My 102C3 appears to be setup by the previous owner with 12volt brake lights set up in series...I think. Is this possible in a 24 volt coach?
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I thought that was how all 9s and 12s were done?
My 9 is entirely 24 volt lighting except the headlights which are center tapped off the batteries. Rear brake turn and running lights as well as clearance lamps are all 24 volt. The 102 has 12 volt brake tail and turn signals and headlights too. I know for a fact they came 24 volt originally so I contacted the previous owner. He said he seems to remember wiring the 12 volt tails in series which is how R&M fiberglass said to do it when he installed their caps. I'm having issues with the tails and trying to sort out if it's even possible to run 12 volt turns, tails, running lights in series on a 24 volt coach?
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Scott, how about something like this http://www.grote.com/products/44070-24-to-12-volt-converter-converter/ (http://www.grote.com/products/44070-24-to-12-volt-converter-converter/) I was going to go that route till I found 24 volt led stop and turn lights.
Jason
That would be useful for sure. May have to look into those more.
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Scott - running two 12 volt lights in series is perfectly fine. This creates a 24v circuit with each light getting 12 volts. This works perfect when the lights are both the same (resistance in each bulb is the same). The only real drawback with this setup is that if one bulb burns out both light bulbs quit working. I have several LED lights in my house system wired this way without any issues. Taillights work exactly the same when wired in series.
Ok that's exactly what I needed to know. Thanks so much Brian. So, toad lights....you know where I'm going with this.... ;-)
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Scott -
You might want to double-check the voltage feeding the taillights and turn signals, as well as the clearance lights
I seem to remember reading somewhere that around your vintage coach, MCI went to all 12v exterior lighting.
Or maybe it started with the "D" models. . .
Luke might know, too.
FWIW & HTH. . .
;)
And the plot thickens. You're killing me. I am pretty sure the lights are wired in series because of some issues I have been having with them. It makes sense. Plus the original owner telling me he remembers wiring them in parallel. I don't think they went 12v on exterior lighting until probably D coaches. Mine is a 1992.
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under the drivers window .the elect. panel has a relay for the running lights . I changed the 24 v to 12 v and replaced all my top running lights to led 12 v . as for the brake lights , I made up a new aluminum panel with new 12 v led lights 2 per 12 v off the 24 v feed . for toad lights I used a 4 wire to 5 wire converter off the brake , running lights . so all led lights now ( 5 years ago I made the change )
dave
Yeah, it's possible. As long as you have two lights in the series. Turn signals get a bit complicated because of this. You just have to have 2 turn signals on each side.
Maybe a better solution would be a toad converted that you can use to drive your 12 volt lights. That's what I do on mine.
Initially, when I converted all my clearance lights to LED, I set them up in series on the original 24v feed. They all burned out within a year or two, but I think they were just
plain crappy lights, because I replaced the rears and ran them off the 12v from the toad converted and they burned out, too. So I need to find a better LED and then
set them all up off the toad converter.
Ok. I plan on just using 24 volt leds but I just wanted to be sure that I was chasing down the right issue here
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One more question, let's say, for instance, I have two 12 volt LED tail lamps...and the last one in the series somehow has an issue and shuts off. Does this then allow 24 volts to surge into the first one in the series and burn it out? Forgive my lack of understanding here.
Most of the leds are 10 to 30 volts so even if you got a 24 volt feed, they should be OK.
Ok. Thanks. I'll choose LED's accordingly
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Not all leds run on 10 to 30 dc. If you look at some of ones out there Trucklite, Optronics, Grote they have 12 and 24 units available. Most 12's I see are good to 14v, 24v good to 30v. Be carefull it can become costly when you flip the switch and they all burn out at once. My interior system is all led but some are 24v and others 12v because I could not find the ones I liked in 24v.
Hi Scott
did you ever figure out your LED light issue. I have a MCI 102c3 as well and looking at the wiring schematic I believe the headlights and the taillights are 12 volt. Am I wrong? What about the marker lights on the roof? Are they 12 or 24? My hope is they are 12 also. Thanks
Quote from: Scott & Heather on February 02, 2016, 01:25:01 PM
Ok. Thanks. I'll choose LED's accordingly
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LED technology is getting better but there is still a lot of junk out there. The problem is that automotive voltage levels are nowhere near as tightly regulated as the raw LED needs. For instance, a 12v system can hit 17v under some conditions and 15v is not uncommon. So an LED optimized at 12v can draw 25% more current and they just aren't built to dissipate that much heat so they burn out. Incidentally, most diodes conduct when burned out (equally in both directions) so if you burn out one of a series pair then yes, it is likely the other will burn out too. The voltage drop of a single LED is low, something on the order of a volt and a half. To get these new bulbs that can run directly on 12v they are arranged in a series and sometimes a series/parallel matrix sort of like your battery cells. Because the operating voltage is built up in a series of discrete steps, and because LEDs are kinda critical about the current they have to have to put out their rated amount of light and not melt down, it's extremely hard to build a bright light which includes adequate over-current protection. And if an individual LED goes over current it dies immediately. Then that cascades.
Several approaches have been tried to remedy this, some successful, some not so much. It's best to stick with the proven products and do whatever you can to tightly regulate your vehicle voltages.
Prof
I've got LED bulbs in use in many interior lights in our bus. I had 24v bulbs or a while, but have since switched the interior lighting totally to 12v and have changed the bulbs.
Exterior lighting (chassis lighting) is all 24v on our coach. I've decided not to switch to LED due to possible problems with voltage as well as problems with things like turn signals not working properly.
The only LED lights that I've added to the 24v chassis lighting are the two new license plate lights. When I installed the Jake brake bump I installed LED lights that double as license plate mounting bolts. The only ones that I could find were the 12v units, so I installed two of them in series and connected them in parallel to the factory license plate light. So far so good.