Battery Enquiry

[Paj505]

I have a single 100ah domestic battery that is a bit old, I was thinking to replace with new one, is it ok to get two smaller ones (2 x 75ah rigged together) so i up the AH and get more power (do not have solar panels)? Thanks

 

[DBK]

Welcome! If you have the space one bigger battery might be simpler to fit but you can certainly fit two smaller ones. Wire them in parallel and if you can connect to the positive on one battery and the negative of the other. It's not the end of the world if you can't easily do this especially if you don't use a lot of current.

 

[gus-lopez]

 

[chaser]

Welcome! If you have the space one bigger battery might be simpler to fit but you can certainly fit two smaller ones. Wire them in parallel and if you can connect to the positive on one battery and the negative of the other. It's not the end of the world if you can't easily do this especially if you don't use a lot of current.

I know what you mean but to someone who doesn't know about batteries it may seem to be saying join one negative on one battery to the positive on the other

 

[PhilandMena]

In a nutshell....Yes! You should consider extra weight and if your charger will be OK with this size of battery bank. Before making the plunge, I would strongly advise you to consider what it is your really going to need going forward. If your going to spend all your time on Hook up there is no need to make any changes. If your going to spend a fair amount of time wilding (not on hook up), you need to think about the type of battery you need and how you will maintain them. Gels are extremely popular with those wilding, supported by solar panels. So, you need to do some maths and work out what your energy consumption will be then make sure you have enough Solar power to keep your batteries topped up. A Fridge and an Inverter should not be forgotten if using power from your battery bank too.

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[TerryL]

Hi and

Unless you're on hookup most/all of the time you can't have enough battery power IMO. If you've got the room why not go for as big as you can get, the price difference will be negligable for the proportionate capacity increase. Not having the space I fitted my second battery under the opposite seats with as short as possible a connecting cable (for volt drop).

Remembering that ordinary lead/acid batteries are considered to be discharged at 50% capacity you can nopw buy lithium (?) btteries that can be discharged almost completely without causing damage although they are, of course, significantly more expensive.

Phil (above) makes some good points - before doing anything it's worth taking the time to work out your actual needs. But if you're happy with just replacing your existing battery it doesn't need to be complicated.

If you do fit a two new batteries, make sure they're identical. Connections are positive to positive, negative to negative - i.e. in parallel. Connected in series (pos to neg) will give you 24v and blow all your 12v electrics.

 

[Paj505]

Welcome! If you have the space one bigger battery might be simpler to fit but you can certainly fit two smaller ones. Wire them in parallel and if you can connect to the positive on one battery and the negative of the other. It's not the end of the world if you can't easily do this especially if you don't use a lot of current.