Possible incorrect wiring for PD 4045 charge controller?

[routlaw]

Question for you folks who have changed out the older charge controller for the Progressive Dynamics 4040. Going by my diagram it states the ground wire should be connected to bottom row of lugs, while the neutral is to be on the top row. Now normally green is ground, white is neutral, however when I took my older unit out those wires were reversed with white on bottom row and green on the top. 

The new unit circuit board only states the color of the wire but does not actually designate whether white is negative, and green ground so before proceeding and turning on power just wanted to make sure that the white wire goes on top row, green on bottom. If correct how did this ever get past on the original Oliver build out?

Thanks

[CRM]

Not at home so I can't check mine visually, but this diagram from the manual may help. Green shows as ground and white as neutral, but it looks like they're calling the top bar the bottom and the bottom bar the top. Strange...

[routlaw]

Thanks @CRM for showing. Yes I have that diagram as well which made for a confusing mess. However when I called E-Trailer who I purchased the kit from William informed me that DC and AC are treated different regarding neutral and ground wires. As it tuns out with DC the white wire is ground, and the green wire is neutral just the opposite of AC circuits. He went on to say this discrepancy goes back over a century with a Edison vs Tesla concept where they made no effort to consolidate and talk to one another providing a standard. Go figure. 

As I looked a bit more carefully its was obvious the upper row of lugs had all green wires and lower lug had all white wires and I followed suit. I haven't plugged into shore power yet but it's installed and should be fine… I think:)

[rideandfly]

It's been several years since we replaced our PD controller, but I still have photos where you can see the upper green and lower white wires connected before and after installation.

Here's our original PD controller on our 2015 LE2:

New controller for installation:

Installed new controller:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 2 by rideandfly

[routlaw]

Yep thats the same way I hooked them up too, thanks for the reassurance. 

[rideandfly]

Could this be the reason for our confusion? Rotated CRM's screen shot 180 degrees, white neutral is on top and green ground is on the bottom.

[CRM]

1 hour ago, rideandfly said:

Could this be the reason for our confusion? Rotated CRM's screen shot 180 degrees, white neutral is on top and green ground is on the bottom.

 

I'm starting to think that it may be due to the location of the busbar's in the case. The ground bar is set further down in the case (bottom) and the neutral bar set up higher (top).  

[jd1923]

17 hours ago, rideandfly said:

Here's our original PD controller on our 2015 LE2:

Installed new controller:

It's always best to take pictures of wiring before disconnecting as Rideandfly had. Then connect new wires to the same locations. I would say, given you have the black and white wires connected as shown in the picture, trip the breaker for the converter, plug into shore power and then switch the breaker back on. If you have the AC wiring wrong the breaker will trip and then continue reading...

For 120VAC: Residential 120VAC circuits ALWAYS use the same wire color conventions (RVs and TTs too). The HOT is Black, the Neutral is White and the Green is Ground. The Converter needs AC power in from the shore connection. First trip the 30A main breaker, top left of the 120VAC breaker panel, connect the green wire to the ground bus which is easy to identify since there will be many other green or stripped copper wires connected to it. Connect the white to the neutral bus where you see nothing but other white wires. Then remove the circuit breaker for the converter/charger, wire the hot/black wire to it. After you wire the DC side, plug the breaker back in as the last step. Then turn the 30A main on, followed by the 20A converter breaker. This order of wiring these connections is most safe.

When you see a red wire in AC Residential wiring it's either for a "switch-leg" to power on a switched light or appliance or used in 240AC as the second leg using 10/3. There are none of these in our Oliver where OTT uses only 12/2 or 14/2 wiring for 120VAC circuits. Class A RVs use a fourth wire (10/3 cable) for 50A shore power connections.

For 12VDC: There are common wires used in RV and Automotive DC wiring (e.g. red/black, black/white) but not a single standard as is residential AC wiring. Oliver uses RED for B+ in their 8 AWG wiring and OTT uses both YELLOW (as in the picture above) and GREEN wire connections for B- (see picture). I've read some about neutral wires in DC, but not sure if there is any merit in this discussion. The bottom-line in DC wiring is that batteries have only two connections, B+ or battery positive and B- battery ground.

[CRM]

15 minutes ago, jd1923 said:

I've read some about neutral wires in DC, but not sure if there is any merit in this discussion. The bottom-line in DC wiring is that batteries have only two connections, B+ or battery positive and B- battery ground.

 

Yep, never a neutral in a DC circuit.