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Batteries in Series
By Shadow, Section Controls Posted on Sun Feb 13, 2005 at 10:39:55 PM MST
Making sense of Batteries

I have 8, 6 volt batteries. If I connect them all in series, I have 48 volt..so by taking my meter,hooking one end to positve other end to negative it shows 48 volt just like it should. Now If I leave them all hooked like this and test any two batteries side by side it shows 12 volt...3 batteries show 18 volt.. I cant understand How that works, This tells me I could hook my 12 volt inverter to two batteries and it would just Draw from those two until they were dead?THe others would stay fully charged, even tho they are all connected?I'm having trouble absorbing this, as I thought once connected it would be 48 volt no matter where you checked..

Batteries in Series | 4 comments (4 topical)

Re: Batteries in Series (3.00 / 0) (#1)
by sven on Sun Feb 13, 2005 at 04:09:09 PM MST

If you look at what's between the + and - of your voltmeter, you will see only 2 or 3 batteries are present -> only 12 or 18 V shows. You would effectivly have a circuit containing 2 or 3 batteries and a voltmeter. That what stands to the left or the right of the circuit doesn't have any effect.
In series, you need to check the whole serie, not just part of it.

Sven

In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is.

Re: Batteries in Series (3.00 / 0) (#2)
by Shadow on Sun Feb 13, 2005 at 04:15:41 PM MST

Yes I understand that,but I'm still having a hard time figuring why the batteries on the left or right are not showing up on the meter ,as they are all connected as one big 48 volt battery. Right?

Re: Batteries in Series (3.00 / 0) (#3)
by pyrocasto on Sun Feb 13, 2005 at 06:41:34 PM MST

Yes, they are connected into one 48v battery, if you use them that way. With all your batteries connected, you dont have a circuit that way. You have to make a circuit with the voltmeter, as you did with 3(?) batteries. To see 48volts, you have to connect the meter to the first and last baterry leads. Series is not like parrellel. You have to use the first and last, instead of just one or two.

Re: Batteries in Series (3.00 / 0) (#4)
by ghurd on Mon Feb 14, 2005 at 06:21:51 AM MST

Yes.
The 2 connected to the inverter would go dead, the others would still be full.
The power must go IN and OUT of the battery terminals. The terminals on the other 6 batteries are not connected at the ends, so there is no where for the power to go.

Just like power has to go IN and OUT of the inverter. The inverter will not run with only 1 wire connected.

But DO NOT do it this way. There is no way to charge them without ruining the batteries. Charging the 2 of 8 batteries in a 48v string will cause 6 to be well overcharged, and the 2 dead ones to still be under charged.

Each cell or water cap on the battery makes 2 volts. The meter only sees what is between the leads, about 2 volts per cell.

G-
Ghurd.info

Batteries in Series | 4 comments (4 topical)

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