Battery

[H2O4]

Hello,
In our Motorhome there are 2 pieces 6 Volt batteries in serie circuit, which is the advantage over a 12 Volt battery ? Can i use a 12V battery ?
Thanks and Greetings
Ralf

[okcnewbie]

Originally Posted by H2O4

Hello,
In our Motorhome there are 2 pieces 6 Volt batteries in serie circuit, which is the advantage over a 12 Volt battery ? Can i use a 12V battery ?
Thanks and Greetings
Ralf

Yes, you can use a 12 volt battery. Make sure to take pictures before you do anything.

The advantage of the 6V batteries in the past has been price/availability. It really doesn't matter if you have two 6v batteries that add up to 100 pounds or one 12v. The real issue is making sure they are true deep cycle. This is why so many people use golf cart batteries.

[twinboat]

A 12 volt battery with a comparable capacity of 2, 6 volt batteries will be as big as 2, 6 volt batteries. The only way around that is with Lithium battery.

If you always plug in, use one 12 volt battery.
If you boondock, you may want to use 2, 12 volt or 2, 6 volt batteries.

GC2, 6 volt, golf car batteries are guaranteed to be deep cycle.

True, deep cycle 12 volt batteries are more expensive the GC2, 6 volt batteries.
Many 12 volt batteries are a hybrid of starting and deep cycle. Same AH rating but less deep cycles in their life.

[distaff]

When considering lead/acid batteries you would only choose a 12V deep cycle because you didn't have room for two 6V deep cycles.

With a deep cycle you are interested in a slow, long discharge/charge process and the size of the cells in a 6V is double that of a 12V of the same dimensions. You get a larger reservoir for electrolyte and large plates.

A starter battery has different requirements - it needs to give up a lot of power in a very short time and it should not ever deeply discharge. Even in a starter battery when you get to big output amps the batteries get bigger.

[OLYLEN]

I would disagree with the the two 6 volt. If the two 12 volt are near the 6 volts I would choose the 12volt. If one goes south you still have 12 volts.

LEN

[MorganT69]

If you have two 6 volt batteries or one 12 volt battery both being Deep Cycle, the 12 will discharge faster, meaning not last as long as the two 6 volt batteries will. Its all about how many PLATES you have in the battery.

[Skip426]

A lot of good info at this site.

The 12volt Side of Life (Part 1)

[Vicr]

If you do your homework and look at battery specifications there are 12v deep cycle batteries out there with plates as thick as a 6v. It's a boring read but worth the research.