I have a simple question about electricty that perhaps some of you can help me with. I have 4 12v car batteries. If I set them up as below what is the voltage? + - | ____ ____ ____ | | / \ / \ / \ | __o___o___ __o___o___ __o___o___ __o___o___ | | | | | | | | | 12v | | 12v | | 12v | | 12v | |________| |________| |________| |________|

what about like this (the picture might be a little hard to understand)? + - / / /-------\ /------\ /------\ / / / /----\-/-\ /----\-/-\ /----\-/-\ / __o___o___ __o___o___ __o___o___ __o___o___ | | | | | | | | | 12v | | 12v | | 12v | | 12v | |________| |________| |________| |________|

If they are different why? What if I used car alternators in the same way? Thanks

-- Evan Sangaline (navarchy@yahoo.com), September 09, 2001

Answers

I do not understand the diagram above.

The batteries can either be in series or in parallel. In series, the voltage is 48v dc (12 + 12 + 12 + 12 = 48v), in parallel the voltage is always 12v regardless of how many batteries.

In series the positive terminal of the first battery and the negative terminal of the last battery become your main terminals. #1pos = main positive, #1neg to #2pos, #2neg to #3pos, #3neg to #4pos, #4neg = main negative.

In a parallel configuration, all the positive terminals are connected together, and all the negative terminals are connected together. The voltage is 12v regardless of how many batteries you attach in a parallel configuration.

How you'd connect batteries, how many batteries, etc. would depend on what you intend to power.

-- Yup (Yup@nospam.com), September 09, 2001.

Are you an alien? LOL.

-- r.h. in okla. (rhays@sstelco.com), September 10, 2001.