Adding a 3rd coach battery

[Mike Canter]

That is absolutely not so. If that was so then you can never run a lot of batteries in parallel on a bus bar and that is done all the time for large storage capacity. All the batteries will be charged regardless. Again there is not enough resistance in a 3 or 4 gauge wire in short lengths such as what are used to tie our batteries together to make any difference.

[offthewall]

Originally Posted by Mike Canter

That is absolutely not so. If that was so then you can never run a lot of batteries in parallel on a bus bar and that is done all the time for large storage capacity. All the batteries will be charged regardless. Again there is not enough resistance in a 3 or 4 gauge wire in short lengths such as what are used to tie our batteries together to make any difference.

Check this out for a much more educated explanation than I was able to give. It's a very informative read on connecting multiple batteries.

SmartGauge Electronics - Interconnecting multiple batteries to form one larger bank

The bottom line is;

The problem is that in very low resistance circuits (as we have here) huge differences in current can be produced by tiny variations in battery voltage.

[Mike Canter]

Again you are trying to make things too difficult on a MH with only three batteries. Why make it into a science project.

[offthewall]

Originally Posted by Mike Canter

Again you are trying to make things too difficult on a MH with only three batteries. Why make it into a science project.

Because it is the proper way to do it. Even in an RV, even with only three batteries. After reading the SmartGuage article, I realized that the problem is much worse than I thought from previous research. You will be discharging and charging the first battery at a 3-2 ratio compared to the last in a three battery installation. It's very simple to wire it the correct way.

But don't let facts get in the way of a good internet arugument

My favorite line in the SmartGuage article is;

There really is no excuse whatsoever (apart from, perhaps, incompetence or laziness) for using the first example given at the top of this page.

[Billieg]

Originally Posted by offthewall

Because it is the proper way to do it. Even in an RV, even with only three batteries. After reading the SmartGuage article, I realized that the problem is much worse than I thought from previous research. You will be discharging and charging the first battery at a 3-2 ratio compared to the last in a three battery installation. It's very simple to wire it the correct way.

But don't let facts get in the way of a good internet arugument

My favorite line in the SmartGuage article is;

There really is no excuse whatsoever (apart from, perhaps, incompetence or laziness) for using the first example given at the top of this page.

I guess the bottom-line is Mike can wire his batteries any way he wants to just because he can. I hope the org. poster wires his correctly and has no problems. I see a lot of mis-information on this forum and other forums and it worries me that someone who doesn't know better listens to it. It also worries me that when someones opinion is proved wrong they still want to argue and lead others down the wrong path. Sorry Mike....