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| Providing the battery cables are fat enough AND the CCA of the 6 volt batteries is equal to the total CCA of the two 12 volt batteries they should work the same.
These days the available 6 volt batteries are poor, usually only one size and it may have sat on the shelf a long time without being charged so that "new" 6 volt battery may be half way to the junk yard when you pay for it.
Today there are many 12 volt batteries and many uses so they don't sit on the shelf so long and they can be had with better ratings than the vulnerable #1 6 volt battery. So as a practical matter, the parallel connection of two 12 volt batteries works better. It is important that the two be the same make, part number, and age so they have the same full charge specific gravity to share charge and load properly.
The downside of two 12 volt batteries in parallel is that if one gets a shorted cell it will take the other battery down with it. But they need to be changed together. When one cell in the series 6 volt shorts, it takes the other battery by overcharging it. The 6 volt batteries need to be changed in pairs too so they have the same ampere hour capacity to share the charge and the load equally.
Two batteries are easier to handle than one monster battery and the two are a lot more common than one monster battery and so tend to cost less. Buyers benefit from selling competition for the more common battery sizes and monsters as well as 6 volt don't get that competition today.
Any time buying storage batteries if you can go to the back of the rack and pick batteries just delivered, not the oldest ones at the front of the rack. Sellers know batteries go bad with age and so work at selling the old stock first. You can get significantly better battery life if you get one made within a few weeks of when you buy it compared to one that has sat on the shelf a few months. Or if you find the kiosk empty and go back a few days later to find it filled, they all the batteries are new and some have an obvious date code sticker or engraving. A good seller will also add the date of sale for guarantee purposes. But if you get the new battery off the shelf it will ALWAYS last better.
Gerald J. | |
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Two 12 v batteries vs two sixes
