DIY: How to Wire Golf Cart Batteries for Power
I began thinking about emergency power when storms have hit different states pretty hard. People have damaged and destroyed homes, while others have lost power. After a particularly bad storm a couple of years ago, my house lost power for two days. Everything in my refrigerator and freezer was lost.
I looked into building a battery bank. I knew next to nothing about deep cycle batteries, or how they were wired together. I spent hours researching online, and then went to a couple of battery shops in town to get a first-hand look at them. The large, marine-type deep cycle batteries are really expensive and heavy.
Golf cart batteries are inexpensive and do not weigh much. There are different types that require special handling. A lead acid battery creates hydrogen gas. This gas must be vented to the outside to be safe. Nickel metal hydride batteries are used in industrial applications and are very expensive. Aggregated glass mat, or AGM batteries are sealed and do not produce gasses of any kind. They tend to cost far more than lead acid batteries, but they last longer and are safer.
This article does not describe how to build a solar power pack. That utilizes a single battery.
I needed to have more power, so I spent time researching how to get it using golf cart batteries. I wish I had an article like this one when I was doing my research. Most of the email questions I sent to online battery shops netted me sales pitch calls and emails.
To have more power, you will need use more than one battery. This article describes how to wire two batteries to achieve that goal. More batteries are wired the same.
Set up the battery bank in a safe place and provide the proper venting for safety. The batteries can be charged by solar, wind, grid power or by a generator.
To Wire Batteries In Series:
Begin with two 6-volt batteries. Label one “A” and the other “B.” Note the positive and negative terminals on each. Write down the ampere- hours of each battery. They should match. Ampere- hours are generally referred to as amps, which will be the term used in this article. Let’s say the batteries have 20 amp-hours each. That is important.
With battery cables, connect “A’s” negative terminal to the inverter’s negative terminal. For safety, always connect the negative terminals first.
Connect “A’s” positive terminal to “B’s” negative terminal. Now connect “B’s” positive terminal to the positive terminal of the inverter.
You now have 12-volts of power, and 20 amp-hours to use.
Remember: Series gives you more volts, but not more amp-hours.
To Wire Batteries In Parallel:
Begin again with the two batteries. Connect “A’s” negative terminal to the negative terminal of the inverter. Connect “A’s” negative terminal to “B’s” negative terminal as well. You will have two connectors on the negative battery post.
Connect “B’s” positive terminal to “A’s” positive terminal. Connect “B’s” positive terminal to the positive terminal of the inverter.
You now have 6-volts of power and 40 amp-hours to use.
Remember: Parallel gives you more amp-hours, but not more volts.
Research carefully to learn which application will best suit your needs.
Charge controllers, fuses, amp meters and other auxiliary equipment may be used, depending on the application.
Source: Staff Article, “Battery Bank Wiring,” Other Power website, no date given
