Al salaam a'alaykum Roy

22 Nov 03 16:33, Roy McNeill wrote to All:

 >> If your battery pack does indeed consist of 2v cells, then you could just 
 >> take a tap off of the third one which would provide you with an output 
 >> voltage close enough to power your little DVD player with 100% efficiency.

 RM> This could have a long-term effect on the batteries. Sucking 3 amps 
 RM> or so out of 3 cells while leaving the others alone will get the
"others" 
 RM> regularly overcharged, chewing up water if they're ordinary car batteries
 RM> with fill-up holes, or shortening their life if they're sealed. The 
 RM> sucked cells will be charged to a lower max voltage, because the
"others" 
 RM> voltage will be higher, so the sucked cells won't get fully charged.

Indeed (although they're not ordinary car batteries - do they come in 2
volt versions?).

Other disadvantages are:

1) Installing a second lot of wiring for the 6V;

2) The cells, solar panels and load are all wired via an
"intelligent" regulator. It keeps track of current/time into the
battery, and out and adjusts charge rate accordingly. It also disconnects
the load if the battery voltage gets too low. This would not happen with 6V
tapped straight off the three cells.

Regards,
David

--- Msged/LNX TE 06 (pre)