Another battery question

[Pete-B]

Hi,

I'm a newbie and still learning the ins and oute of it all. I intend having a 100 amp solar panel fitted so I thought it best to add a second leisure battery. I'm told by the solar fitting company that it should be the same as the original battery. By this, do they mean the same make and rating or just the same rating? I can't get hold of the company at the moment so would welcome any information or advice, thanks.

[colin]

In an ideal world you might want to have same make/type/capacity/age battery, but for your purposes same type/capacity will be good enough.

[Clive]

Two points

A 100 amp solar panel is massive, I guess you mean a 100 watt panel which will kick out about 5 amps on a very good sunny day.

 

On the batteries you have lots of choices.

the IDEAL is to have two identical big 6 volt batteries connected in series.

The next best choice is two identical 12 volt batteries purchased as a pair at the same time connected in parallel and make sure you fit a fuse in each battery positive lead.

BUT most combinations of parallel 12 volt batteries will provide an advantage.

It is not wise to connect a new battery in parallel with an old battery.

Whats is verboten is to mix battery technologies. That is if one battery is WET electrolyte then so should the other one be. Similarly if one is GEL then so must the other one be.

Always check that your on-board charger is set to the correct battery technology - read the manual!

 

Hope that helps

 

Chive

 

[Pete-B]

Well spotted Chive of course it;s watts, deliberate mistake really. :D.

 

Thanks for the advice.

 

Peter.