An electrical question

idiocrates · Post by **idiocrates** » Wed Mar 07, 2012 11:47 am

Since this is probably going to be coming up next can someone answer a dumb question for me.......are these two ways of installing batteries in parallel electrically equivalent......or would one be advantageous over the other? To me....it seems the upper one would allow me to exit the batt box on opposite ends with larger cables as opposed to the lower one.

JEEP_BATT by idiocrates, on Flickr[/img]

RICKG · Post by **RICKG** » Wed Mar 07, 2012 1:33 pm

Are you going parallel for 12v w/more amperage?
I dont have an opinion on which setup in the more
advantageous but i thought the batt disconnect
is more beneficial on the ground cable because when
shut off you eliminate any chance of sparking a batt.

RickC · Post by **RickC** » Wed Mar 07, 2012 2:54 pm

I was always taught to use the ground for the cut-off switch.......

OKCM38CDN · Post by **OKCM38CDN** » Wed Mar 07, 2012 5:40 pm

Your connections are the same electrically... not difference...

Hope this helps...

Post by **wesk** » Thu Mar 08, 2012 10:11 pm

The only difference between the two illustrations is that one illustrates the connections with the wires on the top side of the illustration and the other on the bottom side. Electrically they are identicle.

Parallel connections are for connecting two batteries to put out what the single battery put out.

Series connections add the two batteries' voltages together to double the voltage of the single battery.

idiocrates · Post by **idiocrates** » Fri Mar 09, 2012 7:19 am

Thanks for the replies. I agree....the disconnect in the ground lead is the better or perhaps I should say...the safer...approach. But I come from a background in telephony switching where our positive terminal is ground and our low voltage disconnect equipment is in our negative feed.....gues I shoulda paid a little more attention to detail. At any rate....I was a little concerned at first that the upper drawing would be more succeptible to opens in the battery circuit due to corrosion then the lower one but after looking at it more closely.....while the amp/hour capacity might get cut in half due to corrosion there is exactly the same potential for failure in the both diagrams. thererfore.....inasmuch as the upper drawing lets me exit the holes in the battery box with larger battery cables (since I will have only one cable in each hole on each end of the box) I'm gonna go with the upper scheme....and apply lots of No-Ox-Id. Thanks again.

jimm · Post by **jimm** » Fri Mar 09, 2012 6:18 pm

Just curious: why the desire to run two batteries in parallel? Do you need that much amperage? To take advantage of the supply, you'll need some pretty hefty cables to deliver that much current.

idiocrates · Post by **idiocrates** » Sat Mar 10, 2012 6:51 pm

Well....its like this.....since the A1 has room for two batteries......and since mine has been converted to 12V.....instead of running two "paired" 6V batteries I figured I'd run two paralleled 12V batteries. The current won't be required.....but it might prove "nice" to have if I ever want to add a bunch of electrical equipment to the mix.....like lights.....a jukebox.....or maybe an inverter powered refrigerator.