4cstr
South Dakota
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I'm thinking of adding a second battery to my 5'er. Stupid question...but do they get wired in series or in parallel?
Thanks
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Cox89XJ
Tennessee
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Parallel.
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marspec
West Virginia
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If you're adding a second 12 volt battery -- parallel. If you're replacing the 12 volt with two 6 volt -- series.
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4cstr
South Dakota
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thanks...it would be adding another 12volt battery.
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Sagebrush Monitor
Cheyenne, WY
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Parallel -- positive to positive and negative to negative. Might want to use a sorta heavy gauge wire. The extra battery is very handy when dry camping for a few days.
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Keith M
Cle Elum
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You really should consider replacing the existing battery and adding two 6 volt batteries. The 6 volts can be discharge deeper and will last longer. If you have the original 12 volt that came with the rig it probably needs to be replaced soon anyways.
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Me&Margie
Stanwood, Wa.
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I'm no expert but I've heard that by adding a new battery to an older one, the older one will draw down the newer one till they equal out. Might be something to consider, depending on how old your original battery is.
Marv
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smkettner
Southern California
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Me&Margie wrote:I'm no expert but I've heard that by adding a new battery to an older one, the older one will draw down the newer one till they equal out. Might be something to consider, depending on how old your original battery is.
That would primarily be a concern when in storage and no float voltage is applied. Solution is to fully charge together and separate/disconnect for storage.
For the OP here is some reading: 12 volt side of life
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Roy T
Dodge City, Kansas
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The main thing to remember is that parallel doesn't add the battery voltages together but series does. Two 12volt batteries in parallel equals 12 volts (positive to positive). Two 12 volts batteries in series equals 24 volts (positive to negative).
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donewithtrucking
Sebastian Florida
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USING THE SAME AMP HOURES ON THE TWO BATTERS IS A MUST! I HAD A LOT OF PROBLEMS WITH ONE BATTERY DRAWNING OUT THE JUICE FROM THE OTHER. THEN NOT CHARGING CORRECTLY!
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