Battery replacement

[Outbumn]

I have seen many posts about changing your house batteries from 12 Volt deep cycle to 6 volt golf cart batteries. The question is when you change out your 12 volt batteries, do you also have to change your converter / charger and your inverter?

[yudamann]

No change to converter or inverter is required. You need to re-wire your 6 volt batteries in parallel so that you get 12 volt operation. You connect one 6 volt negative pole to the existing negative cable on your rig. Connect this 6 volt + terminal to the - terminal of the second 6 volt battery, and the + terminal of this second 6 volt battery to the existing positive cable on your rig. This gives you 12 volts across the - terminal of battery 1 to the positive terminal of battery 2. Make sure that any extra cables that you need to do this is at least the same size diameter as the existing on your rig. If you are changing 2 ea. 12 volt batteries to 4 ea. 6 volt, the arrangement is essentially the same as described above for each of the 2 banks. If you are unsure of how to do this, seek professional help as you can do a lot of damage if the wiring is not correct.

[RV Wizard]

Here are some links that will help those wanting to know all about batteries.
U.S.Battery/Leader in Deep Cycle Batteries
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) - DC Battery Specialists
Deep Cycle Battery FAQ
Sources
http://www.batteryfaq.org

[Rich and Cork]

Quote:

Originally Posted by yudamann No change to converter or inverter is required. You need to re-wire your 6 volt batteries in parallel so that you get 12 volt operation. You connect one 6 volt negative pole to the existing negative cable on your rig. Connect this 6 volt + terminal to the - terminal of the second 6 volt battery, and the + terminal of this second 6 volt battery to the existing positive cable on your rig. This gives you 12 volts across the - terminal of battery 1 to the positive terminal of battery 2. Make sure that any extra cables that you need to do this is at least the same size diameter as the existing on your rig. If you are changing 2 ea. 12 volt batteries to 4 ea. 6 volt, the arrangement is essentially the same as described above for each of the 2 banks. If you are unsure of how to do this, seek professional help as you can do a lot of damage if the wiring is not correct.

NO NO NO
You put the two six volt batteries in SERIES. Connect the neg of battery 1 to the pos of battery 2. Then the neg of battery 2 goes to ground. There is then 12vdc between the pos post of battery 1 and the neg (ground) of battery 2. The rest of your system is fine.

[Route 66]

Click here for battery and 12V info.

[PapPappy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rich and Cork NO NO NO You put the two six volt batteries in SERIES. Connect the neg of battery 1 to the pos of battery 2. Then the neg of battery 2 goes to ground. There is then 12vdc between the pos post of battery 1 and the neg (ground) of battery 2. The rest of your system is fine.

I agree........"Series" will add the voltages....."Parallel" keeps the voltage the same, but doubles the amperage.

As mentioned in that other thread, you don't need to change anything but the batteries. Your inverter and chargers will take care of you fine, as they are rated at 12VDC, and with those 6-Volt batteries wired up in Series, they will have 12VDC power.....so for all practical purposes, be the same as those 12-Volt batteries you replaced....but with a much better storage capacity.

If you decide to go with four 6-Volt batteries.....you wire them so that you have two wired in Series, then wire those "sets" in parallel.

6-V ........6-V
+ / - to + / -
( .................. )
+ / - to + / -
(................... )
+................... - (connections to Inverter/charger)


Hope this helps?
Happy Camping

[wa8yxm]

I am fond of saying "There are no six volt batteries in RV's"

Your current converter, inverter and such are all designed to work with 12 volt batteries

Now, one way to do that is like this

-Battery+
-Battery+
(you can add as many batteries as you like)

Another way is:
-Bat-try+
-bat-try+

That's six volt pairs, each pair (Bat and Try) = 1 12 volt battery

So even though what you install is six volt batteries

There are no six volt batteries in RV's. Just 12 volt batteries that come in two halves.

Think of each pair as one 12 volt battery, feed it, And other wise care for it, as though it's one 12 volt battery and.. You will be happy.

Two Six volt golf car batteries = about 220 amp hours @ 12 volts
One 8 D, about the same

For many people picking up two six volt batteries, one at a time, and installing them, Gets them 12 volts

Picking up one 8-D, gets them ... a hernia (ok, it's not that heavy but you get the idea)