Now I have done it. I thought I had my battery cables marked right. When I put the new battery in I had the neg and postive cables wrong so there was a big flash. Did I blow the main fuse? Nothing works.

Oh, boy! You don't mention whether it was the chassis battery or the house battery connected incorrectly.

If it were the chassis battery (engine, etc.), there's a chance (but unlikely due to the diodes within) you cooked the alternator.

More likely you refer to the house battery, and you may have terminated the converter.

Where was the flash? There are "fusible links" installed in many coaches, that blow on major overcurrent. Most are shielded so you wouldn't see a flash.

As many have stressed before, please edit your signature to show the year, model, engine, and chassis builder of your coach, as the wiring is different from one to the other, and it won't help you to be burdened with generalities.

We've all done it before. Embarrassing for sure, but let's hope you just tripped a breaker or blew a fuse. That is what they are there for. How long did you stay connected? Was it just the flash off the battery post when you made initial contact? I saw a guy at a new car auto show once weld his wrench to the frame of the car. He sat there helpless as the main harness was smoking! Wouldn't want to buy that lemon!

Always....Always...disconnect the Negative post first and reconnect it last! Then you can't weld your wrench to the vehicle. Won't help on wrong terminal hook up though.

quote:

Originally posted by Rusty:
As many have stressed before, please edit your signature to show the year, model, engine, and chassis builder of your coach, as the wiring is different from one to the other, and it won't help you to be burdened with generalities.

You might want to contribute to the data tag project too. I just tried to look up your info there and got nothing.

If you send me a picture of your coach, I'll stick it in your profile as an avatar. It makes it easier for another person to look at it and say... Wow, nice coach.

This coach is a 28 foot 1988 P-30 The fuse I might have blown is on the starting battery. I just touched the cable to the battery post for a wake up flash. I have no lights. no heater and no starter. I'm going to crawl under and check that one fuse that is bolted to the motorhome, Thanks for your input. Dennis

I would look at the fuseable links Dennis - there are usually 2 wires coming from the positive post of the starter motor stud - On a P32 Chassis like you have, they will be (I'm pretty sure) 2 Orange Wires - they might even be mounted to a remote solenoid stud post.

The fuseable link will change it to 2 black or dark gray wires where it attaches to the stud/post.

Hope it helps - keep us posted!

Just as a worthless piece of information - connecting the battery backwards is quite common among new Studebaker owners. They are positive grounded. This is something we have all done - once.

On my 97 Monarch, when I forgot to insulate a live wire in the trailer, the wire grounded and I lost all my lights. A minute later they were back on as the system must be on a resetting breaker. If yours were made this way, you may need to hook up the battery correctly and wait for it to reset, or see if it has already.