Battery Question: Combine my batteries?
I've always run 1 of my 2 12V at a time so that if I ran down the 1 I would have a back up. I've never combined them because I've worried I would run them both down and not have a back up. So, wha...
Forum Discussion
I can never remember the name of Peukert's law but thankfully Google can.
Look it up for more detail but basically what is says is this.
The slower you discharge a battery the longer AND THEN SOME it lasts.
So, if your one battery lasts say 8 hours, then the pair will last 16 right.. Wrong, more like 20.
And up to a point the slower you recharge them the longer in years they last (So you just cut the recharge rate in half as well).
This is why I do not recommend two independent banks I do recommend a portable "Jump Start" battery for motor homes (In case you need to feed Mr Onan a bit of power so your converter can do the recharge) Been glad I had one on occasion.
Oh, and if you really want to see something
Try a pair of GC-2 Golf car batteries in series (that is basically a 4D battery, 230 amp hours at 12 volts) unles your existing are group 31 or larger you should see improvement.
plus as true deep cycle,, they may last longer in deep cycle service.
Look it up for more detail but basically what is says is this.
The slower you discharge a battery the longer AND THEN SOME it lasts.
So, if your one battery lasts say 8 hours, then the pair will last 16 right.. Wrong, more like 20.
And up to a point the slower you recharge them the longer in years they last (So you just cut the recharge rate in half as well).
This is why I do not recommend two independent banks I do recommend a portable "Jump Start" battery for motor homes (In case you need to feed Mr Onan a bit of power so your converter can do the recharge) Been glad I had one on occasion.
Oh, and if you really want to see something
Try a pair of GC-2 Golf car batteries in series (that is basically a 4D battery, 230 amp hours at 12 volts) unles your existing are group 31 or larger you should see improvement.
plus as true deep cycle,, they may last longer in deep cycle service.
