Battery Connections

[Povo]

I see there are a few diferent ways to connect RV batteries. What's the best way for my 5ver? I have been connecting the negative to one battery and the positive to the other battery, then positive to positive and negative to negative with the additional cables. (versus both positive and negative on th same battery and running the additional cables to the second battery) Opinions? (not that anyone on this forum ever has an opinion )

[jsmith948]

If you have two 12v , pos to pos & neg to neg(parallel) If you have two 6v then pos to neg (series)

Sent from my HTC6525LVW using Tapatalk

[gkainz]

If you struggle with ohms law and electrical in general just remember a flashlight has the batteries in series (end to end, POS to NEG) which makes the voltage additive. In parallel configuration (POS to POS) the voltage remains the same but the ampacity is additive.

[chuckster57]

Originally Posted by Povo

I see there are a few diferent ways to connect RV batteries. What's the best way for my 5ver? I have been connecting the negative to one battery and the positive to the other battery, then positive to positive and negative to negative with the additional cables. (versus both positive and negative on th same battery and running the additional cables to the second battery) Opinions? (not that anyone on this forum ever has an opinion )

If I read right, the leads from the trailer are hooked to the "ends" of the bank. If the batteries are next to each other, this is the best in my opinion. Mine sit at opposite corners of my front compartment and the leads are hooked to the one closest..gonna fix that one of these days.

[Povo]

This is the chart I put together to keep in the RV. Sounds like what your are describing. Terminology - these are parallel and not in series. Correct?

[Festus2]

Yes, the batteries in the diagram are wired in parallel. This will be the correct way to hook them up IF they are 12v's. IF, they were 6 volts, then you would wire them in series -- as mentioned above - Positive to Negative/Positive to Negative.

In either case, both configurations will produce 12volts.

[chuckster57]

With two 12V batteries side by side, that is the preferred way, and yes they are parallel.

[Povo]

They are 12V. I assumed this was correct, but better to double check. I only have to connect them once a year so I like to post the diagrm in the compartment so I'm not just hoping I'm right each time.

[chuckster57]

Always better to be safe than sorry and unless you do it on a regular basis, a diagram is a good idea. Another tech and I have 2" painters tape on our boxes with the default codes for different keyless entry's.