I have one of these NOCO 5 Watt Solar Battery maintainers. Assuming I have two 6 volt batteries in series to product 12 volts, am I correct that I would still use a 6 volt controller despite the fact the output from the batteries is 12 volts?Thinking of switching to 6 volt batteries because going to 2 12-volt batteries may require more space than I have available. But this has led me to a whole lot more questions!Thanks!Martin

No. Two 6 volts in series is no different electrically than a single 12 V. You want a charger made for a 12 V battery.

5 watts is generally too small for two batteries even for storage.Need to fully charge first and disconnect everything else.

martinandanne wrote:I have one of these NOCO 5 Watt Solar Battery maintainers. Assuming I have two 6 volt batteries in series to product 12 volts, am I correct that I would still use a 6 volt controller despite the fact the output from the batteries is 12 volts?If you already have that solar panel you've linked to you don't need anything more - just hook it to the two 6 volt batteries which are connected in series and are in effect a single 12 volt battery. Question is - why bother with such a tiny panel which outputs so little as to be almost meaningless. :h

2 6 volt batteries in series become 1 12 volt battery and should be treated as such. I wouldn't bother with a charge controller on a 5 watt panel. That panel is likely only good for about .3 amps Imp at most. That's not enough to overcharge those batteries. The general rule of thumb is that you don't need a charge controller for charge current 1 percent or less of the battery AH capacity. 2 6v golf cart batteries would be around 220 Ah. 1 percent of that is 2.2 amps or 7 times the capacity of your panel.

KD4UPL wrote:That panel is likely only good for about .3 amps Imp at most. That's not enough to overcharge those batteries.NOCO claims "up to 410 ma" ... why in the world would anyone spend $63.95 for such an insignificant amount of charging? :h

6 Volt Batteries and Solar Charging | Good Sam Community

13 Replies

SoundGuy
Explorer
Mar 05, 2017
martinandanne wrote:
I have one of these NOCO 5 Watt Solar Battery maintainers. Assuming I have two 6 volt batteries in series to product 12 volts, am I correct that I would still use a 6 volt controller despite the fact the output from the batteries is 12 volts?

If you already have that solar panel you've linked to you don't need anything more - just hook it to the two 6 volt batteries which are connected in series and are in effect a single 12 volt battery. Question is - why bother with such a tiny panel which outputs so little as to be almost meaningless. :h
time2roll
Nomad
Mar 05, 2017
5 watts is generally too small for two batteries even for storage.
Need to fully charge first and disconnect everything else.
mike-s
Explorer
Mar 05, 2017
No. Two 6 volts in series is no different electrically than a single 12 V. You want a charger made for a 12 V battery.

Forum Discussion

6 Volt Batteries and Solar Charging

13 Replies

About Travel Trailer Group

Related Content

Solar Battery Charge Issue

Battery Charging

chassis battery charge ?

Charging House Batteries

Charging Battery with Solar Panel