Re: how to convert 12 to 24 volt acc


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Posted by David Sherman on Sunday, May 19, 2002 at 3:39PM :

In Reply to: how to convert 12 to 24 volt acc posted by 78powerwagon on Sunday, May 19, 2002 at 11:43AM :

For occasional use, I would do as follows: Get two beefy double-throw knife switches (like used on motor reversing switches 100 years ago) and hook up so the 2 12-volt batteries normally charge in parallel all the time. The - post of the "lower" battery is always grounded and its + post is always connected to your normal 12V system. The "knifes" of the switches are connected to the posts of the "upper" battery such that in normal position they connect it in parallel with the lower battery. When you need to use the winch, you throw the switches such that the batteries connect in series (- post of the upper battery gets disconnected from ground and connected to the + post of the lower battery and the + post of the upper battery disconnects from that of the lower battery and connects to the winch). You now have 24 V to run the winch. The downside of this is that the generator won't charge the upper battery while you're winching and you have to know what you're doing with the switches. The advantage is it's a quick and cheap way to get 24V for occasional use of the winch. Modern big trucks sometimes do a version of this automatically to provide 24 V for the starter motor while maintaining a 12V system for everything else. If you want to keep charging while winching, you're stuck with adding a separate 24V generator and/or a bunch of fancy expensive electronic stuff.



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