A friend of mine is an owner operator who has been off the road for several years due to cancer, and his truck has been sitting. Also, earlier in my own life I had workd as an automotive smog mechanic during the 1990s, so this friend of mine asked me to to help him to take a look at a charging issue he was having on his truck. It turned out to be that the remote sense wire on his alternator was completely corroded, and after cleaning that and a few other connections around the alternator, the guage in his dash was once again reading 14.25 after things settled down. However, it appears that his batteries had gone bad during the two or three years that his truck sat, and now they will no longer hold a charge over night, and I'm fairly certain that it is not a problem with a parastic draw, or a minor short somewhere. Additionally, in the meanwhile, someone else came along and helped him to take the batteries out of his box, in order to get replacements, but this other person did not help him put the new batteries back into the box, and when they took the old batteries out, they unnessarily dissassembled all of the battery connecting cables, and hardware, and this friend of mine is afraid to put the new batteries back in their until we find an official diagram from Freightliner. - I understand the concept of connection batteries in parallel, and I can tell by the wear marks on the old connecting brackets how they were connected, but he still doesn't want to put them back in, eventhough I put the cable hardware back together. I cannot seem to find anything other than partially obscured photos on the internet, but from looking at these photos I drew up the attached picture of how I believe that his batteries should be connected. If someone could take a look at the attached picture I made in Paintbursh and let me know, I would greatly appreciate it. Also, the truck in question is a 2016 Freightliner Cascadia, and it has the DD15 motor.![]()
Battery cable layout
Discussion in 'Freightliner Forum' started by Cedric62, Dec 23, 2024.
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Looks good. As long as they’re all tied together. I like the way your diagram is, because it’s easy to disconnect one battery should it short out. On my Truck 2 positives go to battery, one negative to frame. Looks like you have 2 neg. I’m guessing the 3rd set pos/neg on your diagram are for a apu or inverter maybe? If inverter, the pos should be fused at the battery. There’s also a set of smaller pos/neg wires that power the ecm. The pos. has an inline fuse to protect the ecm. The neg goes to the frame like the others. Very important to have a good ground at frame. The connection often gets corroded, same with pos inline fuse. It can get corroded or blow out from a bad installation or jump starting with loose connections, shorted battery or accidental reversing polarity (hooking up batteries or jumpers backwards) Done that before.
Cedric62 Thanks this. -
Call a Freightliner dealer and ask them for a schematic. They can send it to you in an email. They will ask for the last 6 numbers or letters of the VIN.
Cedric62 Thanks this. -
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The Freightliner dealership probably isn't going to be able to help us with a schematic until after the holidays, so I was wondering if anyone might happen to have a clearer photograph showing how the batteries are connected inside the box? Or maybe a picure of a schematic from a manual? If not, it can wait until after the dealership people get back from the holidays.Rideandrepair Thanks this. -
Last edited: Dec 24, 2024
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Why not post a pic of what you’re looking at? Sometimes one battery is isolated against parasitic draw when Trucks not running, to allow starting. I think it’s done using a solenoid. I don’t know how that works. Post a pic. Maybe someone else can tell you more. All I know is how my Trucks wired.
Cedric62 Thanks this. -
On Freightliners they ground batteries straight to frame. I recommend running one set of batteries ground cable straight to starter and leave the other set to frame. Being direct is Much better for starter.
Cedric62 and Rideandrepair Thank this. -
Cedric62 and Rideandrepair Thank this.
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Rideandrepair Thanks this.
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