Parallel Battery Cable gauge question

smlobx

Lost again
Joined
May 25, 2015
Messages
1,530
Location
North Carolina
So I’ve decided to add another 100 AH BattleBorn battery to my camper and was wondering what gauge of wire would be the best.

I understand that the thicker, the better, but is 1/0 ok or should I go thicker (or thinner)?

The batteries would be next to each other and I’m estimating the length to be about a foot.

Thanks.
 
Ooooh 2 Battleborns....I'm jealous!

You going to be running an induction stove or something?

I will leave the technical question to the gurus....

Be safe my friend!
 

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Happyjax said:
Ooooh 2 Battleborns....I'm jealous!

You going to be running an induction stove or something?

I will leave the technical question to the gurus....

Be safe my friend!
A boy needs his hair dryer don’t you know!
Actually we learned on our Alaska trip that we could prepare several meals ahead of time and keep everything frozen in our 40 L Blizzard Box which we set to 9 degrees and worked fairly well. Our thought was to then fill the freezer with Salmon for the drive home but we ended up having issues with our flexible panels so we ended up shipping the salmon home and not risk loosing the fish. Also, we encountered several days of cloudy weather, particularly crossing Canada, and our single battery struggled when trying to keep up with the needs of both a fridge and a separate freezer along with the other normal uses. Hopefully new solar panels and an additional battery should more than make up for our needs...
 
Is this going to be a parallel battery to the existing (& if it is, is that a good idea?), or a Bank A, Bank B set-up?

If just paralleled to the existing battery(ies) then all of the current drawn in the whole camper or all of the charging current will go thru those cables so they'll need to be sized with that in mind. I tend to always size for 3% max voltage drop. Rarely does that result in an excessively large conductor, but it does once in a while. In which case I examine the 10% Voltage Drop table.
https://www.ancorproducts.com/en/resources/three-percent-voltage-drop
 
How long have you had your first battery? I would strongly recommend checking, with BattleBorn, to make sure it is OK to run in parallel, a previous “vintage” battery with one of a current vintage. Different resting voltage may contribute to one draining the other. For your situation, have they been constructed with the same components consistently?
 
Stokeme said:
How long have you had your first battery? I would strongly recommend checking, with BattleBorn, to make sure it is OK to run in parallel, a previous “vintage” battery with one of a current vintage. Different resting voltage may contribute to one draining the other. For your situation, have they been constructed with the same components consistently?
Thanks everyone for your comments.

Stokeme that is exactly what I’m going to do. My current battery is about 18 months old but this is a field of rapid developments and the possibility that they are not completely compatible is real.
 

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