RV battery charge

[Atex]

I got a two; six volt battery setup on my trailer, maintained by a solar charge controller and a 100w solar panel. It was working without any hiccups for the last six years or so. Recently I had to remove the batteries because I was concerned them not to grow legs where my trailer is currently stored at.

Today I decided to charge them up in preparation for our August-long camping trip, I checked the voltages and there is a 2.2V voltage difference between the two. Got only a 12V trickle charger, I can only charge them wired in series, cannot top 'em up individually.

Question is: should the charge be equalized somehow between them before I attempt to charge them up, or it doesn't matter as performance goes ?

Thanks in advance

[liar]

Hook them in series and then to the 12 v carger . If they are both good they should both charge up .

[Jays toyz]

Most chargers do not have a 6v setting. You cannot charge them up without putting them back in series where they will equalize. Strange one developed a voltage drop. Check your water level. With the constant charge crappy solar converters have one may have gassed off more than the other.

[6.5swedeforelk]

Easily done, Atex.

Grab a car 50 watt headlamp bulb to put in series
with your 6v battery & the 12v trickle charger.

A 35 watt bulb will also work, at a slower chge rate.

[zewks]

https://www.walmart.com/ip/BLACK-DEC...ainer/21721663

[Tfng]

.

[silver]

I have a battery charger from Canadian Tire and it has the 6 volt option. In your situation, I would charge the batteries in series and put a load, like a headlite bulb, on the good battery. That should bring them up even but you should keep an eye on them, you might want to replace the weak one some day soon.

[liar]

each cell in a battery produced or delivers 2.1 volts . if you hook 3 together you get 6 volts and 6 cells produce 12 volts . a " battery " is a collection of cells , connected in series and enclosed in a housing .
so , when you connect 2 - 6 volt batteries in series you are creating a 12 volt battery ,with the cells in two separated housings . you can therefore treat the two 6 volt batteries as a 12 volt when they are connected in series .

[-JR-]

We used to charge 8 -12 volt batteries with one charger every night as each mechanic needed one for his job every day.
As time went on .We found out some of the 12 v batteries were not getting a full charge, because the charger would see 13.5 volts on some of the better batteries and then the charger would shut off. Every Once in awhile we would just remove the good batteries and recharge all the batteries that needed more charging.

[Atex]

Thanks for the input guys, I did charge them connected in series and the charge equalized between the two

[birdee]

battery science for the general layman 12volt side of life part 1 and 2
http://www.marxrv.com/12volt/12volt.htm
http://www.marxrv.com/12volt/12volta.htm

if you have more than 2 batteries in series or parallel
there is a more in depth wiring so they all see the same voltage
current only flows in one direction and the batteries further down
the line don't see the same discharge or charge and will face a early death

[birdee]

i new i had it somewhere
http://www.smartgauge.co.uk/batt_con.html