wire size, 4 6v batteries in series
Hi folks. In anticipation of some boondocking this fall, i'm upgrading my battery bank from 2 6v to 4 6v in series. I have a Monaco Monarch on the ford chassis, and have room for the additional two ...
Forum Discussion
Well Gang,
Our coach, an '04 Itasca Horizon 36GD with the C-7 330HP CAT, came with three, (worthless INTERSTATE) 12V Deep cycle/Marine batteries as house batteries. They were less than a year old when one developed a bad cell and, that caused my inverter/charger to attempt to charge all of them equal. Talk about a rotten egg smell from quite a ways away.
So, I exchanged it, a somewhat high replacement cost for a new one. A month and a half after that issue, one of the other ones developed a bad cell. Well, at that point, I decided to change over to (4) 6V Golf cart batteries from Costco. All four of the new 6V units fit like a glove in the battery box. In fact, I don't even use battery hold down braces. Yeah I know, baring a nuclear bomb going off under that battery tray, they AIN'T going any where!
But, I used the factory 4/0 supply cables to connect all them to the systems but, I used 1/0 for "inter-connect cables". And, since I did/do not have the appropriate crimping tools for such large cable ends like 1/0 through 4/0, all I could do is SOLDER THEM.
So, I cleaned everything like you would normally, and put the lug I a vice, with the cup up. Then, heated it, AND THE TIP OF THE CABLE, at the same time. I had already cut pieces of solder and had them in the cup. When those melted completely, and the tip of the cable was hot enough not to cause a cold solder joint, I quickly inserted the 1/0 cable tip into the hot solder.
It wicked up the cable a tad bit prior to hardening/cooling. That method worked for 6 different wire tip/lug connections over 3 years ago and, none of them as even come close to breaking free. I check them on a regular basis.
Scott
Our coach, an '04 Itasca Horizon 36GD with the C-7 330HP CAT, came with three, (worthless INTERSTATE) 12V Deep cycle/Marine batteries as house batteries. They were less than a year old when one developed a bad cell and, that caused my inverter/charger to attempt to charge all of them equal. Talk about a rotten egg smell from quite a ways away.
So, I exchanged it, a somewhat high replacement cost for a new one. A month and a half after that issue, one of the other ones developed a bad cell. Well, at that point, I decided to change over to (4) 6V Golf cart batteries from Costco. All four of the new 6V units fit like a glove in the battery box. In fact, I don't even use battery hold down braces. Yeah I know, baring a nuclear bomb going off under that battery tray, they AIN'T going any where!
But, I used the factory 4/0 supply cables to connect all them to the systems but, I used 1/0 for "inter-connect cables". And, since I did/do not have the appropriate crimping tools for such large cable ends like 1/0 through 4/0, all I could do is SOLDER THEM.
So, I cleaned everything like you would normally, and put the lug I a vice, with the cup up. Then, heated it, AND THE TIP OF THE CABLE, at the same time. I had already cut pieces of solder and had them in the cup. When those melted completely, and the tip of the cable was hot enough not to cause a cold solder joint, I quickly inserted the 1/0 cable tip into the hot solder.
It wicked up the cable a tad bit prior to hardening/cooling. That method worked for 6 different wire tip/lug connections over 3 years ago and, none of them as even come close to breaking free. I check them on a regular basis.
Scott
