What size converter charger should I get?
Our vintage travel trailer doesn't currently have one, but it came with a marine battery that's rated at 85 Amp/hours. The smallest converter chargers I'm seeing are 35 amp. Is this small enough?
Forum Discussion
Sam Spade wrote:mrkoje wrote:
So then wouldn't 4 6vs in a series parallel suffer the same fate?
Yes very likely.
I suspect it would take longer and not be as pronounced but that is just a guess.
So then when the other member Matt stated:
Matt_Colie wrote:
Please do not parallel 12V jars. Even if they were side by side on the assembly line, by the end of the third week, they will not like playing in parallel. If you are lucky, you end up with capacity * 1.7. It will more likely be 1.5.
And you stated:
Sam Spade wrote:
If the two are not perfectly matched, part of the capacity of the stronger one will be expended trying to charge the weaker one. And when charging, the weaker one will sap off more of the charge.
And if one should fail completely, disaster can occur.
The disaster is rare and I think his 1.7 estimate is closer until they get really old but 6 Volts in series really are better.
So then wouldn't by your own account also need to say the same for having 4 6v batteries in a series parallel? In fact then wouldn't you also have to recommend not connecting 6v together in such a manner or end up with a 1.5-1.7x capacity or in the disaster that you mentioned?
Fact is hundreds if not thousands of RVers connect their 2+ 12v deep cycle batteries in parallel. There are also quite a few RVers that have multiple batteries 4+ in the battery banks that connect either with parallel or series or a combination of both depending on their configuration.
My question from the start was for Matt to explain why he said "Please do not parallel 12v jars .. they will not like playing with each other .. etc .."
To be clear - It is not advised to connect any batteries together when they are not identical types/ages etc. We're not talking about connecting a 12v grp24 with a 27 or 1 12v with 2 6v. Same battery next to each other on the assembly line as Matt said.
I have not found one spec sheet from any manufacturer to suggest that it would be ill advised to do so. So again - please let the 1000s of RVers know how they are setting themselves up for disaster!
To the OP - I am sorry for the thread hi-jack. I know that your original question has been answered already.
