All this talk of running 12 V accessories on 24 V listed equipment floors me, Would you attempt to run 500Hp to a driveline that was designed for 250 HP??, sure it will work , for a while, you will have zero reliability ( not what we want with a winch ). There is more than just the DC resistance of the motors that is different, the actual reluctance and reactance of the motors will be different, so simply putting a resistance in series as one person suggested would have little effect on longevity of motor. In fact at light load the resistance would be negligible and the motor would over rev., would spin fast creating an opposing EMF which limits the current. It is this reactance that in fact continually changes the effective resistance that allows the motor to draw low current at low load ( high RPM ) and high current at low RPM. The coils in the rotor have a certain mass and will begin to move outwards due to centrifugal force, they are designed for a max RPM that would appear to have been clearly surpassed in the photos of the earlier posts. I agree with Crushers that playing with 24 on 12 motors is fun, but not reliable. I had a small jeep for my son years back ,, the 2 x 6V batteries eventually died, replacement 6V batteries were expensive and I had a source of Free 12V ideally sized batteries…. The Jeep ( sorry to use that name on hear ) was now supercharged !! with a low and high speed switch now 12 or 24 as opposed to 6 V/12V. The poor boy pressed the gas paddle and the truck would pull a wheelie and actually flip over, once he mastered that it was a riot for ~ 1 month until the switches burnt out, then the braking resistors failed ( reverse generation on letting of gas pedal ) and finally the motors packed it in, But WAS A BLAST while it lasted. My point, 24 V to 12 V to most devices won’t last, Period !
