Adding Single Cell 1.2 Volt To Batteries?

[mr.p]

today at work one of our cranes had single cell batteries powering its radios, each was 1.5 volts there were 2 banks of 6 each and it was all wired to 12volts...i got creative and series wired an extra cell onto bank a and got 13.4 volts!!!...where im going with this is...is it possible to have a bank of 4 yellow tops, and add 2 or 3 individual cells from a torn apart yellow top and series them to get 14 volts? granted you may have to get different ones that are less than 1.5 but lets say 1.2 so you would get your batteries resting at 14.4 volts! that way when the system hits instead of dropping from 15.xx or whatever your mla is charging at down to 12.xx whatever your battery resting voltage is, your system would drop from 15.xx down to 14.xx and stay until you drain them way too low...

is this plausible? i would charge at 15.xx so it would still be a higher voltage but not quite 2v over...

or would you need an equal number of 1.2v cell pair's wired in paralell so you have a bank of 4 12v, and a 4 banks of 1.2v pairs?

im thinking this would help me run a more efficient daily system, if i keep it on a trickle charger overnight it should work...

opinions?

[mrrairai]

You're only looking at voltage and not current. You have to look at the whole equation.

[KOVEMASTER559]

You're only looking at voltage and not current. You have to look at the whole equation.

x2 or get all those alot of those single cell batts and wire them all in series

[mrrairai]

Another thing too....look at what they are using those batts for. Powering the crain's radio. A car audio system can draw in access of 150 Amps + so those batts won't hold up.

[mr.p]

yea they are lead acid single cells, i am thinking that there would be a market out here for 14.4v batteries in the spl world, bridge the gap between 18v charging and 15.3v

[Boon]

Go get a bunch of forklift cells. They're usually enormous 2V 300A/h+ AGM things.

Wire 7 in series and you get 14v but in reality your float voltage will be more like 16.1 volts. To charge them you'll need about 18v on tap so you would have to do a discrete charging system because your car won't like 18v.

At that point you may as well wire 8 2v cells for 16v nominal or use 2 8v golf cart batteries.

By the way, a Yellowtop is made of 6 2v cells (more like 2.3v) not 1.2v cells - like 99% of lead acid batteries. Lead's reaction with sulphuric acid creates about 2.1v so unless your batteries are using something else that's what you'll get.

And one other thing to consider is some SPL organisations limit you to either 6 cells/battery or a specific voltage so as soon as you go over it you automatically have to go play with the big boys with true 16/18v systems.