroe
Not sure if I have understood this correctly, but when you connect a house charger to it, did you say it only works when you reverse the leads which is contrary to the batteries labelling?
If so, I would conclude the battery terminals have been incorrectly labelled as mentioned.
That being the case, it won't cause any damage to the van, just be really confusing if you did not know this. I assume the previous battery was labelled correctly and connected in the correct order? So no diliemma?
Would the seller of the battery not exchange it for another correctly labelled?
Yes, that is right Chowey007, if I connect a house charger to it, it only works when I reverse the leads, which is contrary to the batteries labelling. Also, the same applys if I connect an external charger to the battery.
My spare battery is labelled correctly and does connect in the normal way. As you say, it would appear that the battery terminals have been incorrectly labelled by the manufacturer, but I find this very difficult to believe. I will try taking this up with the seller of the battery, to see if he may exchange it for another which is correctly labelled, but as it is now 18 months old, he may have a p[roblem with this.
Well under the Sale of Goods Act and the Limitation Act you have six years in which to lodge a complaint that the seller is in breach of contract for failing to sell a battery that was fit for purpose. Aren't the terminals usually different sizes for positive and neutral anyway, so they would also be the wrong way round.
Just mention damages to your caravan and see if he is willing to swop the battery in full and final settlement,
Phil
------------- If you're not on a fell your wasting your feet and for 2014 it's.......Feb Castleton Mar North Yors Moors; Apr Sutton on Sea; May Thirsk; Jun Clapham/Riverside (Lakes); July Wharfedale; August Crakehall; Sept Knaresborough; Oct Wirral Park/Clitheroe
If you want to prove that the battery is wrongly labelled you can connect it in paralell with your spare battery, pos to pos and neg to neg as the battery is marked and if it is wrongly marked the voltmeter will read 24 volts,then connect it in series pos to neg and neg to pos and if the battery is wrongly labelled it will read 12 volts.
Saxo1
Phil is right, the + terminal is always larger than the -.
I think I would make some effort to get to the bottom of this before you go any further. Electronic items don't like being connected teh wrongway round.
Many moons ago, i charged a battery the wrong way round,pos to neg and neg to pos, the battery was dead flat at the time before charging, this was an acid battery I didn`t realize at the time i had charged the battery like this, But the battery was fine except the for the poles being the wrong way round, so may be, your battery had been charged this way from new. I certainly wound not discharge your battery dead flat and charge it the correct way.This will damage your battery. but it is possible to reverse the pollarity.
------------- Roughing it in style at Calloose caravan and camping holiday park nr St Ives.(seasonal pitch)
Its not a hangover, its wine flu!
Hi Bill, Brilliant! I have a feeling you have hit on the answer! I was using the battery on my van quite happily and it did become dead flat over the winter months, and when I recharged it on the bench I now believe that I may have inadvertantly charged it the wrong way round, positive to negative and negative to positive. I never relised that a battery would accept the charge the wrong way round, but I think that this is probably what has happened.
That being the case, will I now be able to run the battery on the caravan with poles being the wrong way round, or could this damage the electrics on the caravan or the battery or would it be possible for me to have the polarity corrected in some way, or should I just scrap the battery and start again with a new battery?
Amazing family weekend with old steam engines, classic car displays, market stalls, and full catering and bar. And camping on site - Save £25 by booking in advance.
Topic: Battery terminals round the wrong way!
