Wiring of batteries

[familyof3]

Hello all,
I have a wiring question. I have two 12 volt batteries. I had them wire together. After I had got the 5er out of the shop they rewired the batteries after moving one and I never really looked at them till now. As of now the converter and house power are wired to one battery and from that battery there is only a 4 gauge hot wire going to the 2nd battery and the 2nd battey is grounded to the side wall with the other ground wires for what ever they goto. Now my question is that going to work of should they be wired together as 12 volt or is it okay to be wired to the frame. Seems to me that isn't right but maybe you all can enlighten me. Thank's for your input.

[CA_Traveler]

Here's a link that can help to understand balanced wiring. Click

[CA_Traveler]

familyof3 wrote:
I feel that all my power is coming from one batter since the converter and the house wires are on one battery.

More power is coming from/to that battery due to the higher resistance of wire to the second battery. But both batteries will be used. All things being equal it will fail sooner. That may/may not be significant for you depending upon your typical loads.

[familyof3]

I think I will just wire them back together and leave the grounds on there, and add a biger wire since they are not in the same compartment but are within a foot apart. I feel that all my power is coming from one batter since the converter and the house wires are on one battery. Just my idea

[CA_Traveler]

While I agree that there is limited return on balanced wiring for 2 batteries why not wire it that way?

[RoyB]

Wiring of the balanced batteries path is really only important when the battery is being charged. The ideal world has the same amount of current being drawn in each cell of the batteries...

Just a few inches longer path between battery connections will affect charging currents to a small degree...

Just my thoughts here...
Roy Ken

[RJsfishin]

The above not nearly as important as some lead you to believe.
I myself find that if all terminals are kept clean, there is no difference at all. But I would wire the batts negatives together, even if you left them both connected to ground

[CA_Traveler]

It will work but the batteries should be wired in a balanced manner like the top diagram.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Please please

Take several images of both positive and negative wires and connections and post them here.