Battery Bank Newb Needs Help...

[jlaakso]

Hey,

I am extremely new to battery banks, in fact, I've been familiar with mine now for roughly 2 hours which pretty much sums up my knowledge on the subject.  My wife and I have been living off grid now for nearly 4 years, running a small Honda 1000W Generator for power.  The generator however, I fear, is on its last leg and runs max for about 7 hours... Enough time to charge up a small battery bank is what I figured.  So we did it today, and small it is.  The "bank" consists of 2 golf cart batteries (6V 225Ah) hooked up in parallel.. This is where my question comes in : Is it possible to hook up 2 batteries in a series-parallel setup?  I tried (twice) and got lots of sparks (both times... stubbornness runs in my family).  225 Ah is ok, but 450 would be much better.  Please help before I end up making a tragic mistake. -J

  I hope this is the right place for this type of post ~ If not, I apologize.

[JeroenH]

You can use the batteries in one of these two configurations:

 6V 450Ah (parallel)

 12v 225Ah (series)

Is is not possible to wire them for 12V 450Ah, that way you would be 'making up' capacity. Be careful wiring the batteries, they pack a lot of energy which is dangerous when released quickly (as in when wired incorrectly).

[drdongle]

To do what you want you really need to add 2 more batteries for that 12 V 450 AH.

wire the old set in series, wire the new set in series, then wire both sets together in parallel.

[picmacmillan]

 go to my post in homebrewed electricity.titled "i just asked the same question...someone gave me a great link on batteries..i photo copied it so i have a reference for later...not sure if it will come out here, but if it does, have a look...take care..pickster  http://www.otherpower.com/otherpower_battery_wiring.html

[alcul8r]

Will this help any in seeing the combinations?

 src="http://www.otherpower.com/images/scimages/2908/SERPARL.JPG" width=80%>

Rex

[jlaakso]

Thank you all very much for the quick replies!  Looks like I'll  buying another set of batteries soon then  

[BT Humble]

This page has some good wiring diagrams and details on the proper care and feeding of your batteries:

http://www.solar4power.com/solar-power-battery.html

BTH