Adding another 12 volt battery
My fifth wheeler came with one battery but when we lose power it does not last long for the 12 volt lighting. What harm would I be doing if I added another battery and ran it in series with the other ...
Forum Discussion
Your single battery is a 12v battery. If you add another 12v battery in series it would be a 24 volt battery bank and it would kill almost everything in the RV.
If you want to add another battery, add it in parallel, pos to pos, neg to neg. Batteries in series add the voltage of the batteries, in parallel the available current is added.
Adding another identical 12v battery in parallel would not cause any problems and last twice as long. Depending on your converter it might take twice as long to recharge the batteries. It may also be desirable to increase the size of the wiring between the battery and the converter.
A better approach, but more expensive, is to replace the 12v battery with 2 6 volt deep cycle batteries in series.
Another approach to make the lighting last longer on batteries is to change the incandescent light bulbs to LEDs.
If you want to add another battery, add it in parallel, pos to pos, neg to neg. Batteries in series add the voltage of the batteries, in parallel the available current is added.
Adding another identical 12v battery in parallel would not cause any problems and last twice as long. Depending on your converter it might take twice as long to recharge the batteries. It may also be desirable to increase the size of the wiring between the battery and the converter.
A better approach, but more expensive, is to replace the 12v battery with 2 6 volt deep cycle batteries in series.
Another approach to make the lighting last longer on batteries is to change the incandescent light bulbs to LEDs.
