Battery Terminals

[Johndog]

I have a 2006 Bayliner 185 inboard. For the 2nd year in a row I'm having difficulty attaching the numerous cables to the battery. There are a number of yellow, red and black cables. Does anyone know the correct hookup to the neg and pos. terminals. Your assistance would be appreciated.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Battery Terminals

That depends on what the wires are for but GENERALLY, RED = pos, BLACK = neg, WHITE = neg, YEL = pos. Next time you remove them, mark them with a zip tie. Put a zip tie on each wire on the POS terminal. No zip tie = neg.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Battery Terminals

That depends on what the wires are for but GENERALLY, RED = pos, BLACK = neg, WHITE = neg, YEL = pos. Next time you remove them, mark them with a zip tie. Put a zip tie on each wire on the POS terminal. No zip tie = neg. The next way to tell is the engine battery cable is either red or black with a red stripe. That cable goes on the POS terminal.

 

[Johndog]

Re: Battery Terminals

what is I only have red and yellow?

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Battery Terminals

In your original post you also mentioned black wires. Are they connected or not? Red is positive so connect it. Follow the red and yellow wires to whatever device they end up at. If that device has no black or white wire, the yellow would be ground but that would also be very rare but if you are not the original owner, anything is possible. Just how many wires are we talking about?

 

[jhebert]

Re: Battery Terminals

what is I only have red and yellow?

You were given some wrong information above. In modern boat wiring, the negative conductor in DC wiring has YELLOW insulation. In DC wiring the positive conductor has RED insulation.

In older standards in DC wiring the negative conductor was often BLACK. However, as AC wiring began to be more common on boats, this caused confusion because in AC wiring the HOT conductors is BLACK. The negative conductor in DC wiring is now YELLOW to avoid this problem.

A conductor with WHITE insulation is generally never the positive conductor in DC wiring. In AC wiring it is the neutral conductor.

IMPORTANT: Never rely solely on the color of the wire insulation to identify its function in the circuit. Verify the function of the wire before connecting it to the battery.

WARNING: Connecting the primary battery wiring to the battery with the polarity reversed will cause damage to your boat's electrical system.

It is a good idea to clearly mark all cables that connect to the battery so their function and polarity are unmistakable.

 

[Johndog]

Re: Battery Terminals

Thank you to all who have answered.