12V or 6V Batteries - Which charge Better?

pnichols wrote:
Ron,

Did your PC come stock with that being the battery compartment as shown in your photo, or was the stock battery compartment located under the step - like it is in our Itasca?

Why did you go with 6V golf cart size AGM batteries instead of 12V AGM deep cycle batteries?

I have to use 12V AGM batteries because 6V golf cart size batteries will not fit in our stock battery storage area under the step and I did not want to give up a regular storage compartment just to use golf cart size batteries. Our 12V AGM batteries are deep cycle ones - just like 6V golf cart batteries are deep cycle batteries. Some folks think you have to switch to golf cart batteries to get deep cycle construction ... but that's not true when you enter the AGM world. The capacity of our two 12V AGM deep cycle batteries in paralllel with each other is 230 amp hours.

P.S. I'm really curious as to why your 2014 discussion suddenly appeared as a 2017 topic even though all posts were back in 2014 (except for my recent post above questioning the dates, which seems to have resurrected it)? What On Earth is up with this forum software?

(Your discussions are always good ones, anyway!!)

Hi pnichols,

How this 3 year old topic came back to life, seemingly by itself? The only thing I could think of is that someone found this old topic and replied to it, then deleted his reply.

Regarding my battery compartment. It is the original compartment. I only modified the interior of it to accommodate taller 6 volt batteries. I went with AGM instead of wet acid technology primarily because of the difficulty it would be to check fluid levels. I eliminated the roll-out battery tray to gain the required height. With that tray eliminated, I would have to disconnect and then man-handle the 6 volt batteries to check cell levels.

I decided to go with two 6 volt batteries in series instead of two 12 volt in parallel because of input from people with knowledge in battery technology, both on RV forums and also electrical power management engineers where I worked at the time. Their input coincided with my past troubles with pairs of 12 volt batteries. Batteries in parallel, one will always drain much faster than the other which brings down the performance of the twin battery pack. With two 6 volt batteries hooked up in series, the two are kind-of forced to drain at the same rate which increases battery reserves and also balances their charging rate. They work much better as a team than 12 volts do.

It also made sense to me when looking at everything else that is battery-powered. From flashlights to electronic devises, they all stack batteries in series, almost never in parallel. When in series, the batteries in hand-held devises last much longer and die close together.

Does all this make sense?

I am no authority on this stuff. It's only what I understand the facts to be.

Ron Dittmer