I'm installing an electric tilt front clip on my truck. :cf: The actuators with the speed I want are 24v. My question is can I use two batterys to get my 24 just for the tilt, and wire the rest or the system for 12v.

How do I split parallel and series systems?

Will my 12v alt be up to the job?

thanks for any imput.

I know that 18 wheelers work like this they start the engine with a 48v system (I think it's a 48v do to the fact that it has 4 batteries) and then run all the accessories with a 12v system.

I work on 18 wheelers for a living, I have NEVER seen one that worked off of anything but 12 volts. I'm sure there is a few out there...but just becouse it has more than one battery, doesn't make it a high voltage system.
To keep is simple, we'll use my truck as an example here... my longhorn has 2 batteries... I have them wired parallel... I have the positive of one, going to the positive to the other, and then to the starter. The grounds go to the frame off of one, and the engine off the other. At my starter, there is 12 volts, (12.7 actually) with double the amps avalible.
Now, if I woulda wired it positive from batt #1, to the neg of batt #2, with the pos of #2 to the starter, and the neg of #1 to the frame or engine block, then I would have a 24 volt system... like military vehicles.
We could get into really confusing stuff here like a series parallel circuit like all the millitary tanks, where you have 6 batteries wired 3 parallel, and the 2 parallel sets wired in series... that's enough amperage to knock you off the back deck of the tank and into the dirt. Ask me how I know.

So can I have 12v and 24v in the same truck?

I've seen it on a military truck, but I can't think of how they did it up. They only way I can see it being doable, wouldn't work on what you are looking at... I can see how to have a 24 volt vehicle, and run 12 volt accesories... but i can't come up with a non computerized way to do a 24 volt item on a 12 volt vehicle.

Big rigs used four 6V batts for 12-24V systems on some trucks up to the 70's. They start on 24V and run on 12V. They used a series parallel switch which was not that dependable, and it is expensive. Some trolling motors use a 12-24 system now. Sounds pretty simple depending on the amperage use. Heres a link. Hope this helps.

http://www.yandina.com/troll24info.htm

I think a 24 volt circuit can be done, with relays. I'd rather change out the 24 v actuators, though.

A wish it was called something more mucho like 24 volts of power instead of trollomatic LOL.

The 24 volt actuators offer the best speed for the money, saves about $400 bucks, even after buying a troll

Anyone know of the best place to buy 12V actuators?

I don't know what your setup looks like but I was wondering if you couldn't just use a couple of Motorcycle or garden tractor batteries and wire them in series and use a completely separate circuit to control the actuators. I wouldn't think you would use them that much and you could charge them individually with 12 volts when they needed it.

I think thats basicly what I'm going to have to do. The troll device allows you to have one alternater to charge both systems