24V Solar Panel, 12 V Battery

[dales133]

How many pannels can you get?
I'd pay postage and beer bribes for them

[bobhenry]

I am kinda dense but why could you not charge 4 6 volt batteries in series (24 volts) then center tap at each pair of batteries to draw of 12 volts only.

Am I way off base?

[jss06]

It would be difficult to isolate the charging circuit from the load circuit to do that.

[MtnDon]

I am kinda dense but why could you not charge 4 6 volt batteries in series (24 volts) then center tap at each pair of batteries to draw of 12 volts only.

Am I way off base?

You would have to be a magician to draw down each 12 volt pair equally. Discharging pairs unequally can produce a problem when recharging the batteries. One pair will reach state of full charge before the other pair. That means the charged pair gets overcharged, causes excessive water use and perhaps overheats the full batteries. Result = shorter battery life. Depending on the charger that can also mean the pair that is more discharged never gets to 100% full charge. That reduces the lifespan of those batteries.

You could run a 24 volt battery system and then use a 24 to 12 VDC converter. But that costs more and has inefficiencies. It is always better to match components properly.

[felixx]

Also I have 1 12V battery already.