Two Batteries?

[dannyl]

Had a oldtimer moment!!!
I'm going to add a second battery to the mounty.
Do I link pos to pos and neg to neg?

I know ther is parallel and serial connection but I couldn't remember which was which.

[Ormee and Ginette]

If your existing battery is 12 Volts then connect the second twelve volt battery in paralel that is positive to positive and negative to negative...

If you are installing 6 volt batteries connect them in series positive to negative...

[Merv]

Hello,
12 volt batteries go positive to positive
6 volt are a different story

Merv

[dannyl]

Thanks for the quick reply.
The mind is a terrible thing to waste.
I remembered that tying two 12 volts together could either give you a strong 12 volt system or double the output to 24 volts.

[dannyl]

Another question on the subject.
Do most of you use two batteries or rely on one?
Benefits etc?

[ken]

You might want to consider a 4-way marine battery switch between the batteries and the RV. It is wired the same way with negative to negative, but the postives come off the 4-way switch. The postive is wired into the 4-way switch. The switch has four settings. Battery 1, battery 2, or both, or full off. That way you can store your Montana with the batteries off with out running one down or having to disconect the batteries each time. We alternate the batteries so both are 100% charged as we travel.

[Dave Anderson]

Dannyl,I am a BIG advocate of more amps. If you ever have to dry camp(no shorepower) one battery will only give you about 220 amps. only half of that should be used unless you have deep cycle batts. So a second batt. will give you 220 usable amps.Enough for a couple of days of12volt camping. the only downside is you will add about 65 lbs. to your rig, most of it,pinweight. to me, it's well worth the weight. I personnaly carry 4 6 volt batts. in series and paralel to give me 440 deep cycle amps. but we boondock as much as we can-----Dave

[Merv]

Hi Dannyl,
I use 3 12volt batteries. We do mostly dry camping (no hookups) and the wife likes to watch the TV in the mornings before I get up. It chews up one battery very fast, but 3 batteries will last nicely. Also when camping in the fall it helps keep the furnace running.
Merv

[Montana_3956]

Just to clarify a point. 2 6 volt batteries in Series = 12 volts at higher amperage. If you use all 6 Volt batteries they must be series/ parallel. 2 6 Volts each = 12 Volts then each 12 Volt battery pair in parallel. Be careful & I'd suggest you measure with a volt meter. Ya sure do NOT want 24 Volts in your Rig! Happy Trails

[Illini Trekker]

Here a great link you should keep in your favorites on the CPU. See-Ya

http://bart.ccis.com/home/mnemeth/12volt/12volt.htm

[boat391]

we to use three batteries in our monty they last a three day weekend with no problem