adding Kid and more battery

[kennaster]

Hello Forum,
First time poster, long time Classic 150 user.

I recently purchased a Kid charge controller and would like to add it to an existing system. The existing system has 4, 6v CR-430 deep cycles batteries wired in series for a single 24v battery. It is one year old and maintained monthly.

My question is what would be the best way to add 4 new batteries to this one year old battery. My options are: 1) create a 48v battery, 2) wire it in series parallel, 3) separate the batteries with a diode.

I want to avoid drawing down the new batteries with the old ones. Are there best practices for this?

Thanks in advance,
AK

[boB]

I would just parallel an older battery with the newer battery rather than putting old in series with new.

Not sure I would bother with diodes...  Then you get voltage ~ 1/2 volt drop but maybe that's OK ?