Switching From 12 Volt Batteries To 6 Volt Batteries Blowing Fuses On Camper Trailer

Updated 09/09/2020 | Published 10/08/2014

Question:

i had 2 12 volt battery on my camp trailer. i have switch it over to 2 6 volt battery. i have the batterys wired like you show. my question is there is a circuit switch that has a inline fuse and i keep blowing the fuse. what would make that happen? i have the orange and the green 30amp inline fuse wire going to the pos.

asked by: David

Expert Reply:

If you have a 12 volt system on your camper, you will need to wire your 6 volt batteries (in series), like the attached drawing shows. You would need to run a jumper from the positive side of one battery to the negative side of the other battery. This would provide the 12 volts needed.

If you have wired the 6 volt batteries (in parallel) as the 12 volt batteries were probably run, you are not providing enough current for your camper, causing the draw to blow the fuses.

If you have a 24 volt system in your camper, you would need to use a quantity of (4) 6 volt batteries to get enough current.

expert reply by: Jeffrey L

click to enlarge

Christopher E.

5/16/2020

you did not answer the question about blowing fuses. i am having the same problem after moving from 12 in parallel to 6 in series the batteries were installed by a battery specialist so they are in correctly.

Chris R.

5/19/2020

Since your batteries are wired up correctly (to get a 12V output) I'm not really sure what could be causing the fuse to blow. Is it blowing immediately or does it just happen at random times? I wonder if you might need to move to a higher rated fuse.

Robert A.

9/6/2020

Question. I just switched over to (2) 6 volt batteries for my trailer from original 12 volt that cam with it. They are correctly wired in a series to supply 12 volts to the trailer. Question is, Do I need to install thicker gauge ground and positive wires to the trailer? When I purchased the batteries, they gave my a thicker jumper than the original ones.

Jon G.

9/9/2020

You should be able to use the same gauge wire that was used for your 12V battery. Using 6V batteries instead of 12V doesn't mean you need to swap out the size of your wiring.