Can you use 3 - 12 volt batteries instead of 6 - 6 volt batteries?

Answer 1

Don't know what your intentions are but the 6 - 6 volt batteries would probably deliver more amps.

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-- If the batteries are connected in series, six 6's are exactly equivalent to three 12's.

-- If they're operated in parallel, then the terminal voltage of six 6-volt batteries is still just 6 volts.

There's no way to connect 12-volt batteries and make them look like 6-volt units in parallel.

It's really important to find out exactly how the original 6-volt batteries are connected

in the device.

1). They may be all in parallel, giving an output of 6 volts.

2). They may be all in series, giving an output of 36 volts.

3). They may be connected in three parallel branches of two series units each,

for an output of 12 volts.

4). They may be connected in two parallel branches of three series units each,

for an output of 18 volts.

If you know what you're doing, you can replace them with 12-volt units in cases 2). and 3).,

but not in cases 1). or 4).