complete 24v to 12v conversion

[charlesmann]

I did use the search function, but couldn't find anything within the realm of my inquiry. If it has been posted already, i missed it and sorry to bring up the "beating a dead horse" topic.

I was contacted by a local wrecker company and he changed his mind and offered to sell me 2 936A2 wreckers for $13.5K. he bought 1, brought it home on a wrecker of his, but did something and burned out the xmsn. he bought a sec, to rob peter to pay paul and offered to tow the non running wrecker to my house for free. That'll give me a LOT of high $$$$ parts to keep 1 running while I'm saving up $$ to repair/replace the conked out part/s. I know iv got a bad xmsn, 1 tire and the boom lift cylinder. the cylinder, i can probably repair, tire, unsure yet, haven't seen either truck since I'm in canada working my first 3wk hitch with my new employer and won't be home till late jan.

A brief story as to why I'm buying the trucks. Iv dove into a building a wide cut sawmill that'll handle logs up to 78" wide and iv got several logs that weigh in around 6000+ lbs. I loaded and transported them home with the use of a log arch and a 12k winch on my 24K gooseneck. my tractor doesn't have the lift power to load them on my mill, but didn't know that till i got the home and scaled the load. i plan to locate more large old growth to justify the sawmill build and the purchase of these trucks. with this truck, i can load the logs on the mill, put a set of axles under my mill, use the crane to pick up the saw head carriage and turn it sideways to transport it down the road, then repo the head back into operational position, rinse, repeat for the return trip home. I was also thinking of adding a set of rear QD hyd points and get a pup dump trailer to haul rock and such to my house or to my farm.

I would like to convert the whole truck over to 12v dc, for jumping starting purposes from my p/u tck, connecting a civi trailer, be it my current ele. brake trailers, or buying an airbrake equip trailer. plus ease of replacing common use/wear elec parts that go out from the local parts houses (napa, o rileys, frtliner, kw, pb, international)

Is even possible to do a complete elec sys. swap over that is financially and logically feasible?

thank you for your time posting a reply.

 

[98G]

Just my opinion, disregard as you see fit.... but I see absolutely no benefit to converting to 12v.

Reasons -

1) wiring is gauged for 24v. To get the same energy in 12v the amps double. Double amps needs heavier wire.

2) you can jump 24v from 12v vehicles by jumping one battery at a time.

3) convert it and your vehicle is a one-off. No longer compatible with other MVs and the electrical portion of the TM no longer applies. Troubleshooting electrical gremlins will become a nightmare.

 

[charlesmann]

Just my opinion, disregard as you see fit.... but I see absolutely no benefit to converting to 12v.

Reasons -

1) wiring is gauged for 24v. To get the same energy in 12v the amps double. Double amps needs heavier wire.

2) you can jump 24v from 12v vehicles by jumping one battery at a time.

3) convert it and your vehicle is a one-off. No longer compatible with other MVs and the electrical portion of the TM no longer applies. Troubleshooting electrical gremlins will become a nightmare.

and i HATE gremlins. my dad was the sparky of the family, i am the mech/fabricator. i truly wish i would have learned the spark side of the mechanics and learned everything i could before he passed. i can wire a house, but i can't do automotive wiring, nor aircraft wiring, and my aircraft has a LOT of wiring.

im not sure how separating the batteries helps in a jumping scenario, when the starting system requires 24 to whirl the eng over. maybe I'm not understanding it correctly, but it sounds more like charging the batts, not sending enough juice to jump it off. plz forgive my ignorance.

 

[98G]

and i HATE gremlins. my dad was the sparky of the family, i am the mech/fabricator. i truly wish i would have learned the spark side of the mechanics and learned everything i could before he passed. i can wire a house, but i can't do automotive wiring, nor aircraft wiring, and my aircraft has a LOT of wiring.

im not sure how separating the batteries helps in a jumping scenario, when the starting system requires 24 to whirl the eng over. maybe I'm not understanding it correctly, but it sounds more like charging the batts, not sending enough juice to jump it off. plz forgive my ignorance.

Example #1 - my pickup truck is a ram 3500. It takes two batteries although its 12v. Two sets of jumper cables and the batteries disconnected from the pickup truck. One set of cables to each of the 12v sides of the 24v vehicle.

Example #2 - two 12v vehicles and two sets of jumper cables. One 12v vehicle per 12v side of the 24v vehicle. In this instance there's no need to disconnect from the 12v vehicles, but the 12v vehicles must not be in contact with each other as there will be an electrical potential between them.

Example #3 - only one side of the 24v vehicle is bad. Connect a 12v vehicle just to that side and jump.

Example #4 - given a dead 24v vehicle and only one set of cables, charge each side of the 24v vehicle for 15-20min separately and then crank while jumping one side. (This is unbalanced and not good for it)

Or best solution - have two 24v vehicles and a nice set of heavy slave cables.

When connecting 12v to just one side, ground to the battery post.

Given decent batteries, itll be a rare occasion to need to slave it. The 8.3 cranks over easily at any reasonable temperature even with only two batteries instead of the 4.

 

[Scrounger]

To change over to 12v would entail changing headlamps, tail lamps, marker lights, gauges, dash lamps, starter, alternator, engine shut down solenoid, air dryer heater, and for a wrecker, work lights. That is just off the top of my head. There may be a few things I’ve missed. Any way you look at it, that is a lot of money and work.

If jump starting is what concerns you, how about buying a 12/24v jump pack. As far as trailer lights. It would be a lot cheaper to replace them with multi volt LED units.

 

[charlesmann]

To change over to 12v would entail changing headlamps, tail lamps, marker lights, gauges, dash lamps, starter, alternator, engine shut down solenoid, air dryer heater, and for a wrecker, work lights. That is just off the top of my head. There may be a few things I’ve missed. Any way you look at it, that is a lot of money and work.

If jump starting is what concerns you, how about buying a 12/24v jump pack. As far as trailer lights. It would be a lot cheaper to replace them with multi volt LED units.

i had intentions of replacing all tck lights to LED anyways. i think ill just leave it as is and get a 24-12 converter for any 12v systems i want to add and get a 24v trickle solar charger and a normal 12/24v battery maintainer and charger and see if i can get the tesla 28v jump cart working.

thanks for the replies guys.