Forum Discussion

Explorer

Jun 04, 2013

Combining a 6v bank with existing 12v bank

My new motorhome came equipped with two 12v deep cycle batteries rated at 160ah each that connect to a Xantrex ProWatt 1800 inverter as in the left side of the below diagram.

We dry camp quite a bit so I'm torn between removing the 2 twelves and going with a complete 4 battery 6 volt system at 460ah or combining the two battery banks as I've diagrammed below and have a total of 780ah.

First question is whether the combination is good for the batteries and if i build it like this will the 6volt bank be charged efficiently.

33 Replies

time2roll
Nomad
Jun 04, 2013
How old are the 12s? Would you have headroom for L16?

Under heavy load and charging (100+ amps) you could run into some balance issues that may wear on some batteries more than others. For small stuff (furnace and lights) it is a minor issue IMO.

Got solar on the list? If not I would disconnect the parallel connections if stored without a float charge.
McKenziek
Explorer
Jun 04, 2013
Like I mentioned, we dry camp a lot and the coach has a residential fridge and it draws quite a bit of power. We have a propane generator which is not very efficient. Solar is in the plans as well.
Adam-12
Explorer
Jun 04, 2013
Without following your schematic, because I don't have my reading glasses handy, did I count six batteries you want mounted to your rig???? Man that a lot of weight. Why not just keep two 12 volts and run a solar panel or get a small inverter generator instead? Simple.