This is a guest article written by Alan Knight, one of the more frequent contributors to this website. What Happens to Batteries when you Overcharge them? Do not attempt to charge a 12v battery with anything other than a 12v charger, whether it is a flooded unit, Sealed Lead Acid (SLA), gel or AGM. SLA…
Recently George asked in the comments on our article about connecting batteries in series and parallel at the same time how he could make 36 volts from 12 volt batteries, while at the same time make the capacity (amp hours) add together so that each 12 Ah cell would combine to make at 36 Ah…
We received a question from Michael Correale today asking for some help on wiring his 24 volt horn to his 12 volt boat electrical system. Here is what he wrote: Ok, I am that guy who had to go and buy the 24 volt horn for my boat with a pre-existing 12 volt system. I…
Someone came here the other day looking for the answer to this question – which battery terminal should you connect first. It’s a great question. We’re talking about automotive batteries, and whether you connect the positive terminal or the negative terminal first.
If you are building an off-grid power system you probably need to start building a battery bank. And one of the first questions you’ll have is how many batteries do you need. To answer that question you need to start by understanding the capacity of batteries. This article explains what is meant by the Amp-Hour rating of a battery.
You need to increase the amp hours available from a battery bank as well as the voltage. This article shows you how!
How do you connect two 12 volt batteries in series to get 24 volts? On the face of it it’s an easy answer – read about it in this article. But there are many complications when you get into mixing systems – maybe you have a 12 volt alternator running your main circuits, and a 24 volt auxiliary piece of equipment. This article starts by explaining the basics.
One of the issues with a dual battery system is to keep both batteries equally charged. This applies whether you have a 12 volt series system to make 24 volts or more, or if you have a 12 volt parallel system for extra starting power or maybe a secondary power system for recreational use. This article describes how to charge two batteries so that both of them are charged the same.
When you’re stuck in the middle of nowhere, all kinds of things can go wrong, in far from ideal conditions, with no-one to help you out. On one of our expeditions we sustained a hole to our truck battery. This article describes the field fix that took us back to civilization.
If you own a 24 volt Land Cruiser, then there’s a good chance you’ve had battery problems, especially if you run 12 volt accessories from one of your batteries. This article talks about the solution to your charging problems – installing a charge equalizer and what it can do for you.