6V batteries and 12V motors

[clintbonnie73]

Not related to or to solve your battery problem, but suggest you keep your TV engine running awhile you are unhooking and putting out the slide.. while still plugged into the wire harness.. I always do this to save drawing on the batteries..

[Go-Cougs]

Thanks for the tip, that's a really good idea.

[Flybob]

The voltage drop across the circuit breaker may mean that there is an significant current draw from the battery because in a static system there should be no reason for a voltage difference other than 100% due to an open. It may be a long shot, but check to make sure that in the process of the battery work, you did not accidentally activate the break away brakes.

[clintbonnie73]

Originally Posted by Flybob

The voltage drop across the circuit breaker may mean that there is an significant current draw from the battery because in a static system there should be no reason for a voltage difference other than 100% due to an open. It may be a long shot, but check to make sure that in the process of the battery work, you did not accidentally activate the break away brakes.

That is a good suggestion.. That happened to me once.. accidently pulled cable to the brakes.. hard on batteries..!

[llr]

I agree that the drop goes up with current but i doubt if there should be a full volt even at trip current. There are contact inside that could be bad / corroded. Or if the test leads were on the terminal it could be external. Per the OP it was on the bolts.

[Go-Cougs]

Well that was the issue. Moved the battery wire to the other side of the breaker and everything works as normal. The breaker is on order. Thanks for the help on getting this resolved.

[CHICKDOE]

remember that voltage drop worked in both directions. it may have lowered the battery voltage supplied voltage when you were trying to move the slide out. but it also lowered the recharge voltage from the converter when you were trying to charge the batteries. make sure you get those batteries fully charged.

[Go-Cougs]

Quick update. New part installed and everything works great. Thanks to everyone for the tips and help.

[mnoland30]

Make sure you're wired correctly. See photo. I have a 100 watt solar panel on the roof along with a charge controller, and my batteries are always charged.

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by mnoland30

Make sure you're wired correctly. See photo. I have a 100 watt solar panel on the roof along with a charge controller, and my batteries are always charged.

The OP already solved the problem 5 days ago, in the post right above yours.

[Go-Cougs]

I do appreciate the help. We will be testing it out next weekend but so far so good in the yard....

[Duffy and Paula]

If you are showing different voltages on either end of what should be a wire. Said wire is open.

[MOODMAN]

Originally Posted by mnoland30

Make sure you're wired correctly. See photo. I have a 100 watt solar panel on the roof along with a charge controller, and my batteries are always charged.

I don't understand this chart. Why 3 green checkmarks and then 3 red Xs when both the top and bottom graphics are the same?

[Brewgut]

Moodman - I too had to do a double take on the connection diagram above The improper connections are meant to illustrate that dissimilar batteries should not be combined in a battery bank. Check out the Amp Hour ratings of the batteries in the drawing ... a bank will be degraded to the capacity of the lowest rated battery in the circuit.

[cobaltpap]

Just remember that if one of your 6 volt batteries goes bad you will have no power at all. If one of the 12 volt batteries goes bad then you can still run everything on the other
12 volt battery.

[pgandw]

Originally Posted by cobaltpap

Just remember that if one of your 6 volt batteries goes bad you will have no power at all. If one of the 12 volt batteries goes bad then you can still run everything on the other
12 volt battery.

One of the enduring fallacies in the RV world. Unless you keep the 12V batteries isolated from each other (or have individual battery monitoring systems), one "going bad" will quickly drain the other.

The greater the disparity in voltage between the 2 batteries, the faster the "good" battery will be drained - we're talking minutes here, with wire melting currents for a shorted cell in one battery. I have the T-shirt.

Fortunately, this rarely happens. In the more typical case, where one of the two batteries won't hold much of a charge, the "bad" battery becomes the limiting factor on total battery capacity. As the voltage in the bad battery sags under load, the good battery pumps charge into the bad battery to maintain the same voltage that a parallel circuit requires. That charge pumped into the bad battery is not available for other loads. How will you detect that one of the batteries is going bad? And you still have to replace them in pairs, unlike 6V.

Unless you are constantly on top of what's going on with your batteries, the series 6V battery solution is generally the more robust solution. But either dual battery solution works well as long as both batteries are in good condition.

I switched to 6V (from dual 12V) because I believe in KISS. I can tell from system voltage an approximate state of charge, and how the battery pair is doing. Or if connected to shore power, system voltage tells me what the converter is doing.

Fred W
2019 Flagstaff T21TBHW A-frame with dual 6V Costco-Interstate batteries, Progressive Dynamics converter, no generator, no solar
2008 Hyundai Entourage minivan
camping Colorado and adjacent states one weekend at a time