12v Battery Bank in Parallel with 6v Bank

AStinker- wrote:

smkettner wrote:
You have it all correct. Save the equalization (VEC1093 or similar) for when you return.

If you will be doing this more often I recommend 100 to 300 watts of solar that will maintain, equalize, and even charge some while camping off grid. All automatic. Put the $100/$200 you would spend on that manual charging equipment into the solar power system.

I agree 100% and it is on my want list but time constraints are a factor right now. Plus I have a lot of studying to do before I tackle that. I'm still struggling with understanding batteries, battery chargers & battery maintenance. Solar is next on mt list.

You need this. Read it over and over

http://www.bestconverter.com/Books_c_67.html

BFL13 wrote:
The manual for the 1089 says it has the same recessed button for Equalizing as the 1093 and has instructions for how to do that.

http://servicenet.blackanddecker.com/documents/English/Instruction%20Manual/Vector/VEC1089ABD.pdf

You are absolutely correct & I stand corrected! Dang I hate it when that happens. :)

I charge my frankstine bank with a Progressive Industries Intella-power 9180 with charge wizard.. And as I said, battery life is around 8 1/2 years.

Average is 7-9 for the brand of batteries I have. so 8 1/2 is dead bang in the middle of that. No special anything.

I challanged someone to tell me why mixing six volt pairs and 12's would cause them to not charge properly.. I got no answer.. The reason is there is no answer.

The state of charge is determined by the cell voltage, now with six cells in series (What you have if you buy a 12 volt jar or a pair of sixes and put em in series) So long as all the cells are good, you can read state of charge by measuring the resting voltage of the entire battery (Collection of cells).

If one is lower, say .01 volt lower than the rest, then it needs more charge.

And since Electricity, like water, seeks it's own level, THAT ONE IS GONNA GET IT.. The other batteries will not charge till that one comes up that .01 volt,, And from then on they will all be in absolute lock step.

The myth (Which is true in a different configuration) is that "The smaller battery will reach full charge and signal the charger to stop and the larger one will not". In parallel this is IMPOSSIBLE because the battery that is LOWEST on charge will suck all the charge (or as much as it possibly can) Current till it catches up, and from then on they lock.

Here is where it is

BATTERY---battery (two six volt in series say a T105 and a T 125)

In this configuration the smaller one will over charge and the larger one under charge

BUT
BATTERY
BATTERY

They are always IDENTICALLY charged and the bank will reach 100% with a good 3-stage converter/charger like the PDI charge wizard jobs.

The manual for the 1089 says it has the same recessed button for Equalizing as the 1093 and has instructions for how to do that.

http://servicenet.blackanddecker.com/documents/English/Instruction%20Manual/Vector/VEC1089ABD.pdf

BFL13 wrote:
That 1093 often goes out of stock and comes back later on. You don't know if it will ever come back though. You can still get one of these it seems. It has the Equalize same as the 1093 (which is done at the 4 amp setting on the 1093 so it should work on a 15amper) but I have no experience of it:

http://www.boatandrvaccessories.com/vec1089abd.html

Yes, I charge the batts up all banked, then separate them into types, and use the VEC Equalize then bank them again and float them. You can't do an "overcharge" until they are charged first.(obviously! :) )

I could be wrong, there are so many stories, but AFAIK, they won't eat each other when they are all getting 13.6v or whatever. Anything one battery wants more than another it can get from the float charger--it doesn't need to eat from the battery next door.

It is when you bank dissimilar batts and not have a float charger on them that they can eat each other.

I looked at the vec1089abd earlier but I couldn't see any thing in the manual about Equalizing mode. I ordered one from the link menna661 posted. I got an order # but no confirmation email yet so who knows if I will get it. But if you want to see price and demand at work look at what Amazon used to sell them for and what that link has them priced at. SINFUL Talk about being a sucker!!

smkettner wrote:
You have it all correct. Save the equalization (VEC1093 or similar) for when you return.

If you will be doing this more often I recommend 100 to 300 watts of solar that will maintain, equalize, and even charge some while camping off grid. All automatic. Put the $100/$200 you would spend on that manual charging equipment into the solar power system.

I agree 100% and it is on my want list but time constraints are a factor right now. Plus I have a lot of studying to do before I tackle that. I'm still struggling with understanding batteries, battery chargers & battery maintenance. Solar is next on mt list.

I am going to purchase a new "I IS INTELL-A-GENT" HF charger and try to perform a lobotomy on it. Something simple. It's the "Look just press a button and presto it's a life changer" mentality that brought forth the HF charger. It's like my blood sugar test machine. I have to scroll, I have to remember menu's, I have to stand on my freakin' head just to find yesterday's test results. But the POS is NOT ACCURATE compared to two other same-brand machines*. The mentality of the US consumer is trending s-t-u-p-i-d and the vendors are falling all over themselves trying to meet this new "must have" idiocy.

The new unusable machine uses AAA batteries which I HOPED would last longer and be AVAILABLE in Mexico versus the CR2032 button batteries which cost a fortune down here and get eaten because ONE TOUCH does not have the brains to realize how to check for quiescent draw before they OK a design. Error versus battery eating, brother what a choice...

That 1093 often goes out of stock and comes back later on. You don't know if it will ever come back though. You can still get one of these it seems. It has the Equalize same as the 1093 (which is done at the 4 amp setting on the 1093 so it should work on a 15amper) but I have no experience of it:

http://www.boatandrvaccessories.com/vec1089abd.html

Yes, I charge the batts up all banked, then separate them into types, and use the VEC Equalize then bank them again and float them. You can't do an "overcharge" until they are charged first.(obviously! :) )

I could be wrong, there are so many stories, but AFAIK, they won't eat each other when they are all getting 13.6v or whatever. Anything one battery wants more than another it can get from the float charger--it doesn't need to eat from the battery next door.

It is when you bank dissimilar batts and not have a float charger on them that they can eat each other.

It looks like the VEC can be had HERE. It's a vendor selling through Sears website. When you go direct, it looks like it's in stock there (for cheaper too) but minimum order is 3. I would contact the 3rd party directly and see if they even have them in stock.

You have it all correct. Save the equalization (VEC1093 or similar) for when you return.

If you will be doing this more often I recommend 100 to 300 watts of solar that will maintain, equalize, and even charge some while camping off grid. All automatic. Put the $100/$200 you would spend on that manual charging equipment into the solar power system.