Battery question, need advice

[retired profile of WrethaOffGrid]

Yeah, I will ask lots of questions, or at least very pointed questions about these batteries before I agree to take them… this guy is a licensed electrician and a neighbor and friend, I SHOULD be able to trust what he says…

I have turned down other “deals” from people before, another neighbor/friend had a bunch of sealed 12 volt deep cycle batteries, he got them from a government source, they had to replace them on regular intervals whether they were bad or not… I was offered a set of these but decided it wouldn’t be worth it, they required different settings than the batteries I was using. If I had been just starting out or was in dire need, I would have taken them.

Wretha

[retired profile of WrethaOffGrid]

Purchased the batteries yesterday (four 6 volt golf cart batteries), drove them home last night, brought them up the hill today, have them in the sky castle and hooked up, will test everything before hooking up the new chest freezer-fridge conversion unit, tested everything with a meter and it reads just fine.

Had to adjust the bulk and float settings on the charge controller, I set them at 14.4 bulk and 13.2 float, that was the recommended settings I found in several places online, I didn’t find anything that said otherwise.

It’s sure nice to have fresh new batteries, it will be even nicer to see them on a solid green (fully charged) light on my charge controller :)

Wretha

[retired profile of WrethaOffGrid]

I created a diagram of how to hook up four 6 volt batteries using parallel and series connections to create a 12 volt system, I would appreciate someone (ahem, 12voltman) to give it a once over and make sure I didn’t make any mistakes… :) thanks

Wretha

[12vman]

It will work fine the way they are. the only thing that I would change is the black wires (Negatives) of the inverter and the charge controller on the top two batteries in your diagram. (Just swap them) This will keep the resistance of the jumpers equal on both the charge and the discharge of the battery..

By swapping the commons, this will “series” all of the jumpers (include the resistance of the jumpers) in the circuit and makes the charge/discharge more equal on all four batteries instead of pulling on one set and charging the other set directly. Leave the green and blue jumpers where they are..

Good Job!!

[retired profile of WrethaOffGrid]

Thanks 12voltman, fortunately I created this in Photoshop and saved the original with layers for each part, so it will be easy to edit. Give me a minute (or 5) and I’ll post the improved image.

OK, here it is.

Wretha

[12vman]

Very good! Just so you understand why this is important..

[retired profile of WrethaOffGrid]

Yup, I do understand, it’s to use the batteries equally, thanks for your input :)

[CadeJ]

a battery management idea for those with lead-acid batteries: I bought a big box of “baking soda” – sodium bicarbonate – and put most of it on the floor of my battery box before installing batteries – to neutralize any acid spill that might run down the side of a battery unseen. Then I use the remainder to dust the top of the batteries – not too close to the fill caps. When there is an incidental spill or splash of battery acid – such as when checking electrolyte density – the acid is immediately neutralized. Of course you would NOT want to let any of the soda get INTO the battery, so don’t over do it.  I have no corrosion issues at battery terminals and no acid burns on my fingers. :)

[FarmerMike]

Hello Wretha.

Any idea how to get in touch with Tad (MrEnergy)?

I have a very expensive question to ask him

Thanks.

Mike

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