12v batteries in parallel providing 30 volts?

[rolltiderusty]

Hi Everybody,

I have nine 12v 55ah batteries tied in parallel. They are not hooked to a power source or a load yet. Should I read 30 volts? Shouldn't I be getting 12v? I used 1/0 wire, and identical length cables. The batteries are tied together in simple parallel, there are no diagonal connections for load balancing. Any ideas?

Thanks.

[jflorey2]

I have nine 12v 55ah batteries tied in parallel. They are not hooked to a power source or a load yet. Should I read 30 volts? Shouldn't I be getting 12v? I used 1/0 wire, and identical length cables. The batteries are tied together in simple parallel, there are no diagonal connections for load balancing. Any ideas?

Either you wired it wrong or your meter is broken. (Or you are just misreading/misusing it.)

[Sunking]

That is not possible. At most you should only see 12.6 volts. Now if you would have said 25 volts would mean you wired them in series.

[sdold]

Can you put your meter on a car battery and tell us what it reads?

[rolltiderusty]

Thanks everyone. I was forgetting to switch the meter back to DC (duh). I was also getting only 90v out of the inverter, but that was because it is a cheap meter. Everything works, I was just screwing up the readings.

[Sunking]

I was just screwing up the readings.

We already knew that.

[sdold]

At least your meter is good

[Sunking]

At least your meter is good

Perhaps not if he had it set to current.

[sdold]

Oh yeah. BTW I'll never forget my Fluke 77 reading "120" once when I connected it across a battery in my dad's RV. The leads were in the amps jack and got really hot. I thought it was fused, but I guess not, or it wasn't on long enough. I don't know why it read 120, and in amps it's only supposed to go to 10 or 20A. But it still works 30 years later. What a good meter.

[Sunking]

What a good meter.

Fluke makes the best hands down, expensive, but no doubt the best.

[NukeEngineer]

Perhaps not if he had it set to current.

About a decade ago, I used a (think a Fluke) meter to test the output of an Iota DLS-45, and didn't notice that the last time I used it the leads were connected to the amperage measurement ports.

Saw a very gentle spark as I touched the leads, just enough to catch your eye. Kudos to that super-ultra-fast blow 10A fuse inside the meter. My thanks for making that "however many greater than 10" amps a gentle little blink.

Meter was fine, just needed a new flash bulb.

[Sunking]

About a decade ago, I used a (think a Fluke) meter to test the output of an Iota DLS-45, and didn't notice that the last time I used it the leads were connected to the amperage measurement ports.

Saw a very gentle spark as I touched the leads, just enough to catch your eye. Kudos to that super-ultra-fast blow 10A fuse inside the meter. My thanks for making that "however many greater than 10" amps a gentle little blink.

Meter was fine, just needed a new flash bulb.

Don't feel bad, we all do it at some point in time. Fortunately Fluke and most DMM's can usually withstand the mistake because of the design inside. When you measure Current you have to move the Hot side of the Probe to "A" to measure current. Essentially all the circuit is a Shunt Resistor in series with a 10-Amp Fuse, and current just passes through the Leads, Shunt, and Fuse and not through any of the meters PCB traces of electronics. All the meter does in Current Mode is measure the voltage across the Shunt.All the current is shunted around the circuitry.

Generally when you F-Up like that only requires a change in underwear unless you do that with really high voltage and get a arc flash which I have seen happen on medium voltage 4160.

[trion8181]

hi there if you know of some one looking for edison 240 we have some we are in ga i saw yea wes talking about them i dont know how this works to good on here to good