12 / 24v

[Jimbobby]

I am planning an overland trip to africa, and am in the early stages of preping a HJ60 landcruiser. Whilst I am happy with the mechanical bits, suspension etc, electrics have always been a bit a black art to me. Basically what advice does anyone have for me with this type of vehicle, ie 24v. I want to run a fridge and compressor, and have some sort of split set on the batteries. Also I would like to have some sort of 240v inverter for other bits and pieces. I have been reading a lot about 12v systems, but information on 24v systems seems a lot more difficult to come by. Any body got some advice? I am basically starting from scratch

[Robbert]

I'd suggest a third battery as Aux battery. You can keep it topped up with a 24 to 12V converter. Don't use one of the two batteries that together provide 12V because this will lead to uneven loading/unloading which on it's turn will lead into one battery failing rater soon.

[2cvfred]

I've described our setup (in short) on our website: http://radiobaobab.be/index.php?id=99

It's not rich on details, but if you have any questions I'll be happy to answer them.

[Chris Scott]

I agree with Robbert (having run a 24v TLC 61) except I charged my 3rd bat (and so an inverter and cig socket) off a solar panel and avoided split charging altogether. That way you always have a spare bat if one of the 2 engine bats packs up as well as a [slow] recharging source if the alternator packs up too (see p130-133 of the book). Compressor is not a problem if the engine is running but never ran a fridge tho'...

Chris S

[moggy 1968]

I had a 12v outlet fitted running of the feed for the radio, which is stepped down to 12v with no probs
TLC H60
landy 101 ambie
1968 morris minor traveller
www.plymouth-dakar.com

[Jimbobby]

Thanks for the advice guys, I think it has definitely convinced me of stepping down the 24v system onto a seperate 12v battery and to run gps etc off that. To me it seems a simple solution which, and being fairly useless at auto-electrics that is essential, whats the saying KISS - keep it simple stupid!

Will post my experiences over the next few weeks