Battery Equalizer - Why?

[eagle19952]

ok the king of notknowing wants to ask....
if one has a huge 24v battery system, a huge 4k inverter and a tiny 12v demand, why can't he put in a small 12v AGM battery and a SMALL 110v AC 12v charger to maintain the house system?

[wagwar]

I have several 24v loads and many 12v loads. I have a very large 24v bank of six 8D AGM's. So, I can't change any of that. The Sure Power can be wired either as an equalizer OR a converter. So, my main question is does anyone know whether there is any disadvantage to simply wiring it as a converter. I can't think of any downside, so my next question would be then why would one ever wire it as an equalizer? It seems to me that just complicates the picture with no compensating benefit.

Thanks for all your thoughts!

[Sam 4106]

I may be wrong, but my thought is that the best answer to your question would come from Sure Power. Why not call them and then share their answer?

Good luck, Sam

[bevans6]

There is always an advantage to having an equalizer connected to a set of batteries, since it does make sure the batteries are charging equally.  Even batteries without external loads can benefit.  I have a similar equalizer/converter hooked up as a pure 24 volt to 12 volt converter for my trailer lights, it works just fine.  If your need is simply a source of 12 volt power, then use it that way.  OTOH, I can't conceive of a downside to having it as an equalizer too, but maybe you have found one.  Here is a funny story - I set up my trailer lights and the 24 volt to 12 volt converter/equalizer and it was working perfectly.  Then, I turned the bus off while the trailer was still connected and as is my habit I threw the master disconnect.  Then, I stood back and tried to figure out why my brake lights were on.  24 volt brake lights, on because the parking brake was on, but I had the master disconnect off.  What had happened was my converter, which was a 24 volt to 12 volt or a 12 volt to 24 volt or an equalizer - was connected to my trailer battery, and it was powering up the bus 24 volt system by back-feeding 24 volts onto the master electrical bus...  I had to disconnect the 12 volt charge line to the trailer connector...

Brian

[luvrbus]

Buses are the only thing you see the equalizers on in the marine and construction world engines start on 24v everything else is 12v this is done with a parallel switch it charges on 12v and changes to 24v for starting only the system has been around for a long time 

This from a guy who doesn't care for equalizers people have yet to prove to me they really work and are worth the trouble JMO

good luck