Thor Forums

[Chance]

Originally Posted by The_Breeze

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Chance: Fortunately or unfortunately, I fly solo so I'd have to recruit some help. I pulled the batteries last night, clean all connections, applied a liberal - but neat - amount of dielectric grease hoping poor connections were the problem. The bats will charge my laptop and cell phone simultaneously until the cows come home. On a similar note, a while back, we were discussing battery configurations and you stated that 2 strings of 12 were required if I wanted to wire 4 batteries in parallel. Is there something I can read to help me understand why that's a preferred configuration and if it's a good fit for a RV application? Thanks.

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There are many articles on this topic, the following being just one.

https://batteryuniversity.com/learn/...configurations

If upgrading to 4 batteries, I’d go with 2S/2P (Series/Parallel) configuration based on 6-Volt batteries. If you research it, most RVs that come from manufacturer with 4 lead batteries use 6-Volt batteries in 2Series/2Parallel configuration. I would personally avoid 4 X 12-Volt lead batteries all in parallel. Newer lithium batteries are a new exception because of battery management systems.


Regarding your 600-Watt coffee maker, that’s not really much juice for two good batteries. The inverter should pull in range of +/- 60 Amps at 12V, which is only 30 Amps per battery. If inverter trips out immediately on coffee maker start, there’s definitely a problem.

Do you know at what voltage the inverter trips? Some are around 11-Volts.

If you want to test batteries again under normal coffee maker load, but are by yourself, have you thought of temporarily moving coffee maker near batteries so you can check voltage when you turn it on? You’d only need an extension cord.

When troubleshooting I usually check the easy stuff first, particularly if it’s likely to be the problem. Bad batteries are a common problem and easy to check, so where I would start.