Stupid Battery question

[mbulriss]

John,

Not sure how you are wired, but on my 83 PT, the batteries were
actually hooked in series and parallel fashion. Four six volt
batteries, each pair of two hooked in series to form 12 volts, and
then the two series hooked in parallel.

In that case, then yes, you can hook up the 12 volt battery charger to
the end battery positive and negative connections. On the PT there
were jumper studs on the door frame to hook jumper cables to so you
didn't even have to touch the batteries.

You shouldn't need to disconnect cables to charge them. You wouldn't
disconnect them to have your on-board charger charge them when plugged
into shore power.

Hope this helps,

Mike Bulriss
1991 WB40 "Texas Minivan"
San Antonio, TX

--- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, "bubblerboy64"
wrote:
>
> I guess the battery isn't stupid but rather its owner but I am a
> little turned around on this. I have four batteries in my system
> hooked in series. They are 6 volts batteries producing 12 volts
> (right?) Now if I want to charge them directly (not by plugging in
> the shore line of the bus) Can I disconnect the positive lead and
> connect my battery charger to the bank of batteries, positive lead to
> the positive terminal on the first battery and negative lead to the
> negative terminal on the last battery in series? And then what do I
> set the charger on 6 volts or 12 volts? Why am I doing this you
> ask? I am not certain if my house charging system is working and I
> want to work around it so that I know that I have a fully charged
> battery bank and then drive the bus tomorrow. If the batteries stay
> charged I know the bus is charging the batteries on the road. I am
> trying to separate out systems so I can start to figure out my
> problem. I assume the batteries are done for but if they would take
> a charge directly off the charger perhaps not. And if I get new
> batteries I'd like to know that the rest of the system is in order.
> Any information or direction towards information would be
> appreciated. Much to learn.
>
> John Heckman
> central Pa
> 1973 FC
>