Me vs. A Deuce And A Half

[fireman658]

So a neighboring department got a Deuce a while back for a tanker from the conservation dept. They want lights on it. They had bought a 24v to 12v converter to run the lights. I fixed up an all red Vista strobe bar for them. I finally went down the other night to hook it up. It's pretty simple. Run the power IN wire from the converter to the battery, ground it (which they did to the cab), then run your 12v power out wire to whatever needs 12 volts. Done. So I ran the 12v out wire to a toggle switch that I put on the steering column, then ran the power wire from the bar to the other side of the toggle switch. Great. Flip the switch and give an epileptic a seizure. Success!!!!! But wait.............. Turn the switch off, wait a minute, turn it back on and back off for a minute and on once more and nothing. It will never turn on again after about the 3rd time unless you unhook the power wire for the converter from the battery and re-apply it. So when it quits working you can leave the toggle switch on and unhook the converter power wire from the battery and instantly touch it back to the positive post of the battery and it's all blinky again. You follow me????

 

[Shawn L]

the bar is probably pulling more than the converter can provide, when its cold it wont trip the internal breaker, when its hot it will? make sence? my 40 amp trippplite power supply on my bench is the same way.


you can add load but sometime if you try yo turn on a huge amout of load at once it will kick the breaker, its worse when its "warmed up"

 

[fireman658]

the bar is probably pulling more than the converter can provide, when its cold it wont trip the internal breaker, when its hot it will? make sence? my 40 amp trippplite power supply on my bench is the same way.

you can add load but sometime if you try yo turn on a huge amout of load at once it will kick the breaker, its worse when its "warmed up"

I follow ya. All that is hooked up right now are just the top 8 strobes. No lower flashers or anything. The converter is 20 amps. My 15 amp power supply at home will almost run the whole bar before it starts to overload it. Now, they have the bar grounded to the cab. Would that make a difference with it being a 24 volt system? I don't know jack about electricity. I just know how to hook wires together. You can turn the bar on the first time and leave it on all night and it'll stay working. I'm going to talk them into adding a 12v alternator and battery to run lights and such off of.

 

[Jamey@NNE]

I would go with a little bit bigger converter.

 

[NPS Ranger]

I would go with a 24 volt light and leave the converter for radios & such.

 

[fireman658]

I would go with a 24 volt light and leave the converter for radios & such.

I'm giving them this bar. Their budget is less than free and there is a timeline to get a donated conservation rig up to fire standards or they come take it back.

 

[NPS Ranger]

Gotcha.

 

[SlickTop Solutions]

Get rid of the converter, run everything 12 VDc off of one of the two batteries. Less hassle, less headache, and less potential trouble points.


Using just one battery makes it just like wiring up to your truck but with one (VERY BIG) difference. You will need to run the ground to the the same battery.

 

[fireman658]

Get rid of the converter, run everything 12 VDc off of one of the two batteries. Less hassle, less headache, and less potential trouble points.

Using just one battery makes it just like wiring up to your truck but with one (VERY BIG) difference. You will need to run the ground to the the same battery.

So ever though they are run in a series to get 24 volts I can run everything off of 1 battery?

 

[CPDG23]

Take that 12vdc ground off the chassis and make a separate grounding bar for all of the 12vdc equipment. You should isolate the 24vdc stuff from the 12vdc stuff completely.


It's the right thing to do. It really wouldn't affect it but from a "clean install" standpoint you should always keep your voltages separated.

 

[NPS Ranger]

And God forbid that you get chassis leakage, then you have an 18 volt truck. :crackup:

 

[Shawn L]

the problem with using one battery is that it will eventualy end up frying the other battery,


here is the best explination i can give.


the battery that has the accessories will discharge faster than the other, the alternator will then over charge the second battery, keep doing this over and over and you will drasticaly shorten the life of the second battery.


your plan of the second alternator and 3rd battery for the 12 volt stuff is the best route to go, but short term you could wire it to one of the existing trucks batteries.

 

[JohnMarcson]

This bar, although one of the worst for output in the history of strobes, will draw too close to the converter output. A 24v sealed beam light will be brighter and less problematic.


Seriously though...the converter shouldn't be used for a lightbar.

 

[AKRLTW]

12v off one of the batteries will end up screwing things up.


If you unbalance the charging, as you will if you tap 12v off the front battery in the series... their rig will be deader than a doornail very quickly.


Trust me.


12v plow on a 24V CUCV. Plow a day, then have to slave start it the next morning.


Get 24v lights for it. I know it sucks, but I am telling you right now that if you try swiping 12v off a 24v system that uses 2 12v batteries in series, you are going to kill those batteries.


Doing the Sealed beam setup like John mentioned would be ideal. Remember, these things also can pretty much ONLY do 55, and it's a fun time to get going that fast and the engine's screaming to get there. You ain't winning any races, but on the flipside at least you won't be outrunning your siren. LOL

 

[mdlighting]

If you look around I'm sure you could trade that vista for maybe 2 24v beacons like the military use and put them on the roof. I think it would look good. More fit for that year and style of truck

 

[calebsheltonmed23]

I would hook the LB up to the first battery in the series. That will provide 12V. And this had nothing to do with the original post, but this is a tanker we made from the same program, so it may give you some ideas.