Battery banks. Need they be the same?

[Edwmama]

Hi
My cal 46 has two battery banks and a set of two lifeline starter batteries

I have on board a xantrex MS 3000 which is a converter/charger combo

House battery bank 1 consists of 4 6 Volts batteries connected in series

And the bank 2 has two 4D 12volts bats connected in parallel

My question is 1) is there any advantage to this choice of bats

2) is it preferable to have two identical battery banks

Like two sets of 4 six volt batteries
Istead of two different banks

3) having two different banks would that in anyway adversely affect the

Performance of my xantrex MS 3000

Also my starter bats are also connected to the charging system. Is this advisable. My boat electrician installed a combiner with the wirings.

Ease reply. My email is edwmama@yahoo.com

Edwmama

 

[Renny_D]

Re: Battery banks. Need they be the same?

As long as they are being charged seperately then you should not have an issue as long as the batteries are maintained. On your 6v pack do you mean two six volts in series then those two wired in paralle or are you using 24volt for something? Ideally you would be better to run all the same batteries so that if needed you could charge the batteries with the switch to both. I'd op for all six volt batteries as they tend to be tougher/more tolerent of over charging and imbalances and cheaper to replace a failure and the AH ratings are usually higher.

Thanks
Renny

 

[Ike-110722]

Re: Battery banks. Need they be the same?

House battery bank 1 consists of 4 6 Volts batteries connected in series

Something wrong here. 4 6V batteries in series is 24 volts. Are you sure. It is more likely you have 4 6v batteries, in sets of two that are in series, and the two sets are paralled. That makes 12 V.

And the bank 2 has two 4D 12volts bats connected in parallel

That makes 12V.

If the two battery banks are not connected in any way then size doesn't matter. Batteries that are connected in series or in parallel should be the same capacity. That keeps a balanced system when charging. Otherwise you get one battery charging off the other and neither ever gets fully charged.

He installed the combiner so that the charger could charge each bank independently. Other wise you would have to charge each bank separately or they would not charge properly.

Personnally I prefer all house batteries to be the same, and multiple starter batteries to be the same.