12-Volt: Hooking 4-Car Batteries For Increased Power

To increase the amperage for longer power usage, or to use higher wattage appliances; hooking four car batteries together as shown above will
increase the power available, or increase the length of time required between charging the batteries.

That is good to know Franke.

A neighbor couple who have a huge cabin about half a mile down the road from my BOL / retreat have 10 batteries hooked up for power although they just recharge it with a 5500 watt gas generator. They have the same solar panels I have but won't hook it up. They do have the panels set up outside their cabin but won't hook them to batteries. I think they just have the solar panels to show passersby that they "have" solar. Too bad one of their panels got smashed from the terrible winter last year when strong wind blew a panel onto the ground.

I have always only used one 12 volt deep cycle, RV battery with my "cheap" Harborfreight solar panels. Which cost $200 for 3 fifteen watt panels but $85 for the battery. And more for the inverter.

I should someday get at least one or two more batteries since my one battery died last October. Although I only use electricity every other day mainly to recharge my tracfone to call my elderly parents once or twice a week and I also listen to the radio once a day.



Solar panels on sunny hillside on top of tree stump

Standing near the solar panels that are on the tree stump >






Solar panel box with batteries, controller and inverter >

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Those pictures blow me away Mike!
Lots of people talk the talk-but not many walk the walk....
I'm envious of the simplistic way that you make do out there.
Sometimes it's the simple things that makes all the difference.




I use a series of Crown 6-Volt (Golf Cart) batteries. They are 225 Amp Hour - Wet Cell Batteries
I hook each pair as a 12-volt; ending up with three 12-volt 225 Amp pairs
That gives me 675 Amps of juice.

Something that I learned the hard way is, that when charging the bank, it's faster to get fully charged by tapping a Positive on one battery, and then
the Negative on the last battery; instead of using the post on a single battery. It also helps to cut down on the heat.

Keep the batteries in tip-top form by using boiled water to level out the acid.
On each cap, there is a small hole which allows for venting. Keep the holes pointed away from the battery posts.
When charging the batteries, it's also a good idea to remove the caps. This allows for a reduction of heat, and the batteries wont boil.

Franke Schein - Admin wrote:Those pictures blow me away Mike!
Lots of people talk the talk-but not many walk the walk....
I'm envious of the simplistic way that you make do out there.
Sometimes it's the simple things that makes all the difference.

Thanks Franke and I have over 100 pics I could post.

Not sure if there is a limit in this group to posting a number of pics?

I try to use simple and frugal ways to do and build things, which some on other forums have said my bunker and sheds are crude and some other even worse phrases. Since I use mostly natural ( logs and rocks ) and salvaged materials from old buildings and I obtained much from an abandoned factory that I was given permission to get metal doors, beams, rebar etc. in the mid 1990's. But I can tell and show all about that whenever I post more, especially more pictures.

The top picture is an open circuit.