Two Track, You do not have the optimum setup but it is not the end of the world either. Whenever you connect batteries in Parallel you should always use identical batteries of the same age. Interesting things happen when you discharge and recharge batteries in parallel that have different internal resistance, different voltage, different amp-hour capacities, etc. Let's pretend you do have two @ 12 Volt batteries in parallel ... Make sure the Red/Pos cable is on one battery and the Black/Neg cable is on the other battery like in this diagram ... http://www.solarrvpanels.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/2x12VoltinParallel.gif Don't connect both main power cables to the same battery. This special diagonal connection helps keep the batteries equally discharged and equally charged. The problem is the two 6 Volt Batteries wired in series will require a slightly different 3 Stage charge cycle as the single 12 Volt battery. Therefore, over time, either the single 12 Volt Battery will wear out significantly quicker the two 6 Volts batteries or the other way around. That extra connection between the two 6 Volt batteries has changed their eqivalent internal resistance and therefore they are not identical to a single 12 volt battery. Live with what you have and when one of the three batteries fails then replace all three with two brand new identical batteries.
There you go Two Track, starting your own pile of ruined batteries ! Like Leamy said, you need at least 1kw of energy input do really do anything. But keep playing with what you got, thats how you learn. The more you wreak, the smarter you get, I think.
Your welcome. Having batteries is a tough thing when you are using what ya have. I understand, thigs are expensive. As I always say it takes alot of money to make your own power. Just take it all in and try to keep it as close as possible to having it all right unti l you can replace things. One step at a time........right.
Update Using one 12 volt battery now everything working good did some more reading rewired a few things and taking three days to charge up from 30% down if good sun or wind. My average use takes down to that point on three days. Great start looking forward to expanding
Great, good small steps. Now with a little math you should be able to predict how far you can go in relation to your budget/ system capability. A 30% depletion will make the batteries last a long time. As you add try to stick to that depletion number knowing you can go 20% more in a emergency situation. Good work and glad to hear things are getting better for you.
My batteries are outside in the garage. Right now they are 20 degrees. That will reduce there capacity discharging with big loads.
I thought the 12 volt version of interstate golf cart would be better since it weighs 88 pounds battery Is huge , but has less amp hours Now I know so going to run this one till it dies then going to start a big bank with 6 volt 232 amp hrs each. Be great to have alot of Emergency power
Hello Neoh and thanks for sharing information One comment regarding Battery life cycle: Life Expectancy is linear to temperature and average depth of discharge (i.e. how low the voltage is allowed to get). It is recommended to not discharge AGM batteries below 50% (~12.2 volts) and to ensure a controlled environment. When used under these pretenses, the battery can easily last ten years; there are many Windy Nation customers actively using our AGM batteries for 8+ years, which is about how long we have carried batteries. The following chart was created for our AGM battery and shows the effects of temperature on life expectancy:
