2000 Stratos battery wire identification

[jamesbirmingham]

I have two wires 12 or 14 gauge one red one green going to battery. Can anyone tell me what the go to and are they red hot and green neutral?? 2000 Stratos 19SS.

 

[Don S]

Re: 2000 Stratos battery wire identification

Impossible to say on a 13 year old boat. Trace them out to find what they go to. Have have had to do that for customers many times.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: 2000 Stratos battery wire identification

WHS^

We could guess or say what they should be but there is no telling what a previous owner may have done in years past.

Normally red would be + and green would not connect directly to the battery at all as it would be part of a bonding system

They need to be traced like Don said

 

[UncleWillie]

Re: 2000 Stratos battery wire identification

And once you figure out the Green one and any others that may be in there;
Get some electrical tape and and for any wires that are not already Red or Yellow,
Wrap some electrical tape on the wires from the Connector Lug to about 6 inches up the wire.

Red for the wires that go to the POS terminal.
Yellow for the wires that go to the NEG terminal.

Black is for AC Hot (120v). (NOT for DC Ground in the marine environment.)
White is for the AC Common.
Green is for bonding things together to Ground.

Stick to the color standard and you and the next guy will not get confused next time.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: 2000 Stratos battery wire identification

never seen yellow used for dc neg. battery cable... only black

 

[tazrig]

Re: 2000 Stratos battery wire identification

never seen yellow used for dc neg. battery cable... only black

Ditto

 

[MH Hawker]

Re: 2000 Stratos battery wire identification

Well their is a color coding system for marine applications. This may help you out, It is hard to say what a PO may of used.

Marine Wiring Color Code - Direct Current Systems Under 50 Volts

 

[tazrig]

Re: 2000 Stratos battery wire identification

Hmm... learn something new every day. I've still never seen yellow coming off of a (-) battery terminal though.

 

[UncleWillie]

Re: 2000 Stratos battery wire identification

My newer boat came with Yellow Ground cables from the factory. (Bayliner!)
I am sure there are many boats out there with Black Neg battery Cables just like in cars.
It is a Marine thing, just to Keep the DC wiring separate from the AC shore power.
If you don't have AC shore power it will make little difference.

 

[tazrig]

Re: 2000 Stratos battery wire identification

O.K.... It took me 40 years to see it, but now i've seen it. Got any recent pictures of Elvis you'd care to share??? :lol:

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: 2000 Stratos battery wire identification

I have seen black with a yellow stripe b4 but just not solid yellow.... of course the newest boat I've ever owned is my 89 wellcraft and the newest I've worked on is dad's 91 bass tracker.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: 2000 Stratos battery wire identification

My newer boat came with Yellow Ground cables from the factory. (Bayliner!)
I am sure there are many boats out there with Black Neg battery Cables just like in cars.
It is a Marine thing, just to Keep the DC wiring separate from the AC shore power.
If you don't have AC shore power it will make little difference.

View attachment 181844

That isn't a boat... that's a ford truck

 

[tazrig]

Re: 2000 Stratos battery wire identification

That isn't a boat... that's a ford truck

:laugh::laugh::laugh: I've been bamboozelled!!! I was so busy looking at the yellow cables I didn't bother to look around at the rest of the picture. Got me!:facepalm:

 

[Don S]

Re: 2000 Stratos battery wire identification

Back in the early 2000's they started using Yellow as DC negative, mostly due to the increase of AC on boats, even small boats.
So to prevent mixing up black AC Hot and Black DC negative, they started using yellow.
Black can still be used, and there is no requirement to convert to yellow if your older boat has black DC negative. It just means people have to think about what they are doing on the older boats.

 

[NYBo]

Re: 2000 Stratos battery wire identification

O.K.... It took me 40 years to see it, but now i've seen it. Got any recent pictures of Elvis you'd care to share??? :lol:

 

[UncleWillie]

Re: 2000 Stratos battery wire identification

That isn't a boat... that's a ford truck

I've been bamboozled!!! I was so busy looking at the yellow cables I didn't bother to look around at the rest of the picture. Got me!:facepalm:

Congrats to Smoke! A very good eye! A Bronco if I have it correct. :joyous:
My boat has Yellow ground wires and I would have been happy to take a picture of them if it wasn't the middle of February in northern Ohio. Brrrrr! The boat is all wrapped up for the winter.

But the point is still valid that marine wiring with Yellow ground wires is not a rarity.
As Don restates, confusion with shore power Hot is a thing to be avoided.
Connecting AC Hot to the Boats ground would result in a shocking experience.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: 2000 Stratos battery wire identification

Wonder if anyone has contacted the stereo head unit manufacturers to change the color of the station memory wire. That unit will not work well with a +12 volt feed connected to DC ground.

 

[glenn property of pam]

Re: 2000 Stratos battery wire identification

on my stratos green goes to the fuel filler cap as a ground point either way you will have to pull on the wire to trace as the po could have needed a piece of wire to connect something and just used any color they had on hand