Charging 6v golf cart batteries?

[engineer40]

Hello all! I'm new to campers but have been enjoying learning about my new (used) Viking 10ft popup truck bed camper. It did not come with any house batteries. After some research and looking at my budget for now, I purchased 2 6v golf cart batteries. I have them wired in series for 12v output. They are working as expected.

As far as I can tell, my camper does not automatically recharged the batteries when I'm plugged into shore power. I have a decent work around. There is a house plug in in the same cabinet as I have the batteries. I have a spare smart charger that I plan to wire directly to the battery terminals so it automatically charges them when I plug into shore power. I've been using this battery charger for a few years and it's never overcharged anything.

Since I have 2 6v batteries wired in series I'll need to connect the charger to the positive battery terminal on 1 battery, and to the negative battery terminal on the 2nd battery. I believe that way both batteries are being charged equally at the same time. If I do this, do I have the charger set to 12v/2amp? I'm assuming I do... But my charger also has a setting for 6v/4amp and since the batteries are technically 6v, it has me questioning my thinking here. I appreciate any clarify you all can provide. Thanks!

[Grit_dog]

^Wasn’t you. You just got pulled into trying to explain to the peanut gallery…

[Vintage465]

Grit dog wrote:
Maybe you guys could stick to helping the OP rather than continuing one of the decidedly dumber arguments, even for this group, in recent memory.
Guy had/has some valid questions that he was getting good advice about and then BAM enter the stupidity crew!

I will stand corrected and consider myself "schooled" on thread hijacking.:o Also I thought I was addressing the OP and after checking I was actually responding to another contributor....But I do think my analogy was on point:W

[Grit_dog]

Maybe you guys could stick to helping the OP rather than continuing one of the decidedly dumber arguments, even for this group, in recent memory.
Guy had/has some valid questions that he was getting good advice about and then BAM enter the stupidity crew!

[Vintage465]

valhalla360 wrote:

Vintage465 wrote:

Boon Docker wrote:
So someone split my 12 volt battery in half. :E
Must have been the previous owner.

Think of it using this analogy.....One 12 gallon gas tank......used it for 10 years, rusted out. Replaced it with two 6 gallon gas tanks linked together. They're still 6 gallon tanks, but they equal 12 gallons. Same with the battery. No doubt the coach came with a 12v. Someone wisely(in my opinion) replaced it with two 6v's wired to equal 12.6v,+/- to be compatable with a 12v system. All is good, no technical or mysterious discussion necessary......

Now you go and make an incorrect analogy that make's wa8xms point relevant. 😉

If you have 2 - 6gal tanks and one is empty, assuming you only need to go say 20miles, you have full capability (I'm assuming you get better than 3.5mpg).

If you have 2 - 6v batteries and one is damaged, drained or otherwise taken out of service, you can't operate even if the remaining battery if fully charged and in great condition.

What you are describing would be 2 - 12v batteries. You can wire them in parallel which would be equivalent to pulling off of both 6gal tanks simultaneously. Or you could put in switches/valves, you can choose one battery/tank to operate off of and when empty switch to the other.

But for the OP, he has 2 - 6v batteries wired in series to put out 12v power.
- If he asks a question and describes it this way, he is likely to get good advice.
- If he says he has a 12 volt system with 2 batteries, there is a very good chance, people will assume 2 - 12v batteries wired in parallel and the advice will be wrong.

Well, The OP said.."So someone split my 12 volt battery in half. Must have been the previous owner". I think I made it pretty easy to understand how a coach delivered with a single 12v battery was retrofitted with 2-6er's to be compatable with a 12v sysytem. Notice I mentioned the two 6 gallons are linked, meaning they will draw down as a 12 gallon unit. Seems you are seeing it from usage or draw down perspective and I'm seeing it as two 6's equal 12, but the two sixes still have the identity of 6v batteries.

[StirCrazy]

I think I said in the other post with that converter the best thing to do is replace it haha. mine came with the one before that, but there higher end modle. I didnt have to flip a switch between converter and shore power... look at the progresive dynamics 4000 series power center. that will give you up to 45amps of charging and you can get ones that are LFP ready if you want to go lithium batteries in the future.

it realy wasnt that hard of a install, I had to cut the hole where it goes slightly biger and I installed new battery lines and cleaned up a bit of the wiring as I installed two GC batteries like you were asking about. now I have gone to LFP in it.

[valhalla360]

Vintage465 wrote:

Boon Docker wrote:
So someone split my 12 volt battery in half. :E
Must have been the previous owner.

Think of it using this analogy.....One 12 gallon gas tank......used it for 10 years, rusted out. Replaced it with two 6 gallon gas tanks linked together. They're still 6 gallon tanks, but they equal 12 gallons. Same with the battery. No doubt the coach came with a 12v. Someone wisely(in my opinion) replaced it with two 6v's wired to equal 12.6v,+/- to be compatable with a 12v system. All is good, no technical or mysterious discussion necessary......

Now you go and make an incorrect analogy that make's wa8xms point relevant. 😉

If you have 2 - 6gal tanks and one is empty, assuming you only need to go say 20miles, you have full capability (I'm assuming you get better than 3.5mpg).

If you have 2 - 6v batteries and one is damaged, drained or otherwise taken out of service, you can't operate even if the remaining battery if fully charged and in great condition.

What you are describing would be 2 - 12v batteries. You can wire them in parallel which would be equivalent to pulling off of both 6gal tanks simultaneously. Or you could put in switches/valves, you can choose one battery/tank to operate off of and when empty switch to the other.

But for the OP, he has 2 - 6v batteries wired in series to put out 12v power.
- If he asks a question and describes it this way, he is likely to get good advice.
- If he says he has a 12 volt system with 2 batteries, there is a very good chance, people will assume 2 - 12v batteries wired in parallel and the advice will be wrong.

[Vintage465]

pianotuna wrote:
Vintage465 try here:

https://parallaxpower.com/extras/archived-tech-docs/

Thanks! According to the manual that is a converter ONLY and is not suitable for 12v charging. Their words not mine.

[pianotuna]

Vintage465 try here:

https://parallaxpower.com/extras/archived-tech-docs/

[Vintage465]

engineer40 wrote:
This is a picture of my electrical center. I just noticed that is does say "Converter Output: 12.6 VDC Current 15 AMPS" So maybe it is supposed to charge the batteries and I need to troubleshoot this further.

One thing I thought was odd is when the switch in the lower right is in the OFF position, the house outlets in the camper will work if I'm plugged into shore power. Seems like OFF would mean, it truly breaks the circuit.


Click For Full-Size Image.

I did a fair amount of looking for a manual for that converter but to no avail. But in the digging I did, indicates to me that is 1990's or earlier technology....that unit would fall under what would call a "battery boiler". I would replace that guy with better unit like a Progressive Dynamics set up.

[Vintage465]

Boon Docker wrote:
So someone split my 12 volt battery in half. :E
Must have been the previous owner.

Think of it using this analogy.....One 12 gallon gas tank......used it for 10 years, rusted out. Replaced it with two 6 gallon gas tanks linked together. They're still 6 gallon tanks, but they equal 12 gallons. Same with the battery. No doubt the coach came with a 12v. Someone wisely(in my opinion) replaced it with two 6v's wired to equal 12.6v,+/- to be compatable with a 12v system. All is good, no technical or mysterious discussion necessary......

[Vintage465]

engineer40 wrote:
Sincerely appreciate everyone's help so far. Thank you!

The black & white wire that come into the picture from the upper right seem awfully small to me for the entire camper to use? I took off some panels and traced the wire and it appears to be original to the camper. 20 years ago I melted some wires that were too small of gauge for a car amp I was using. So seeing these small wires in a camper make me sort of nervous as well. The fuse should blow before the wires melt. I think... For testing I've had appliances running, lights on, and a lamp plugged into house outlet and no fuses blew. So maybe those wires are fine. I guess I won't know for sure until I get out and use this camper some. Hopefully this weekend!


Click For Full-Size Image.

Those are real good batteries. If you don't drain them lower than 50%, keep them properly charged, keep the correct amount of electrolite in them and equalize them occasionally they will last years. They are made by Eastern Penn Manufacturing in the USA, the largest manufacturer of flooded batteries in the USA

[ewarnerusa]

wa8yxm wrote:
12.6 volt is not charging. 13.6+ is charging (IE 13.7) 12.6 is resting voltage of battery.

And yet "12.6 VDC current 15 AMPS" is exactly what the OP's converter says on it. It doesn't make sense to me, I think OP needs to yank that out of there and replace it with a modern/proper converter.

And read this. 🙂
http://www.marxrv.com/12volt/12volt.htm

[wa8yxm]

12.6 volt is not charging. 13.6+ is charging (IE 13.7) 12.6 is resting voltage of battery.

[rjstractor]

engineer40 wrote:
This is a picture of my electrical center. I just noticed that is does say "Converter Output: 12.6 VDC Current 15 AMPS" So maybe it is supposed to charge the batteries and I need to troubleshoot this further.

One thing I thought was odd is when the switch in the lower right is in the OFF position, the house outlets in the camper will work if I'm plugged into shore power. Seems like OFF would mean, it truly breaks the circuit.

I think something you may not realize is that the 12V DC and 120V AC electrical systems in your camper are completely separate. You could rip the batteries and all of the associated 12V wiring out and set it all on fire and the house outlets would still work when plugged into shore power. The only real connection is that the converter, which simply converts 120V AC into 12V (nominal) DC. If your camper is like most, the lights, fridge circuitry, furnace fan and water pump all run off 12V DC. Items like a microwave and air conditioner have comparatively high power needs and typically run off 120V AC, provided by either a generator or shore power. If your converter is working correctly, there should be no need to install a separate charger. If it's not, replace it with a modern "smart" converter.