View Single Post
  #16  
Old 26th October 2019, 09:23 AM
spannerrash spannerrash is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2016
Posts: 399
Default

I'm gonna shelve the idea of hooking up two batteries and just go for a new Bosch. I'll see how that goes.

After doing some research it is clearly OK to connect batteries together in parallel as we do regularly on HGVs, electric fork truck etc but some guidelines have to be followed.

1. The batteries should be of a similar age. This is to ensure a balanced discharge rate.

2. Batteries ideally should be of the same manufacturer. Same reason as above.

3. Batteries must be of the same capacity otherwise the lower capacity one will fully charge before the higher capacity one. This will then lead it to overcharge.

4. Ideally, as a safety precaution, the link cables between the batteries should be fused. This is incase one of the batteries developes an internal short. This will then potentially draw a massive current from the good battery. This may then damage the good battery also and even worse, if the link cables heat up, could become a fire risk.

5. (The real killer for me) Once the batteries have been connected together they will establish a state of "equalisation". It is recommended to charge the batteries (whilst still connected together) from a single charge source in order to help maintain this state.

Clearly point 5 renders my win win obsolete. No point in having a system that takes twice as long to discharge but then twice as long to recharge.

I feel like I have over thought this one a little bit. Maybe I need to find something else to worry about 🤔
Reply With Quote