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It is not quite that simple. You need to understand/design your system.....whether 24V or 12V, there are advantages and disadvantages. Most of those are frankly dependent on what you currently have, and where you want to go with your system design.
Lets start with the assumption that you are already wired for 24V. Your starter for your motor may be 24V, so there would be a cost to change that out if you went to a 12V system. But....I would argue, it is BAD to have both your starter battery and house bank combined as a single battery bank. an accidental draw down of the house bank would kill the starter battery as well. Better to have two separate banks with a switch to combine in the event of an emergency...ie dead starter battery. The next issue to consider is the wiring on the boat. If the wiring was optimized for 24V, then there may be a cost if you switched to 12v for a need to run some new wires. This is because at 24V, the current (amps) is half that of 12V. That is fancy talk to say you need thicker wire for 12V than 24V. but as an example, 16 gauge wire is pretty small wire, but is fine for 12V LED Lights. and 12 gauge is fine for VHF, Chartplotter, autopilot. I would suspect even with a 24V system you do not have smaller wires than that......but to run a Windlass or an inverter (invert DC to AC) you would need perhaps a 4 gauge wire for 12V as opposed to 6 or even 8 gauge for 24v. (smaller the Gauge, the thicker the wire) The next issue is all of your electronic equipment. Is your Equipment 12V or 24v. (12V is more common, but not exclusive) 12V LED cannot be connected to a 24v system without a converter or voltage regulator. you will burn out the equipment. Same for Chartplotter, VHF, Autopilot, USB ports/cigarette lighter. You will need to make sure your stepdown converter is large enough (amps) to supply all of the 12V requirements. A windlass alone may require a large converter. If you currently have a 24V system, and your starter, Windlass and most of your equipment (Chartplotter, VHF, Refridge) are all 24V, then I would strongly recommend remaining 24V and buy a 24V to 12V step down converter for the few miscellaneous 12V requirements you may have or get. But if the only 24V requirement you have is a starter motor, and all of the rest of your equipment to include Windlass is 12V, then I would recommend you have a 24V starter battery, and a 12V house Battery Bank. Regardless of what you choose, just be consistent. preferably all 24V and 24V equipment, or all 12V and 12V equipment. Best not to mix and match voltages for equipment since that would require Converters and regulators. Same rule applies if you want to use solar or wind to charge your battery banks. For my boat, I have a 48V stand alone battery bank just to run my motor, and a separate 12V battery bank with Solar to run everything else. In an emergency, I can use my Inverter, to use my house bank to charge my Motor bank, although that is very inefficient, it is a capability in the event of an emergency. Ehrich Rose Kahuna 6 Hull 281 |
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Giacomo Bernardi
Oh, that is great news! Thanks Giacomo On Mon, Aug 22, 2022 at 1:16 PM billcartwright46 via groups.io <billcartwright46=yahoo.com@groups.io> wrote:
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Giacomo Bernardi Professor, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology University of California Ocean Health Building, Long Marine Lab 115 McAllister Way Santa Cruz, CA 95060, USA Tel: office 831 459 5124 Tel: lab 831 459 1282 Fax: 831 459 3383 email: bernardi@... |
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billcartwright46
Ok since it is 24v STAY 24v! Why? Because 24v current draw is 1/2 12v and it is easier to keep up due to the higher potential. Get ready to spend thousands to go 12v. Most wish they had a 24v system. Consider yourself lucky.
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On Monday, August 22, 2022, 2:43 PM, Giacomo Bernardi via groups.io <bernardi@...> wrote:
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Giacomo Bernardi
Thank you for your response, yes I was unclear, both because I tend to be unclear in general (at least according to my wife), and also because I have a superficial knowledge of electricity, although I have set up and entire solar system in our cabin, so not completely inept, as it has not yet burned down... The boat has two batteries, and both of them are 24V batteries (on the battery there is a big 24V written on them). I tested one battery independently and it read 24V, so certainly the system is a 24V system, with two 24V batteries in parallel. There is a switch that allows to use one (house), the other (starter) or both batteries. There is an old flexible solar panel connected to the batteries that is tiny and I would be very surprised if it is supposed to trickle charge a 24V system, it looks entirely useless to me. I know that when the yanmar is in use, it does charge the batteries (this is what the previous owner told me). I presume that with this information, the starter and the alternator, are wired for 24V, unless there is some sort of converter in between maybe? Thanks for all the info and your patience with a newbie. Giacomo On Mon, Aug 22, 2022 at 12:33 PM billcartwright46 via groups.io <billcartwright46=yahoo.com@groups.io> wrote:
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Giacomo Bernardi Professor, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology University of California Ocean Health Building, Long Marine Lab 115 McAllister Way Santa Cruz, CA 95060, USA Tel: office 831 459 5124 Tel: lab 831 459 1282 Fax: 831 459 3383 email: bernardi@... |
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billcartwright46
I would look at your battery wiring. Do you have two batteries wired in series to get 24v? Also is your alternator 24v or your charger? If all is 12v then it may be safe. But you have to look at what you have in your system. Was the 24v for an electric motor for turning the prop? Do you have solar? Lots of info we don’t have to give you a definitive answer on your situation. You can wire two 12v batteries in series and charge with a 12v charger across one battery which will charge the other. Sorry, I would have to know a little more to answer this question.
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On Monday, August 22, 2022, 1:52 PM, Giacomo Bernardi via groups.io <bernardi@...> wrote:
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Giacomo Bernardi
Oh this is great information I certainly don’t plan to use bow thrusters!!! I was wondering about the Yanmar starter. I presume it must be set for 24v on my boat. I need to check…, Thanks much Giacomo On Mon, Aug 22, 2022 at 11:31 ehrich rose <ehrichrose@...> wrote: I have Hull 281 (1984). I have converted it to all electric to include the motor. For the House bank I only use 12V. That provides all the electricity to even run an all electric Galley. Just about everything comes standard in 12V. Lights, auto pilot, chartplotter, Radio, stereo, and inverter. Although not a big deal to get a 24V inverter. The only reason to have a 24V house system is if you are running heavy loads. There are only two things that you conceivably would prefer 24 V over 12V. One is to to run the Windlass. But on a boat this small....there is really no reason to have a 24V windlass., and the second is if you want to install a Bow Thruster. --
Giacomo Bernardi Professor, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology University of California Santa Cruz Center for Ocean Health, Long Marine Lab 115 McAllistair Way Santa Cruz, CA, 95060, USA email: bernardi@... http://bio.research.ucsc.edu/people/bernardi |
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I have Hull 281 (1984). I have converted it to all electric to include the motor. For the House bank I only use 12V. That provides all the electricity to even run an all electric Galley. Just about everything comes standard in 12V. Lights, auto pilot, chartplotter, Radio, stereo, and inverter. Although not a big deal to get a 24V inverter. The only reason to have a 24V house system is if you are running heavy loads. There are only two things that you conceivably would prefer 24 V over 12V. One is to to run the Windlass. But on a boat this small....there is really no reason to have a 24V windlass., and the second is if you want to install a Bow Thruster.
So....If you are going to replace the system, for ease, and compatability, I would make it all 12V... Ehrich Rose Kahuna 6 Hull 281 |
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Giacomo Bernardi
Dear all In my progress in refitting Ariadne I wanted to change all the light bulbs to LED. While doing so I realized that the battery used was 24V. Is there a particular reason why I should keep the system at 24V or would it be ok to switch the entire system to a more conventional 12V? Thank you very much. Giacomo_._,_._,_ Giacomo Bernardi Professor, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology University of California Santa Cruz Center for Ocean Health, Long Marine Lab 115 McAllistair Way Santa Cruz, CA, 95060, USA email: bernardi@... http://bio.research.ucsc.edu/people/bernardi |
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