24 to 12 volt converter instal Question

[todds112]

Where did you tap your feed to the converter?

Do I need to run a seperate ground back to the converter or can I ground off the truck?

Finally, would 20 Amps be enough to run a GPS unit, Tablet PC battery charger, Maybe a map light and intermitent cell phone charger? Maybe a CB down the road.

NO plans for a stereo or anything like that.

[mjnims]

I pulled power from the radio plug outlet behind the passenger seat. This seems to be a fairly common place. I have kept the 12V system seperate from the 24V system, including grounding. When I first started using the 12V system I used a body ground and kept loosing my stereos. I switched to seperate 12V ground and have had no problems since. My GPS unit operates on volage from 8-32 so it is connected to the trucks main power supply the rest of the electronics, stereo, XM, interior lighting, ground effects lighting, CB radio, intercom, 5 way cig adapter for cell phone chargers and kids video game, ipod charger. As long as the load at any given time does not exceed the converter no problem. Most of what you would need in the cab does not require a lot of power, it is the offroad lights, air compressors and winches that seem to be the high draw items.

[todds112]

I saw that SAV has the plug that goes in that outlet behind the seat. That would make it easy to hook up.

Did you run the wire inside the cab directly from the box, or back into the engine bay and up with the hydraulic lines?

[mjnims]

I removed the plug housing and used the wires to tie into the converter. I ran my 12v wires into the engine compartment and then followed the hydro lines to the center console and on to the 12v items on the dash. I also ran some of them up a chase to the overhead console. I was able to find an ASA fuse block which is installed above the converter so that each item has its own fuse, I really hate in-line fuses.

[75pinz]

Todd,
I have some pics of my install of a 20 amp solar converter from SAV. I ran it from the amphenol connector for the ambulance box which is also the radio connector I think. Bryan

[todds112]

I removed the plug housing and used the wires to tie into the converter. I ran my 12v wires into the engine compartment and then followed the hydro lines to the center console and on to the 12v items on the dash. I also ran some of them up a chase to the overhead console. I was able to find an ASA fuse block which is installed above the converter so that each item has its own fuse, I really hate in-line fuses.

Sounds like what I was planning. I did the same thing with my Jeep (no converter of course) installing an aux fuse block inthe center console for all the "extras" I had added.

Bryan could you email them to me at tstanyon@msn.com?

[Scooter]

I pulled the wire from behind the passenger seat power plug and pulled it to the converter behind the driver seat. For the ground I used a body ground on a bolt behind the driver seat. No issues with loosing my ground so far.

Scooter

[PinzEOD]

I too have used a common ground for 24 and 12 volt, no ill affects for the 3+ years I've done so. I've always been very careful NOT to try starting without checking the master switch first. I've heard that is not a good thing for the converter.

[goudacheese]

I currently have 3 24-12v converters (35A, 20A & 15A). 1 I tapped the + from the ignition switch and the - from the body ground, the other 2 from where the heater was located behind the drivers seat. You have to use the ground from the inverters and not the body. I have a separate converter specially made with low noise for the radio, amps & CB. I have another converter just for the heated seats and another for 12 volt outlets (I have 3). I also have 2 24V to 110VAC converters, just incase I ever need them and mounted the AC outlets where the sliding louvers for the heater were located as well as a Marine 12 Volt outlet. I located the 110V converters behind the drivers seat with dedicated wires going directly to the batteries. I also have 2 of the 12V converters back there. The other 12 Volt converter is waterproof and I put it under the drivers floor panel.

I also just finished installing my 10th HID Light. I think I can light up my whole neighborhood if we ever loose power. Since the HID bulbs are only 35 Watts, I can safely have all of them on simultaneously without any problems and they look awesome. All exterior & Interior bulbs are now LED's (except for the license plate lights) so I am drawing very little current.

[andy]

For me (and anyone else out there who might be lacking in imagination) this thread would be really great if it had some pictures in it. It's still interesting, but some of this I can't quite picture in my mind.

[pinzwheeling]

For me (and anyone else out there who might be lacking in imagination) this thread would be really great if it had some pictures in it. It's still interesting, but some of this I can't quite picture in my mind.

Easy to picture: The power connector behind the passenger seat has a connector. Inside that connector are two wires; power and ground. You can buy a connector to use the stock connector, or easily enough, you can snip the wires leading to the connector inside the box (leaving enough room to splice them back should you ever want to) and reconnect them to your converter.

The topic has come up whether you should use the standard ground inside the box, or use a seperate chassis ground. I connected mine to the chassis on a bolt that was near the mounting point with no problems.

I don't recall which was power and which was ground, but a multimeter can easily determine that for you.

Best regards,
Michael

[andy]

Thanks, it gets confusing when we have different lines of thought on using the chassis ground for both 12 and 24v. The temptation is to take the easy way, but I don't want to smoke a goodtime radio or worse a laptop or something.

My intention is to use a fuse box for the 12 v goodies, but I was kinda interested in actually seeing pictures of other people's installations because I am NOT one little bit ashamed of stealing (using) someone else's good idea. Not only am I Imaginationally challenged some days it is really hard for me to get off of stupid. Other days I can be almost normal.

Thanks again.

[goudacheese]

Here is a picture of behind the drivers seat showing a 24-12v military converter hanging sideways. On the shelf is a 24-110v converter and below the shelf is a 24-12v converter made just for the CB with low noise. The switch is for the power to the CB converter.



Here is a picture of where the vent used to be. I purchased the solid plate from expedition imports.



Here is another closeup



And below is a picture of the front HID lights



Here is a picture of 1 of the top HID lights, eventually I will have 10 HID lights on top, currently I only 4 HID Lights and 6 Halogen's on top (2 in the back).

[todds112]

WOW, THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE!!

Great pics, just don't drive through here in the summer with those on, we had enough fires as it was!

[andy]

Gouda, that is a real nice instatllation. Very neat (organized). Do you have a bigger alternator or extra batteries? You could melt windshields with that much light. Really cool, thanks for posting the pics.