Quote:
Originally Posted by Daox
The current is always divided amongst how many batteries you have. If you have two batteries and are using 100A, you are pulling 50A from each battery. It doesn't matter if they are in series or parallel. You have two batteries that are splitting the amperage draw. In the series setup you will be getting twice the power and half the battery life. In the parallel setup you will get half the power, but twice the battery life.
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That's actually incorrect. If you have 2 batteries in parallel, and you're pulling 100A at 12V, then you're pulling 50A from each battery. But if you have them in series, and you're pulling 100A at 24V, you're pulling 100A at 12V from each battery. In series your amperage draw per battery is always equal to your total pack draw, with the exception of cell imbalance.
Also, power is a meaningless term without context. The same number of batteries, wired any way you can think, should still output the same WATTS. Wired in series you get full VOLTAGE, wired in ONLY parallel you get full AMPERAGE. But you'll still get the same number of watts from the batteries.
Now, here's an idea no-one has seemed to hit on, at least in the grocery-getter field. How about having a pack normally wired for series, but center-tapped. Flick a switch on the dashboard, and several contactors switch over from series to 2 parallel packs. Half the voltage, double the amperage, and great for acceleration. As a matter of fact, the Killa-Cycle does just that, only on the motor side. The motors are run in series for one part, and parallel for the other part of the run, and I've forgotten which is which.