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swimmer_spe's avatar
swimmer_spe
Explorer
Jun 20, 2021

hooking up a second battery

I plan to go camping for a weekend, but may not have power. I was thinking of bringing a spare battery and swapping it out. I also thought of just running jumper cables to the 'dead' battery. Would doing that work, or must I swap it out? I don't want to mess with daisy chaining it.

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  • swimmer_spe's avatar
    swimmer_spe
    Explorer
    Jun 21, 2021
    wopachop wrote:
    Be careful if the spare battery is from an automobile. A car battery is not meant to be run down like a trailer battery.

    Maybe everyone can chip in and rent a genny?


    It's another deep cell battery. Where I am going doesn't allow generators or I'd be doing that. I have access to several.
  • swimmer_spe's avatar
    swimmer_spe
    Explorer
    Jun 21, 2021
    CA Traveler wrote:
    Swapping is best. You can remove the negative battery cable and connect the jumper cables to it and the positive post.

    Daisy chaining to me means serial - definitely don't.


    I'd still do it parallel.
  • wopachop's avatar
    wopachop
    Explorer
    Jun 20, 2021
    Be careful if the spare battery is from an automobile. A car battery is not meant to be run down like a trailer battery.

    Maybe everyone can chip in and rent a genny?
  • CA_Traveler's avatar
    CA_Traveler
    Explorer III
    Jun 20, 2021
    Swapping is best. You can remove the negative battery cable and connect the jumper cables to it and the positive post.

    Daisy chaining to me means serial - definitely don't.
  • 2oldman's avatar
    2oldman
    Explorer II
    Jun 20, 2021
    Swap it. Never connect a good battery to a dead one. It'll try to suck the good one dry.

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