Vintage465 wrote:
I have the standard 6v/series system on my trailer and find that with 300w of solar and a 30a controller all is good. Reading this article posted below it states that you don't gain amp/hr with 6v series but 12v wired in parallel gives you twice the amp/hr. So why did I spend extra money for the 6v set up when it seems as though you'd get more bang for buck with a couple of 12v deep cycles in parallel? What is it that I'm missing here? There has to be some reason that golf cart manufacturers use the 6v series system.
I have both 12v and 6v batteries working together.
The way he uses "amps" to mean "amp-hours" is very annoying, especially when he does use "amp-hours" correctly elsewhere. Makes you wonder if he really knows what he is talking about.
Puts you right off, even if he turns out to be essentially right about what he is saying, no matter how mis-leading, by comparing twice as much worth of 12v with a 6v battery bank. What is his real "agenda"? is what I wonder.
Just weird, Ignore, is my reaction.
I have a pair of 6 yr old 12v T-1275s (82 lbs each) rated at 150AH each, but now (after a hard life) at about 130 AH each based on a recent test for that. I also have a pair of 6 yr old 6v Exides (66?- forget-lbs each) rated at 226AH, but now at about 200AH after a recent test for that.
I bank them together when camping, but recharge them to full separately on return home, due to different full charged specs, then float them.
As a bank of two 12s and two sixes, I put the two 12s in parallel as a big 12, and the big 12 in parallel (255 AH) with the two 6s (200 AH) in series, so I have a bank of (measured as) 455 AH. That reduces to near 400 AH in January at 35F, but the inverter still works, staying over its 11v shut-off. (mostly thanks to the T-1275s--the 6s are not so good at that!)
BTW, for those who keep track--why would anybody do that--I also had a pair of Interstate GC2 XHDs at 232AH, that I got 6.5years ago and used hard. They only did about 78% of rated capacity in a recent test, so although they still "worked" at 181AH, it was no longer worth carrying them along when the two Exides (6 months newer) plus the two T-1275s were enough to get by with for our usage.\
I think the Interstate 6s and the Exide 6s have been equal in value over the years, nothing to say one is better. It is just that the Interstate 6s did an extra "season" than the Exides, so I will no doubt be in the battery market next winter.
I should really go and visit that golf car place again where I got my used T-1275s four years ago. The "previously enjoyed" T-1275s have been splendid, and have only dropped to 85% from the 90% I got them to four years ago after getting them as golf car rejects way back then.
I often wonder how long a set of four new T-1275s would last me, but I will never know !
