What’s better in 12v batteries?

DFord wrote:
In my book, there's nothing like a 6v golf cart battery for that purpose.

8 million golf carts can't be wrong.

Are there truly any 12v batteries that will stand up to constant charging/discharging cycles without loosing their abilities?

In my book, there's nothing like a 6v golf cart battery for that purpose.

Might be that the OP would find it easier to handle three smaller batteries if he moves them in and out a lot? No problem fur us weightlifters but they can get heavy. Might be that he already owns a couple of the smaller units?

I did a workup to mount a 31 in the trunk of my K car. Because of Alfred Hitchcock grade voltage regulation, 1/0 was called for.

OEM Bosch voltage regulators for many years had a set point of 13.8 volts. With an AGM battery? Trouble brewing.

Guys with VW vanagons, that have a space under the front seat for an additional battery, were using multiple AGMs in parallel, to stuff more amp hours in the space available than the biggest car jar single battery which would fit.
Seems most had issues with poor battery life/performance with that set up and nobody seems to go that route anymore

Its not like the chinese 35AH AGM batteries one receives are all manufactured on the same date, same line and plant and have the same internal resistance. The stronger will feed the weaker when in parallel, and the stronger are not as happy as they could be if they were separated and fully charged.

Given the preponderance of people who think hammer crimps, vice grip crimps or thin HF quality ring terminals, or those who simply crush stranded wiring under a washer, I'd be quite wary of additional unneeded connections.

If multiple in parallel is decided upon, take the + and - for all loads and charging sources from batteries 1 and 3, not all on battery one or battery 3 even though this might appear to be easier or cleaner to wire up in certain rigs.

Take golf cars. 18 series connections. Baaaaaad. Pass by any golf course and see abandoned cars studding the greens like Christmas tree ornaments?

I have a 12-series cells 24-volt bank. If a person thinks a garbage grade battery is as vulnerable as a good grade of battery then storm clouds are lining his horizon. Buy five Wal-Mart tires then drive 80 mph across a July Arizona desert. Don't try to measure reliability against a Michelin. A blowout is in your future.

Batteries in parallel are not good. The more you add the more wires and connections in parallel. This makes it harder to have them charge and discharge together as one large battery. For large battery systems general design practice is to have no more than 2 batteries or battery strings in parallel. 3 is considered the absolute maximum if you really have to for some reason. A single large battery or battery string will always give better life and performance, all else being equal, then multiple smaller batteries in parallel.
The argument about removing a bad parallel battery and still using the others is BS. If one battery in parallel shorts a cell it will destroy the others in parallel with it in short order. Unless you like to disconnect and check your batteries every couple hours you'll never catch it in time.

MDKMDK wrote:
Neither is being totally SOL with 2 6V GC2 batteries, if a single cell shorts in one of them.

I wonder how many people with a single 12v battery carry a spare...a real spare, not the one in the tow vehicle.

Wantuck wrote:
If you dry camp for an extended period what do you use? Yes, wet acid deep discharge batteries.

I use four golf car batteries from Costco. Maybe 420 amp/hrs

2oldman wrote:

Wantuck wrote:
If you dry camp for an extended period what do you use? .

400 amp hours of lithium. Got rid of acid tubs.

Nice. :C