Posted by CGarbee on Friday, February 18, 2005 at 2:06PM :
In Reply to: 24 volts or 12 posted by Jay M on Thursday, February 17, 2005 at 11:32PM :
There are pros and cons to both...
One thing to remember is that if you have the stock setup you can use the manuals for help in debugging problems, all the military "fun" add on stuff is pretty much plug and play, and if you have problems, any one of us who knows the stock setup can help even from a distance. The parts are robust and easilly obtainable although you might have to order them from one of several vendors (MV or local parts store).
If you go with a 12 volt system, your truck will be a bit of a custom job and you will find answers to questions a little bit harder to find in the manuals since not everything will match up, and it will be harder for the assembled masses on the various forums to help you out since your vehicle will be unique... On the other hand, with a few exceptions, all the parts you need will be on the shelf at you local parts store...
From a cost perspective: The 24v stuff isn't that high priced if you shop around and is very robust, the 12v stuff may be a bit less expensive for most of the components, but may not be as be as robust. Given the same performance specifications, the components I've looked at have been priced the same even though one is 12v and the other 24v.
One thing to think about: If you have a 24v truck you can easily get a jump when at a MV meeting or from other heavy duty equipment. You can also jump start a lot of 12v stuff. If you have a 12v truck, be carefull to mark your slave recepticle as it can be pretty bad if somebody plugs in a stock 24v truck or applience...
Mull over it a bit, but in the end, remember it's your truck and the answer that matters is the one that works for you.