Leisure battery connection (1 Viewer)

kennygd

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::bigsmile:Good morning all, fairly nice day here in Whitby, my daughter needs to connect up a sceond leisure battery to her Autotrail Scout, is it a straight forward plus to plus and minus to minus connection and does it have to be a special leisure battery or normal vehicle battery ?
Thank you folks::bigsmile:
kennygd
 

welsh winger

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In an ideal world the 2 batterys should be the same, ie both the same amp/hour, other wise the the 2 batterys will only charge to the lowest capacity one, people will say fit 2 new batterys at the same time, well yes make sense, but cost can make you think twice.
In short get a second battery the same amp/hour/type I would not suggest mixing ordinary and leasure.

in time when one or other of the batterys looses its capacity it will affect the other one as well, in relation to holding a charge, the bad battery drags the good one down.

hope this helps
Nick
 

Brisey

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Hi Kenny

Ideally it should be a leisure battery of the same age and amp/hour capacity of the existing one. Plus to plus & minus to minus is correct, you will need to fit a fuse to each end of the plus to plus lead. Someone more knowledgeable than me will be able to tell you the rating of the fuses and also the size of the wire that you should use to connect the batteries

Brisey.

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kennygd

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Hello Nick, thanks for that, as far as connections go is it live to live and neutral to neutral or do you know of any special way it has to be connected?
Ken
 

madbluemad

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Full details in the link below to the ever helpful Clive Mott's website. You will see there are options for 6V in series and 12V in parallel. You want the latter.

Philip

http://www.motts.org/second leisiure battery.htm

Hi

I had a look at your link and can not see an obvious difference between installing two batteries either in sequence or parrallel. Both arrangements appear to do the same job.

If there is a difference, what is it.

Cheers

Jim
 

welsh winger

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the differance is between 12 volts for a parallel conection, and 24 volts in sequence/series

Nick
 

madbluemad

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There are two Pink diagrams showing 12V batteries, one in series and one parralel. Both appear to be delivering 12V, the only difference being the connection configuration.

Sorry, I'm not being intentionally thick.

Jim
:Smile:

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Lampie

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In the drawings ( pink ones ) both are doing the same it is just the drawing on the left is how it would look if both your batteries were side by side ie in same locker. The one on the right is showing how to do it if say one is at the front of van and second battery is at the back of van ie not side by side.

But it is the pink drawing you want not the ones above.

Regards


Lampie
 

JeanLuc

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There are two Pink diagrams showing 12V batteries, one in series and one parralel. Both appear to be delivering 12V, the only difference being the connection configuration.

Sorry, I'm not being intentionally thick.

Jim
:Smile:

No, the two pink diagrams each show a parallel arrangement (+ to + and - to -). The difference is that the left hand pink diagram shows the wiring and fusing layout to use when the two batteries are adjacent. The right hand pink diagram shows how to wire and fuse the connections when the batteries have to be separated: e.g. if one is under a seat at the front and the other is in a locker. But both arrangements are wired in parallel.

It is the two grey/green diagrams at the top that show wiring in series; in this case 2 x 6 volt to give 12V output. Again, the difference between these two diagrams relates to battery location.

For the avoidance of doubt, batteries wired in parallel (+ to + and - to -) give the same rated output as a single battery i.e. 2 x 12V gives 12V. Batteries wired in series (+ to -) give the sum of the rated outputs i.e. 2 x 6V gives 12V.

What you MUST NOT DO is wire 2 x 12V in series and connect them to a motorhome with a 12V system, as this would put out 24V and blow the system.

Philip
 

madbluemad

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No, the two pink diagrams each show a parallel arrangement (+ to + and - to -). The difference is that the left hand pink diagram shows the wiring and fusing layout to use when the two batteries are adjacent. The right hand pink diagram shows how to wire and fuse the connections when the batteries have to be separated: e.g. if one is under a seat at the front and the other is in a locker. But both arrangements are wired in parallel.

It is the two grey/green diagrams at the top that show wiring in series; in this case 2 x 6 volt to give 12V output. Again, the difference between these two diagrams relates to battery location.

For the avoidance of doubt, batteries wired in parallel (+ to + and - to -) give the same rated output as a single battery i.e. 2 x 12V gives 12V. Batteries wired in series (+ to -) give the sum of the rated outputs i.e. 2 x 6V gives 12V.

What you MUST NOT DO is wire 2 x 12V in series and connect them to a motorhome with a 12V system, as this would put out 24V and blow the system.

Philip

Good answer, thanks
Jim
:thumb:

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Dec 23, 2007
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Depending how recent the vehicle(2002 on) is,sargents sell a harness for second batteries.
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Its just a few bits of wire,but the important thing is the idiot proof plugs and the ease which it can be undertaken.
As previously stated the batteries MUST be the same amperage and physical size.
 

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