Thor Forums

[Chance]

Originally Posted by scrubjaysnest

The answer PD gives assumes that the converter will produce 45 amps to the batteries. But with two 6 volt batteries in series all the amps the converter might produce would go to both batteries; otoh if you have two 12 batteries in parallel the current would be about half to each.

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In practice, as long as you’re comparing apples to apples regarding battery-bank size and capacity, it’s not an issue to worry about because it offsets itself due to different battery Amp-hour ratings.

It’s probably easier to show this as an example:

Assume the two batteries have 200 Amp-hour combined capacity at the 12-Volts the system operates.

With 6-Volt batteries, you’d have two in series rated at 200 Amp-hours each.

With 12-Volt batteries, you’d have two in parallel rated at 100 Amp-hours each.

If the converter puts out 45 Amps, you’re correct that each 6-Volt battery sees the full 45 Amps; while 12-Volt batteries see 22.5 Amps each.

However, 45 Amps for a 200 Amp-hour battery is essentially the same charging rate as 22.5 Amps for a 100 Amp-hour battery.


I just wanted to point out that using 6- versus 12-Volt batteries isn’t going to make a whole lot of difference and will therefore not make a significant difference in how fast they recharge. Again, assuming total battery bank capacity and chemistry are the same.