Charging tractor batteries

[alicefan]

I need to charge two 6 volt batteries. Is it better to charge them individually in 6 volt mode, or in charge them in series in twelve volt
mode. I only have one charger. They are new batteries sitting on my work bench. They run in series on my Oliver 1855 Diesel. Thanks for your help.
Dennis

 

[old]

You can charge them either way but its probably better to charge them one at a time.
Hobby farm

 

[Texasmark]

First question you need to answer is: Do you have a charger that will charge a 6 volt battery? I haven"t seen any new ones for sale lately. If you don't and charge them in series with a 12v charger it really doesn"t matter and then again it does. The batteries have to present similar loads to the charger for the charger voltage to split between them.

That was one of the problems with the "60"s deere 24 volt system. You have a 24volt recharge system, but you had two 12v batteries, each wired to half the electrical load (other than starter) so if your loads didn"t balance, your batteries would wind up with lopsided charges and that was bad for both the over and under charged ones.

Mark