ahh thats a good idea.
I pulled several of the radiator hoses last night and that allowed me to see a 24v stamp on the alternator ....
Alternator or Generator?
404's came with generators (which make DC I believe), alternators make AC which then gets rectified (I believe). The generators are huge round steel things with a big 90 degree connector coming off them. I replaced the genny on my mog with a 24 volt alternator. 24 volts is nice because your wires only need to be half as large as with 12 volt stuff.
This a 404 generator:
As far as your comment about 2 batteries in parallel to "last longer" that's incorrect. Whether you are using your two batteries in series (24v) or parallel (12v) you have the same capacity of power.
You can either draw 10 amps (24v) for 5 hours and kill the batteries or draw 20 amps (12v) for 5 hours and kill the batteries.
You'll notice that in either case, each battery is putting out 10 amps.
You'll also notice that in either case the total watts are the same (10 amps x 24 volts=240 watts) and (20 amps x 12 volts=240 watts). This means (again) that as far as the batteries are concerned, they can't even tell if they're in series or parallel.
Your 24 volt starter will draw half the amps that your 12 volt starter will draw.
In the end two batteries is two batteries. Want to double the capacity of your system....double the batteries. 4 batteries in series/parallel arraingement to make 24 volts has the same amphours capacity as 4 batteries in parallel making 12 volts.
Just like the power that you pay for in your house meter. You pay by the power used, and the unit is the watt (1 volt X 1 amp = 1 watt). I've got a friend that "was paying too much electricity to heat his under-porch room" He was using a 1500 watt heater that used 120 volts. He wants me to install a 4800 watt heater that uses 240 volts because he thinks it will cost less because it won't have to run as long. I've explained to him that the new heater will run 1/3 as long but will be using 3 times the power, so in the end it will cost him the exact same to heat his room.
He doesn't believe me. :rolleyes:
