Quote:
Originally Posted by FireMech
Has anyone done this? I currently have two 6 volt wired in series but came across two brand new interstate deep cycle 12 volt batteries for practically nothing. I know the system should be balanced but the price is right....
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with a combo like this the best thing to do is:
1) wire the 12V in parallel as one bank and leave the 6V wire together in series as one bank
2) Get a perko or similar battery disconnect switch with an battery 1, battery 2 and off switch
3) Connect the 6V to either battery 1 or battery 2
4) connect the 12V bank to the other battery position
run off one of the battery positions till they are discharged enough that you want to switch, the switch over. do the same thing to charge.
Really won't cost much extra and won't take much extra wiring and will yield much much better results and battery life.
While you could wire it together as one big bank, combining individual banks with noticeably different types and capacities especially 12V and 6V really doesn't work well. they will try to discharge or charge at different rates, but can't because of the other batteries in the bank.