Batteries

[Cevans69]

Which is better? 2 12v or 2 6 v for inverter.

[wa8yxm]

Non sufficient information:
What is better is AMP HOURS, the more the merrier, and you likely want a DEEP CYCLE design too (NOT MARINE/deep cycle

So why did I say non sufficient info?

Group 24 batteries are typically around 75 amp hours at the C/20 rate and like all "Group" batteries I will discuss are usually MARINE/deep cycle as opposed to DEEP CYCLE /Trolling.

Group 27 are just shy of 100 (Say 95)
Group 29 are just over 100 (Say 105)
Group 31 are around 130

A Size 4D is 230
An 8D is even bigger

These can be had in DEEP CYCLE if you look for them but they are big and heavy.

So how can we get 230 amp hours in a package that will NOT give us a hernia (Ok, a 4D won't give me a hernia, Do not know about you)

Simple, a pair of GC-2 Golf car batteries, Specifically DEKA G-20s, also give you the exact same 230 amp hours that the 4D gives.

And on that note: I have used 12 volt batteries that weighed close to a thousand pounds and make a colleciton of all the above put together looks small. .

The bit attraction of six volt GC-2:
COST: they are very very popular, Golf courses from sea to sea and beyond buy them by the pallet load for their golf cars This means that the unit cost is lower.

WEIGHT: they weigh almost exactly half what a 4D weighs.. Though I can carry a 4D wrangling it onto the battery tray. NOT going to happen.

And when you put two six volt batteries in series, You get one 12 volt battery.

So what is best: Most likely two 12 volt batteries each of which is made up of two six volt batteries in series
(Think of each six volt pair as though it were a 4D, Would you want a 4D where half was new and half was years old? See how that question went POOF (Can I replace just one of 'em)

[Papa_Jim]

I just had an operation to fix my belly button hernia. I don't think I'll be lifting a 4D battery any time in the rest of my lifetime.

I keep hearing people say that 6V golf cart batteries are the way to go. But the battery tray in my coach isn't tall enough, so I'm stuck using two 4D batteries. I added two more 4D batteries up front. So, I figured I have 200 X 4 = 800 Amp hrs. If the 4D battery will actually give me 230 amp hrs., then even better. 230 X 4 = 920 Amp hrs.

All I need to do now is figure out how to hook up solar.

Jim

[SKP Kirk]

I prefer pairs of 6V, golf cart batteries, but like Jim they were too tall for the space where my batteries were stored. The difference is not huge but it is significant in my opinion.

[r___r]

Subscribing for future reference.

Great information Wa8yxm.

Thanks for posting,

Rich

[wa8yxm]

Thank you Rick, have spent quite a bit of time researching things... (I actually like doing that).

As I said though when you say Which is better 12s or 6s,, The problem is 12's come in different sizes, 12 volt peas, or 12 volt watermelons, makes a difference.

[Gary RVRoamer]

It also makes a big difference whether those 12v's are deep cycles (like the GC2 6v's are), or vanilla car or marine batteries. The voltage itself is irrelevant.

For many people, 6v is a convenient shorthand for a high amp-hour deep cycle battery, because the 6V's they are talking about are the GC2 golf cart 6v battery. Other types/sizes of 6v would not be anywhere near as good, but those are mostly specialty types that aren't readily available anyway.

Last, the much higher production volumes of the GC2 6v golf cart battery generally make it less expensive than the equivalent 12v deep cycle. I've written an article of choosing a battery for an RV - it's available on another site, at Choose battery