another batt question

[rango]

ive got two batts just alike on the front of the beast and two batts at the back just alike. If i hook the pos to pos and neg to neg of the batts they are hooked up parallel, and will give me a longer run time right? now if i am gonna charge these batts. do i hook the pos lead of the charger to the pos on one batt and the neg lead to the neg of the second batt, or do i hook the charger to the pos and neg of one batt? or do i keep the leads of the charger (2 banks) hooked to each batt like they are hooked up now? maybe i should just leave em alone and quit tinkering..

[bill56]

Hi Rango

If my memory serves me correctly if you hook the batts parallell you will up your voltage to 24 volts.. I used to do this for my 24 volt trolling motor .. I will check on line ane get you a link to look at

Bill

[bill56]

Rango..

Parallell will give you 12 volts, series will give you 24 volts .. see attched link

B
http://www.otherpower.com/otherpower...ry_wiring.html

[Billy]

If both batteries are connected in parallel, both will receive a charge from the charging system. The more depleted battery will receive the most. If the current draw by the depleted battery is too great, the other battery will begin transfering energy to the depleted battery.........I got this from a message board on the net so what this tells me is that it will be alright to hook to one battery in your system and both will recieve the charge. I would think if you had one battery getting weak (cell going bad) that it might try to overcharge your good battery but the excess current will most likely be lost to the weeker battery. I may be wrong but I would try it. If you have a tester just keep a check on them regularly and see if they are charging to the same voltage. Good luck and hope this helps. Billy

[misfit]

when charging paralleled batteries,just hook charger + cable to + on one battery,and - on charger to - on other battery.one charger is all you want/need for that.only time you need 2 chargers or banks is for 2 isolated batteries.as mentioned,a mismatched pair of batteries shouldn't be paralleled.equal discharge rate will help prolong battery life of both,so a battery shouldn't be paired with a weaker one.
as long as charge rate is less than 10 amps,that setup should work fine.

[gabowman]

This was discussed on another website and was recommended that you unhook the two batteries before charging. Said too much energy would go into one battery without sending enough charge to the other before hurting one of your batteries? Never knew the right answer. Some of you guys with experience jump on in and let us know how you do it.

[rango]

with two batts hooked up in series to get 24 volts, you can still get 12 volts off them two batts without changing the hookup. in series you hookin to the Pos on one batt to Neg on the second batt to get the 24 volts. pos to pos and neg to neg will give you 12 volts still but with batts with more endurance. now if you go pos to neg and pos to neg from one bat to the other you get 24 volts. and with batts hooked like that do you hook to pos on one batt and neg on the second to get the 24 volts, but if you hook to pos and neg on one batt you still get 12 volts. if i got batts hooked parallel, pos to pos and neg to neg then i can hook one lead to batt #1 and the other lead to batt #2, using one bank instead of two? does that mean if the bank throws ten amps that each batt is gettin 10 amps or are they just gettin 5 amps each? the batts are exactly the same. if thats the case then a man can get by with a an onboard batt charger with one bank and charge two batts at once if they are hooked pos to pos and neg to neg from one batt to the other? looks to me like that would be the way to go. with the second bank could you hook it to the second set of batts if they are hooked parallel, pos to pos and neg to neg and get a ten amp charge in each of the second batts or will i be gettin 5 amp throwed to each batt.. the second set of batts are the same exactly, 5 years old

[misfit]

that would happen if batteries aren't matched equally.the way to prevent/minimize that problem is start with 2 new,identical batteries,as recommended,if you want to parallel them.
i'm no expert,but think the chance of getting unequal charge would be greater if batteries were charged seperately.if both don't get an equal charge,then i believe it will affect performance,and shorten battery life eventually.

[Luck]

with two batts hooked up in series to get 24 volts, you can still get 12 volts off them two batts without changing the hookup. in series you hookin to the Pos on one batt to Neg on the second batt to get the 24 volts. pos to pos and neg to neg will give you 12 volts still but with batts with more endurance. now if you go pos to neg and pos to neg from one bat to the other you get 24 volts. and with batts hooked like that do you hook to pos on one batt and neg on the second to get the 24 volts, but if you hook to pos and neg on one batt you still get 12 volts. if i got batts hooked parallel, pos to pos and neg to neg then i can hook one lead to batt #1 and the other lead to batt #2, using one bank instead of two? does that mean if the bank throws ten amps that each batt is gettin 10 amps or are they just gettin 5 amps each? the batts are exactly the same. if thats the case then a man can get by with a an onboard batt charger with one bank and charge two batts at once if they are hooked pos to pos and neg to neg from one batt to the other? looks to me like that would be the way to go. with the second bank could you hook it to the second set of batts if they are hooked parallel, pos to pos and neg to neg and get a ten amp charge in each of the second batts or will i be gettin 5 amp throwed to each batt.. the second set of batts are the same exactly, 5 years old

There is another draw back to charging batteries this way. It will take a much longer period of time to get a full charge on the batteries when hooked together than if they are seperate. This would be a problem if I were going to try and fish two days in a row and had to charge batteries over night for second day I don't think I could get a full charge with both hooked to same charger or bank with on board charger.

[Timk]

I like to see you guys thinking like this,but as I said before,please be careful when messing with batteries.It only takes a small spark to cause an explossion.Yes this has happened to me and it was not fun.If you see any kind of leak on the battery, get rid of it.Battery acid is highly explosive.Never hook up or unhook a charger while it is on.As for the charging of 2 batteries from one charger,I'll have to agree with GAbowman, and say that it is best to unhook the batteries and charge them seperately.TK