Battery question- series or parallel or whatever

[smokeonthewater]

Re: Battery question- series or parallel or whatever

Yes, they hook them in parallel.

There is no problem doing what the OP wants to do. All that info is accurate. They just won't equalize. He will also want to charge those 2 batteries separate from the others in the bank to prevent damage to the other batteries depending on how discharged these 2 get.

I'm with bruce on this one... yes Don they would equalize if they were wired up in parallel BUT the O/P has a series wired bank and they absolutely will not equalize..... They also will not charge equally. If he regularly used the winch on two batts out of the series and took no precautions to regularly charge that pair he would likely destroy those two batts much sooner than the rest.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Battery question- series or parallel or whatever

They also will not charge equally. If he regularly used the winch on two batts out of the series and took no precautions to regularly charge that pair he would likely destroy those two batts much sooner than the rest.

The problem is if they get charged in series. The batteries that were not discharged would reach their peak charge sooner than the discharged ones and start to boil.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: Battery question- series or parallel or whatever

yep... bad news.... I STILL like my run it off the go pedal idea.... a "throttled" winch would be VERY cool....

 

[dolluper]

Re: Battery question- series or parallel or whatever

Unless you have a muco expensive multi bank charger....your going to have to disconnect the series and charge each battery seperatly...probably already fimilar with that....the winch will draw alot out of the 2 used.....running a seperate 12 volt for the winch is a much better solution....earier to charge it also....where to mount it problem instead

 

[scipper77]

Re: Battery question- series or parallel or whatever

Couldn't you hook the + on winch to the + on battery 1, 3, 5. And the - to the - on battery 2,4,6. ? Seems like it would work in my head.

Brain just kicked in, don't do that.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Battery question- series or parallel or whatever

Unless you have a muco expensive multi bank charger

You can get 3 bank chargers for less than $200. Not sure if that is defined as expensive or not.
http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&ke...=aps&hvadid=8469552517&ref=pd_sl_8k04j7hehe_b
Just have to make sure the ouputs allow seperate grounds.

 

[levittownnick]

Re: Battery question- series or parallel or whatever

Couldn't you hook the + on winch to the + on battery 1, 3, 5. And the - to the - on battery 2,4,6. ? Seems like it would work in my head.

Brain just kicked in, don't do that.

Sorry but please don't do what you just suggested, it will create a short circuit that could be explosive.

 

[scipper77]

Re: Battery question- series or parallel or whatever

Couldn't you hook the + on winch to the + on battery 1, 3, 5. And the - to the - on battery 2,4,6. ? Seems like it would work in my head.

Brain just kicked in, don't do that.

Sorry but please don't do what you just suggested, it will create a short circuit that could be explosive.

Yup, It dawned on me after the fact that the - terminal on battery 2 and the + terminal on battery 3 are the exact same terminal. I corrected myself quickly with an edit but left the original bit in there.

I was thinking in my head that you could run three 12 volt pairs in parallel. This would work if they were three separate systems. For those keeping score at home you can not wire batteries in series and parallel at the same time. DO NOT DO THAT

 

[df909]

Re: Battery question- series or parallel or whatever

Yikes- so many posts. I ended up just using a 12v marine battery I had. It's a bit of a pain since it takes up a little bed space, but it'll be the easiest for now. I do like the pedal idea for the winch, but I can imagine my wife or kids keeping their foot down on the pedal while they say "I'm not going and I'm pushing the gas pedal down." And, as they're wondering what's wrong, the winch had busted.

Thanks for all the info & help.

 

[dolluper]

Re: Battery question- series or parallel or whatever

Hey Bruce ....those are alright for 12v battery set ups of 3=36v The op has 6 ..6v =36v different story

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Battery question- series or parallel or whatever

Hey Bruce ....those are alright for 12v battery set ups of 3=36v The op has 6 ..6v =36v different story

Just hook each set of outputs between 2 6V batteries. No difference. 2 6V batteries looks no different than 1 12v battery to the charger outputs.

 

[dolluper]

Re: Battery question- series or parallel or whatever

But specfic gravity of the 2 may differ alot .....charger isn't that smart...thats why its best to unhook the series and charge each seperatly on a six volt setting....no burn that way

 

[cribber]

Re: Battery question- series or parallel or whatever

Batteries have only so many charge cycles they can handle in a lifetime. Using a winch on two of the six will deplete them quicker causing the other four to recharge to two as you draw down their amperage. This will cause you to have to charge the bank more often when you use the winch. Your best bet is to get a 12 volt regulator rated at 36 VDC and amperage that can handle the max amp draw of the winch. Just talk to anyone who works on golf carts and they will tell you the same thing.

 

[Tail_Gunner]

Re: Battery question- series or parallel or whatever

http://www.ehow.com/how_4966226_connect-deep-cell-batteries-together.html

http://www.ehow.com/how_4966226_connect-deep-cell-batteries-together.html

There it is explained...Do you need high current flow or longevity..you be the judge...

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Battery question- series or parallel or whatever

But specfic gravity of the 2 may differ alot .....charger isn't that smart...thats why its best to unhook the series and charge each seperatly on a six volt setting....no burn that way

Not if your pulling the same amount of current from both batteries. Think about it, a 6 volt has 3 cells and a 12V has 6 cells. The specific gravity is going to vary on individual cells anyway. But as long as you pull the same amount of current from two 6V batteries in series, they will be very close.

OP has decided to go another route anyway but a 3 bank 12V charger would have been a good inexpensive option.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Battery question- series or parallel or whatever

Batteries have only so many charge cycles they can handle in a lifetime. Using a winch on two of the six will deplete them quicker Your best bet is to get a 12 volt regulator rated at 36 VDC and amperage that can handle the max amp draw of the winch. Just talk to anyone who works on golf carts and they will tell you the same thing.

That's going to be a darn big regulator and would get extremely hot. If a winch draws 20A, you would have to dissipate nearly 500 Watts! Would be better finding a PCM controller before you used a regulator.

 

[hrdwrkingacguy]

Re: Battery question- series or parallel or whatever

Yikes- so many posts. I ended up just using a 12v marine battery I had. It's a bit of a pain since it takes up a little bed space, but it'll be the easiest for now...

Thanks for all the info & help.

Seems like its all a non-issue now...He has 6v batteries for the cart and a 12v for the winch...every post after this one was just posting for the sake of posting...

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Battery question- series or parallel or whatever

Seems like its all a non-issue now...He has 6v batteries for the cart and a 12v for the winch...every post after this one was just posting for the sake of posting...

Still useful info for the OP and anyone else considering the same application.

Still on topic and a friendly discussion.

 

[sam60]

Re: Battery question- series or parallel or whatever

Photoshop.

Sorry to jump way back here, but is there a Photoshop free download for modifying files like you do or do I need to spend big bucks? I have the full adobe that I modify PDF's with at work but not the same capabilities.

 

[markheck1]

Re: Battery question- series or parallel or whatever

GIMP is an open source equivalent to Photoshop.....well some may not say equivalent, LOL