Any of the 4 screws on the A/C distribution panel measure out 12 volts DC when connected to the digital multimeter and the other probe is on any ground, or any of the grounded screws on the other
panels, including the a/c outlet nearby.
All inverters are unplugged.
The digital multimeter detects 0 volts A/C when set to read A/C voltage, no matter what the combination. I plugged in my A/C inverter and tested that it works, & then unplugged it for the other tests. It works.
This could be the short that's slowly draining my batteries, couldn't it?
The ground wire is well connected. I checked it earlier, but will recheck it. It's green

.
I'll probably end up trying to remove the positive and just putting a cap over it w/ tape and mount it so it stays dry, or something.
I'm not an elec
engineer, but something here seems real strange. If I touch the screws on this one panel, I get shocked. The screws seem to be connected to the positive terminal of the battery. I just checked. Red probe touching screws, black probe touching ground in a/c outlet, and it read out 12.34 volts, so, the screws are positive. Normally, screws are negative, or grounded and the ground connects to the negative terminal of the battery.
But this Mermaid air conditioner's panel has it backwards. It also happens to have a breaker-switch labeled "reverse polarity" that is bridged to the "a/c main 30 amp" breaker, so they both go on or off at the same time.
This panel is mounted right net to another panel that has "a/c main, battery
charger, refrigeration" and it also has a bridged reverse polarity on the a/c main breaker switch. But this other panel doesn't have hot screws, so to speak. I'll be the
current is leaking accross the
wood from the pos screws on one panel to the neg screws on the neighboring panel and draining my batteries. Since I don't use a/c (any time soon) or need it, I may as well disconnect something & see what happens.