Can I run 12 volt LED's from a single battery on my MEP802?

[ECS]

I have some 12 volt LED flood lights I would like to hook up to my 24 volt MEP802.

Can I hook them up to a single battery and ground to the same battery?

The generator uses two 12 volt batteries in series.

Can I run wires to one of these both ground and positive to run some 12 volt lights?

or would that cause some problem that I have not thought of?

 

[Evvy Fesler]

You can connect to the middle connection of the two batteries and ground to the gen frame or the battery terminal that grounds to the frame. Also, check the LED light's label. Sometimes they allow a pretty wide range of input voltage.

 

[Valley Rock]

If they are actually LED lights they should have zero problem with 24 volts .

 

[DieselAddict]

You can run off a single battery but it’s not best practice since it can lead to a charge imbalance between the batteries.

 

[2Pbfeet]

If you are using more than one at a time, hooking two in series gives you a 24V LED system. But as @Evvy Fesler points out many have a pretty wide acceptance voltage.

If you can, I would really try to avoid using just one battery of a two battery 24V system. It throws the battery charging out, and your batteries are likely not to last as long.

All the best,

2Pbfeet

 

[Farmitall]

Put a 500 ohm 5 watt resistor in series with the + of each 12v light and use a 24v input.

Tapping between batteries for 12v will work but is not a great idea as posted above.

I would also check the operating voltage range of the lights.....most will operate from 10v to 30v +-

 

[kloppk]

Selecting a current limiting resistors resistance and wattage is dependent upon:
- DC voltage source
- Forward Voltage drop of the LED
- LED current specification

Some LED assemblies have a current limiting resistor built in, other do not.

 

[fb40dash5]

I would also check the operating voltage range of the lights.....most will operate from 10v to 30v +-

This, but definitely check.

I gad a hard time finding 24v/multi-volt 194 bulbs for gauge backlights. Ended up just buying a bag of them (that claimed 12v) from the 'zon. Thought I was in business, they did light up (very well!) but after about 2 minutes the magic smoke came out.

 

[Farmitall]

This, but definitely check.

I gad a hard time finding 24v/multi-volt 194 bulbs for gauge backlights. Ended up just buying a bag of them (that claimed 12v) from the 'zon. Thought I was in business, they did light up (very well!) but after about 2 minutes the magic smoke came out.

Amazon.com : 24v 194 bulb


Plenty to choose from here.

If I were going to replace them, I would go with the LEDs. Brighter, whiter light and no filament to subject to vibration.

 

[fb40dash5]

Amazon.com : 24v 194 bulb


Plenty to choose from here.

Yes, there are plenty of search results. Problem is, most of them aren't 24V, and they say as much.

I wish they had functional filtering, but it seems at odds with letting anyone & their brother hawk Chineseum willy-nilly using imaginary brand names.

Edit: I bought some that claimed to be 24V... bag of 30 for like $6. 1st pair lasted about 30 seconds. I stuck about 6 more in before I got bored, one literally lit up for a split sec & was done. One pair made it maybe 2 minutes... dunno, walked away to grab a wrench, when I came back both were burnt out.

 

[2Pbfeet]

Yes, there are plenty of search results. Problem is, most of them aren't 24V, and they say as much.

I wish they had functional filtering, but it seems at odds with letting anyone & their brother hawk Chineseum willy-nilly using imaginary brand names.

I hate the Amazon search function for this exact reason.

FWIW: I have better luck going to my favorite search engine and searching

"24v" "1820" site:amazon.com​

and then picking through the product listings that at least claim to be 24V.

I use the same strategy when trying to find unusual parts like odd relays, starters, or temperature sensors.

All the best,

2Pbfeet

 

[Coug]

This is a common question over on the HMMWV forums, and the answer is usually "so you want to destroy your batteries?"
Even a small draw on only one of the batteries will cause a charge imbalance. In the short term it wouldn't really do much, but as time goes on the upper battery in series will become overcharged, and the lower battery that has the lights attacked will never fully charge. If you let it go long enough you can cook the upper battery, while sulfating the lower battery..

If you really want to run something off of the batteries that is 12V, you need to get a 24-12V converter like the Orion 70 amp.

It's also a good idea to go in and charge the batteries individually with a 12V charger every so often as well, to balance the charge in them, even if you aren't hooking anything up to just one of them.

 

[Triple Jim]

Depending on what arrangement of lights we're talking about, it's possible to run half on them from one battery and the other half on the second battery, and still keep the load balanced. This would work as long as the two banks of lights don't have to have a common ground.

 

[ECS]

Put a 500 ohm 5 watt resistor in series with the + of each 12v light and use a 24v input.

Tapping between batteries for 12v will work but is not a great idea as posted above.

I would also check the operating voltage range of the lights.....most will operate from 10v to 30v +-

Thanks for all the replies.

These ones I have say 12 volts.. so I'm going to use the resistors and hook them up power to frame ground.

 

[Triple Jim]

Check each 12v light to see what voltage it actually has on it with the resistor you choose.

 

[Denvercaitland]

This has worked for me to power my auxiliary fuel tank pump from my 803a batteries.

 

[DieselAddict]

I was going to ask that, as cheap as buck converters are, can you use one of those?

 

[Digger556]

I vote for using a buck converter. They are dirt cheap at Amazon and save your expensive batteries.

 

[kloppk]

I vote for using a buck converter. They are dirt cheap at Amazon and save your expensive batteries.

You'll want to switch the power to the buck converter to turn the LEDs on and off. That way the idle current drain of the buck converter won't draw down your batteries when the LEDs are off.

 

[Chainbreaker]

You'll want to switch the power to the buck converter to turn the LEDs on and off. That way the idle current drain of the buck converter won't draw down your batteries when the LEDs are off.

A way to accomplish that might be to use a "Batter Disconnect Switch" between the 2 batteries ( + to - batt terminals). That is... unless you are using a 24 VDC Battery Charger/Maintainer on your genset batteries.