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24v to 12c battery charger or 24v to 12v converter 24v to 12c battery charger or 24v to 12v converter
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Equipping the Overland Vehicle Vehicle accessories - Making your home away from home comfortable, safe and reliable.
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  #1  
Old 22 Sep 2010
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24v to 12c battery charger or 24v to 12v converter
Hi there,

we are currently in Nairobi and had a lot of charging problems of the auxiliary battery so we decided to redo the electrics in the car after 2 starter batteries died in the middle of the bush.

We have a 24V starter battery (2x 12V in series) and have several accessories running from a separate battery on 12V (very practical BTW when on the road). The auxiliary battery is charged via solar power and used to be charged via a converter (Mastervolt). The converter died and needs to be replaced. The question here is:
Is it better to use a 24V to 12V battery charger or can a regular 24V to 12V converter be used to charge the auxiliary battery? I am told that the output of the converter will not be able to handle the charging properly as it does not output 14.4V to charge the auxiliary battery properly. In case a converter can be used should it have a high amp fuse (30-40A) to avoid blowing the fuse all the time?

Looking forward to some decent advise and explanation as electrics is not my cup of tea.

Thanks in advance,

Barry
AfricaMinded | Home
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  #2  
Old 22 Sep 2010
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24v to 12v
I had a 24v system. I used a boat battery selector (MARINE TWIN BATTERY ISOLATOR SWITCH - Battery Switches - MARINE TWIN BATTERY ISOLATOR SWITCH - Battery Switches - Discount Marine Chandlery and Sailing Equipment. Bargain Boat Spares and Clothing to charge two auxiliary batteries (so also 24v) then used a boat voltage dropper 24v t 12v for all the lights and stereo. Google

worked no problem

Graeme
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  #3  
Old 26 Sep 2010
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24V to 12V
Hi Barry,

I would not use the converter to charge the battery. You run the risk of damaging them both. The converter does not take the peak loads that the battery draws and when the battery is full, a charger lowers voltage and goes back to trickel charging. The converter won't do that so you will over charge the battery, it starts boiling. That could be very dangerous when you have the aux battery inside the car (not under the hood) because hydrogen gas can escape which is explosive.

Buy a solar panel 12 V battery charger and you are set. Should not be more that euro 80,-. I think there are even solar panel charger which can charge both 12 and 24 V batteries (not at the same time) then you are even safe when your alternator gives up.


Cheers,
Noel
exploreafrica.web-log.nl
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  #4  
Old 27 Sep 2010
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Recently wired my 24 Iveco up to run a leisure battery, and used one of these:

INTELLIGENT BATTERY SPLIT CHARGE RELAY 12VOLT 70AMPS on eBay (end time 24-Oct-10 11:58:48 BST)

Been on the lorry a couple of months and so far no problems.

The only thing I did find was that it needed to be isolated from the battery it was 'strapped' accross, or a second earth was created and the isolator didn't!

Very easy to fit - there are only three wires: one to the cranking battery +ve, one to the leisure battery +ve, and a negative to chassis. Since I have the isolator fitted between the +ve of one battery and the -ve of the other, it was easy enough to wire the feed to the leisure battery from 'downstream' of the isolator, so it is only in circuit when the isolator is made - ie just before you start the engine.
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  #5  
Old 27 Sep 2010
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I did not mean to charge the leisure battery from the voltage dropper but have two charging at 24v from alternator and then drop the voltage. the previous post seams easier though. when I did mine there were no intelligent chargers.

Graeme
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  #6  
Old 27 Sep 2010
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Considering I imagine that where you are is quite sunny wouldn't the solar panel charge the 12v battery alone? Or get one big enough that will?

Or has been said, get a voltage dropper to obtain 12v from your 24v starters? If you got a second identical solar panel then each panel could charge each starter at 12v.

A converter is not the thing to be using as a charger.

If you google Sterling battery to battery chargers you'll find an excellent but pricey solution that is a one wire connection from the starters
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  #7  
Old 27 Sep 2010
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This is guaranteed to do the job for you, and is so simple to fit that you cant really go wrong....no fliddling around with alternater wiring or relays, its all been done for you...simply connect the 2 input wires to the cranking batteries (24v) and the 2 output wires to the 12v leisure battery.

Downsides: It's rather on the large side, and secondly bloody expensive!

0-852-50 Durite HGV Equipment
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  #8  
Old 6 Jul 2017
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Posts: 7
To the battery charger, I have acquired how to use DC 12v to AC 110v power inverter to charge camera battery when camping outside. The way for us to use this charger is to connect with car cigarette lighter charger. I bought this tool on Bestek Amazon store. If you want to get one, you can search it on Amazon. Maybe it will cheaper in prime day. Hope this point will be helpful to you.
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