24v house battery wire diagram

[Tikvah]

I'm trying to find a diagram that I know I've see floating around here someplace.  A simple wire diagram for the house batteries.  I'll have eight 6v batteries to make 24v.  From that I'll operate an inverter and would like to also supply a smaller 12v battery pack.  I also want to charge from the engine alternator.

Somebody have a diagram?

Thanks,
Dave

[Iceni John]

These folk have some very good ideas on RV and boat wiring and other related matters:  http://www.smartgauge.co.uk/batt_con.html   Well worth reading.   Or this, slightly simpler:  http://www.electricfence-online.co.uk/ishop/images/1047/Serial_ParallelBatteries.jpg   And if you Google Images "series parallel battery connections" you'll also get a plethora of options.

Just don't ladder them!

John

[Tikvah]

The diagram below is where my thinking ended.  This works, but there are distance variations.

[TomsToy]

The second picture is closest but has two too many jumpers, the red jumper on the left end and the black jumper on the right end are not needed.  All the jumpers tieing the batteries together in the two banks need to be the same length, the two jumpers tieing the banks together need to be the same length and the positive and negative leads need to be the same length.  This insures that each battery sees the same voltage as close as possible.