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Old 03-28-2017, 05:26 PM   #1
Skoolie
 
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Wiring wheelchair lift

Couple of basic questions - I have 3 batteries wired in series. Does it matter at all which positive post I use to run the hot wire to the lift (I'm pretty sure not, but I want to be 100% sure).
And the lift installation manual says to ground the lift to a frame member, and then to run a separate ground wire from the battery to anywhere on that same member. As near as I can tell, there are already two ground wires from the batterit's to the frame. If the frame is all welded together, shouldn't that be sufficient? And if I really do need to add another ground, same question...does it matter from which battery?

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Old 03-28-2017, 06:02 PM   #2
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The answer depends on how many volts you intend to send to the lift. Assuming your batteries are 12v each.... The voltage adds at each member of the series. If you use ground from battery 1, you get 12v from it's positive terminal. The next battery in the chain would be 24v, as the last one would be 36v.

I recommend you invest in a multimeter, which can be as cheap as free from harbor freight with a coupon. You don't want to make assumptions!

http://www.hfqpdb.com/coupons/11_FRE...94469.8726.jpg
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Old 03-28-2017, 06:04 PM   #3
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Also, on your second part... Since you are running in series, only one ground should ever be tied to chassis. Connecting another one will sort circuit and you will have a bad time.
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Old 03-28-2017, 06:55 PM   #4
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I apologize. I'm being dense. Electricity isn't really my thing. None of this is intuitive to me, and i get mixed up.
The batteries are in parallel. So 12v, but 2100 amps (700 per)
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Old 03-28-2017, 07:26 PM   #5
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If they are in parallel, the grounds are all the same and the positives are all the same, in theory. The way you actually wired then together may make it better to use one over another in practice... Not knowing how your cabling looks, or the amp load of the drain and charge system, it's hard to be more specific.
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Old 03-28-2017, 08:19 PM   #6
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Thanks. I bought this not too long ago. It's kind of a mess. Just chasing the cables is mind numbing. I'd yank it all out and start over if I was more confident of my abilities.
But I'm going on the assumption it's grounded adequately, and just ground the lift to the frame, and run a positive as directly as I can from the battery to the lift.
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