battery wiring, missing second battery

[chevylife]

Is there any serial numbers on the starters to check if its 24 or not i didnt see anything on the bottom end of it looking at it i would like the keep the 24v cuz i have electric fans and it draws alot of power.

 

[cucvrus]

I am not an electrician but I don't think it matters if it is 24 volt or 12 volt when it comes to drawing lots of power. I do not see a direct correlation. Some one else please?

 

[richingalveston]

In the standard CUCV configuration, If your electric fans are 12 volt, they would only be using the front battery. The only time there is power being drawn from the second battery is when a 24V load is applied. In standard configuration the only thing that draws 24v is the starter and the glow plugs when you use the resistor. When the resistor is bypassed, the glow plugs only use the front battery.
A: if your fan is running with only one battery then it is probably 12V
B: if your starter is turning over with any speed at all it is probably 12V
C: due to the glow plug cycle and the high compression of the diesel, even the 12v civi models require two batteries.

If you have electric fans that turn on when the ignition is on, and the glow plugs are on, your starter will probably turn very slow since you drained half the battery before the wait light went out. With the glow plugs getting half the voltage, I am surprised it started. The 6.2 needs hot glow plugs and some rpms to get it to start.

to get real help you need to post some pics of your wiring under the hood. I bet you have a hacked up electrical system and not a standard CUCV system.
the resources are here to fix it yourself and to learn how it really works.

good luck
Rich

 

[MarcusOReallyus]

I am not an electrician but I don't think it matters if it is 24 volt or 12 volt when it comes to drawing lots of power. I do not see a direct correlation. Some one else please?

Power = volts X amps. So, with 24 volts, you need half the amps to get the same power. OR, to put it another way, with only 12v instead of 24, you need TWICE the amps do get the same power.

Turning over that engine requires a certain amount of POWER, and that requirement doesn't change simply because the starting circuit is 12v or 24v. The amount of work that needs to be done (same as saying the power required) is the same.

So, with 12v, you need twice the amps. That means you need bigger cables to carry the amps, and you need a battery that can provide twice the amps.

Does that help?