It is always best to install fully charged batteries into a battery bank regardless of whether they will be wired in parallel or series. If there is any question as to the level of charge on a battery being put into a battery bank, it should be fully charged first. Make sure that the charger is set for the correct voltage before charging.
All batteries wired together should match as far as type, voltage and amperage. Don't mix and match.
As KC says, don't mix old and new batteries. There is one caveat I will add. While it is best to change all batteries at the same time, if you don't merge the house and chassis battery banks together other than on an emergency basis, changing batteries on one system or the other (house vs chassis) can be done without changing the batteries on the other system out.
Additional information:
Parallel vs Series:
Batteries wired in Parallel: voltage remains the same, amperage is the sum of the amperage of each of the batteries.
Batteries wired in Series: voltage is additive, amperage remains the same.
Newell uses 12-volt batteries wired in parallel so regardless of how many batteries you have, they will provide a nominal 12-volts. Adding additional batteries increases the amperage available for use by the systems on board. Many RVer's (primarily non-Newell owners) like to change out 12-volt batteries for 6-volt golf cart batteries. To get back to the 12-volts that the systems in the coach need each pair of 6-volt batteries would have to be wired in series then each PAIR of 6-volt batteries would be wired in parallel to other pairs of 6-volt batteries as shown in the above diagram above as Series/Parallel. So far, I have not seen a Newell equipped with 6-volt batteries.
Since the battery charger does not charge the chassis batteries unless the merge switch is in the merge position(s), the chassis batteries should match and be changed out at the same time as the house batteries OR an alternate charging method used for the chassis batteries when the coach is not been driven for extended periods. The Echo charger or the Trik-L-Start will both work for this purpose.
Newell recommends a PulseTech be added to existing battery systems as well to extend the life of the batteries.
I find electricity an interesting subject so everyone is welcome to expand on this topic.
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