12v Battery Bank in Parallel with 6v Bank

wa8yxm wrote:

KD4UPL wrote:
You're not putting 12v in parallel with 6v. The two 6 volt batteries ARE a 12v battery when wired together.
Will it work? Yes
Will the get charged properly? No
Will they live a long useful life? No

Sorry KD4.. I want you to explain why it will not charge properly.

And be aware you can not, for it will charge properly

And will they live a long and happy life?

Outlived my AGM's by 3 years they did. (I used to have two separated 12 volt systems here, AGM's on the inverter and wet cells for the rest of the house.. The AGM's lasted 5 years, the wet cells which included both six volt pairs making a 12, and 12 volts in almost exactly the configuration the O/P is talking about... Nine, After the AGMs died I rewired so now I have just the one big bank).

Thanks BFL13
So as I understand it the Iota will keep the batteries from eating each other as long as I get on shore power every few days & give the Iota enough time to get the batteries to float voltage. Is that correct?

And as I understand it the Iota will float all the different flavors of batteries tied together in one bank just fine. Is that correct?

Now I think what you are telling me is you are actually using the VEC1093 (which is temperature compensated) in the Equalize mode (while the different flavors of batteries are separated into separate banks) to top charge your batteries. Is that correct?

If the above the statements/questions are correct then I'm have gained a bit in my understanding. If any one of them are wrong I would ask you and/or anyone else that wants to please correct me and help me understand.

Now comes the frustrating part.
Try to find the VEC1093 No LONGER AVAILABLE
Try to find the HF MANUAL CHARGER
Try to find a Temp compensated charger with 15 v equalize mode
Try to find a true Manual charger with a heavy transformer that you can use with a Variac

I don't claim to be very tech savvy or good at using search engines or the sharpest tack in the box but I can't find any of the above. I hope someone proves me wrong!!

Thanks again for all the help and input guys

BFL13 wrote:

Plus, when he camps in the "trees" he means this: :)

LOL!

smkettner, absolutely correct with your statement. But after seeing a few hundreds of roads to the hot place paved with the best of intentions, I gave up and now assume an individual will mean well but forget often.

pianotuna wrote:
Hi,

Smk is sitting pretty with 675 watts of solar, and a excellent charge controller. His batteries fill up every day--just the way the battery Gods intended.

Plus, when he camps in the "trees" he means this: :)

https://www.google.ca/search?q=joshua+tree+photo&tbm=isch&imgil=VCICZyBiVvMh1M%253A%253Bhttps%253A%252F%252Fencrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com%252Fimages%253Fq%253Dtbn%253AANd9GcTyLFp_HsXgP09javR8Q2t6DgHe8VnjLSPPsp7zI3KgASVVJO6w%253B600%253B450%253B0GQq9cKOMiQLOM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Ftravel.nationalgeographic.com%25252Ftravel%25252Fnational-parks%25252Fjoshua-tree-national-park%25252F&source=iu&usg=__madq4ihbALnxZJWwoDLtFaCqDQQ%3D&sa=X&ei=q1z-Uo-VNpPboATC5YCQBw&ved=0CDAQ9QEwAg&biw=1093&bih=461#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=VCICZyBiVvMh1M%253A%3B0GQq9cKOMiQLOM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fimages.nationalgeographic.com%252Fwpf%252Fmedia-live%252Fphotos%252F000%252F021%252Fcache%252Fjoshua-tree_2121_600x450.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Ftravel.nationalgeographic.com%252Ftravel%252Fnational-parks%252Fjoshua-tree-national-park%252F%3B600%3B450

Hi,

Smk is sitting pretty with 675 watts of solar, and a excellent charge controller. His batteries fill up every day--just the way the battery Gods intended.

Yes, do the batts up right when you get back unless you are on a long road trip and only get shore power once in a while at campgrounds. Then you have to take advantage of the power when you have it

Solar is good because it gets your batts higher in SOC every day and you don't have to be monkeying with battery charging using the generator and being stuck at the trailer instead of going swimming or whatever.

BFL, you might be right with the 99% vs 100%. And I have never missed that 1% while camping.
Besides that would be an effort made upon return and nothing to worry about while out on the road with the family having fun.

Smk may have a different experience, but I do not see my batts getting back to 100% on "normal charging" after several days on shore power. I have to do an Equalize to 15something to get SGs to that level (baseline SG)

OTOH, many define "full" as being when charging amps get down to say 1 percent of battery capacity. So that would be to 97-98% SOC. I do not call 98% "full." Full means 100% to me.

The only time the batteries will "eat" each other is during storage with no charging source. Best to separate during storage.

In use and while charging they will all be fine together. If you short charge them to 80% or 95% the batteries might be a bit unbalanced but will equalize as you start using them again. This short charge will be typical when running the generator 2 to 5 hours. Once back on utility power 48+ hours they will all be back to 100% charge. If you are just getting through no hookups with no generator then you will have even less balance issues. The 55a IOTA-IQ should work very well. Nothing better than plugging in after a few days and letting that converter earn it's keep.

KD4UPL wrote:
You're not putting 12v in parallel with 6v. The two 6 volt batteries ARE a 12v battery when wired together.
Will it work? Yes
Will the get charged properly? No
Will they live a long useful life? No

Sorry KD4.. I want you to explain why it will not charge properly.

And be aware you can not, for it will charge properly

And will they live a long and happy life?

Outlived my AGM's by 3 years they did. (I used to have two separated 12 volt systems here, AGM's on the inverter and wet cells for the rest of the house.. The AGM's lasted 5 years, the wet cells which included both six volt pairs making a 12, and 12 volts in almost exactly the configuration the O/P is talking about... Nine, After the AGMs died I rewired so now I have just the one big bank).