Charging Two 6 Volt Batteries and One 12 Volt Battery with a CTEK Battery Charger

Question:

Hi i have a ctek 5 battery charger,i have 2 x 6 volt batterys conected to make 12 volt,they in turn are conected to another 12 volt battery.my question. What is best way to charge.

asked by: Ron T

Expert Reply:

If your 6 volt batteries are connected to the single 12 volt battery the same way that they are attached to each other then you essentially have a 24 volt system. You would need to separate the two 12 volt systems and then charge them independently of each other (one at a time). Charging each battery one at a time will actually take the least amount of time. If your charger can do both 6 volt and 12 volt batteries make sure you have it set to the proper mode.

If your system ultimately puts out 12 volts combined from all of the batteries, you may be able to charge them but attaching to the positive of the first battery but it would take much, much longer for the charger to reach through and fully charge all batteries.

expert reply by: Michael H