Series or parallel?

[charliebabb]

Hey guys, I recently picked up a 1976 42' Hatteras. It has twin 903 Cummins diesel engines. In her battery bank there are two big batteries (unsure what kind). They are wired in parallel, but im not sure if wiring them in series would be better.

Thanks for the help,
Charlie

 

[UncleWillie]

Re: Series or parallel?

Twin Batteries in Parallel is giving you twice the ampacity of a single 12 volt battery.

Wiring them in series will give you half the ampacity but twice the voltage. (24v)
Applying twice the voltage (24Volts) to the electronics on the boat is going to give you WAY MORE than twice the repair bill! :faint2:

I wouldn't even think about doing it.

 

[Don S]

Re: Series or parallel?

Not knowing your electrical knowledge, I'm just going to make this very simple. Assuming that the batteries you have are 12V, hooking them up in parallel would be the same having one big 12V battery, hooking them up in series would make them one big 24V battery. The rest of the electrical system on the engine and everything else they are hooked to would not be happy with a 24V battery.

(I was typing while UncleWillie was posting.)

 

[tazrig]

Re: Series or parallel?

This is definitely a case where less is more.

12 volt Parallel = 12 volt = good

12 volt series = 24 volt = bad... very bad!!!

 

[Bondo]

Re: Series or parallel?

This is definitely a case where less is more.

12 volt Parallel = 12 volt = good

12 volt series = 24 volt = bad... very bad!!!

Ayuh,.... Atleast it might Start, really Really Fast,..... Once anyways....

Like the others have said,... Also a really Really dumb idea...

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Series or parallel?

To put this in perspective, power in your house is 120 volts AC. What do you think would happen to every light bulb, electric motor, stereo, fridge, microwave, etc, if it was suddenly fed 240 volts AC. Doubling the power from 12 to 24 volts is what happens when you series connect two 12 volts batteries. Diesel trucks (semi's) can have six 12 volt batteries in parallel. Six in series would be 72 volts and every electrical device on the truck would go "poof". Series connection of the battereis is simply not an option. Hatteras and Cummins knew what they were doing when the boat was built. Don't mess with success.

 

[beermak]

Re: Series or parallel?

u do series when u have twin 6volts batterys. So u add up 12v

in ur case leave it as it is