Parallel Battery best wireing method

[Dreadstar]

I have a 440ah 4 X 110ah battery bank wired for 12volt. they are a couple months old.

I wish to procure 4 more of the same type battery hopefully close to same batch number or should i sell the 4 i have and get 8 at once?

Also i understand that wireing 4 in parallel and taking the tap off to the charge controller from the nearest one is not always the best. what is?

currently they are all wired using exactly the same length 4ga cabling except for the take off pair going to the fuse/disconnect then to the Outback MX-60.

Should i put the take off pair one battery on either end? or put one cable on the positive on one battery then the other on the negative terminal on the battery farthest from the controller?

If so why? what makes the best use for loading? And of course longevity.

thanks in advance.

[DanG]

Though your batteries are a 'couple of months" old what really matters is the number of charge-discharge cycles on your current set - If it is 10 or 15 probably no worries, if it is 40 or 50 you've gone beyond adding to the string w/o some problems down the line. How many cycles are on your string now?

[ghurd]

Sounds like a personal question. Personally, I'd get the same brand and model, but thats it. Then if I was really concerned about heavy loading, I'd connect it one close and one far, like you said.

You may want to consider 8 of the 6V batteries from Sam's Club ($400). Thats 800ah. That kind of battery has longevity for a cost not much more than 4 more 110ah batteries.  Then sell the current batteries. That is what I'd do.

Remember to take crap batteries as core refunds when buying new batteries.

G-

[RP]

"Should i put the take off pair one battery on either end? or put one cable on the positive on one battery then the other on the negative terminal on the battery farthest from the controller?

If so why? what makes the best use for loading? And of course longevity."

Taking the positve from one end and the negative from the other would tend to balance out the effects of resistance of your interconnect cables.  On the other hand if your cables are sized large enough it won't really matter except under peak loads.