*Because of the resistance of the Interconnecting Links and of the Connections to the Battery Posts, the battery nearest to the load can be discharged much more than the battery furthest from the load. The difference can be very large (up to 100%), even for quite small systems. This leads to unequal aging of the batteries and may drastically shorten the lifetime of the complete battery bank.
A perfectly balanced battery bank would require separate links of equal length from the load to each battery. For larger banks this would require relatively long cables.
However effective balancing can be achieved with shorter links.
Solar Collect has produced its own algorithm to demonstrate that the connections as shown above will produce an optimally balanced battery bank with the given links.
For further information on the topic of Battery Bank Balancing, the Reader may wish to refer to the article by SmartGuage Electronics that is available on the web.
IMPORTANT SAFETY NOTE
Take care not to accidently short the batteries. Make all the connections of one polarity first.
Do not close the Neutral Link until all the other connections have been made, checked, tightened, and checked again. Batteries can be hazardous, and all the recommended safety precautions must be followed when working with a battery bank.