Not Balancing Three 12v Right
This post is just for info in case anybody else has a similar situation I have learned the truth about wiring up three 12s as though they were two 12s. With the load and charging pos and negs o...
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There is more than one way to skin a cat for those that want to exactly balance the current in three batteries in parallel. The standard way is to use a star configuration with equal length links to each battery. This will exactly balance the current in the three batteries.
There are other ways to balance three batteries also.
Assume three matched batteries. Assume all interconnect links are the same length and gauge cable.
Batteries are connected as usual:
Load at opposite ends, + lead from + terminal of battery 1, - lead from – terminal of battery 3.
Link 1 from + terminal of battery 1 to + terminal of battery 2.
Link 2 from – terminal of battery 1 to – terminal of battery 2.
Link 3 from + terminal of battery 2 to + terminal of battery 3.
Link 4 from – terminal of battery 2 to – terminal of battery 3.
Now to make it balance:
Put another link from + terminal of battery 1 to + terminal of battery 2, making it two links in parallel from + terminal of battery 1 to + terminal of battery 2.
Put another link from – terminal of battery 2 to – terminal of battery 3, making it two links in parallel from - terminal of battery 2 to – terminal of battery 3.
Adding these two links will make the current in the three batteries exactly match and may be easier than making up a star configuration.
There are other ways to do this by using different lengths of cable between the batteries but this is the easy way.
There are other ways to balance three batteries also.
Assume three matched batteries. Assume all interconnect links are the same length and gauge cable.
Batteries are connected as usual:
Load at opposite ends, + lead from + terminal of battery 1, - lead from – terminal of battery 3.
Link 1 from + terminal of battery 1 to + terminal of battery 2.
Link 2 from – terminal of battery 1 to – terminal of battery 2.
Link 3 from + terminal of battery 2 to + terminal of battery 3.
Link 4 from – terminal of battery 2 to – terminal of battery 3.
Now to make it balance:
Put another link from + terminal of battery 1 to + terminal of battery 2, making it two links in parallel from + terminal of battery 1 to + terminal of battery 2.
Put another link from – terminal of battery 2 to – terminal of battery 3, making it two links in parallel from - terminal of battery 2 to – terminal of battery 3.
Adding these two links will make the current in the three batteries exactly match and may be easier than making up a star configuration.
There are other ways to do this by using different lengths of cable between the batteries but this is the easy way.
