Eaton Elocker on 24v system (1 Viewer)

[drenmaster]

I am planning to put an Eaton Elocker in my HJ61 but going over the wiring has me a little confused since I have a 24v system.

I have a 24v-12v converter that I run my radio and GMRS radio on, so I am thinking this could take the place of the battery on the wiring diagram and everything should work out correctly, just worried about how much power the Elocker will need and if all 3 items can run at the same time.

What I am confused about is on the Eaton site it says,
"ELockers are activated by a dash (or console) mounted switch; included with all new ELockers. Any suitable 12VDC (or 24VDC for military designs) switch will work. The wiring harness with a relay switch, chassis electrical system protecting diode, and fuse is included with all aftermarket performance ELocker differentials."

Can I just use a 24v switch and wire everything up to the battery just like the instructions show? I would think the relay would need to be swapped for a 24v relay as well. I want to keep this as simple and reliable and keep as many OEM components as possible.

 

[kevin in okinawa]

I would contact Eaton for confirmation. Is "24VDC for military designs" a separate/different product or is the one you have capable of 24v? Does the relay have any writing on it? 12v or 24v?

 

[drenmaster]

I would contact Eaton for confirmation. Is "24VDC for military designs" a separate/different product or is the one you have capable of 24v? Does the relay have any writing on it? 12v or 24v?

I was waiting for an email response but I just called and they said it needs stepped down to 12v. I always overthink wiring, but I think the 24-12v converter should work just fine. I need to refresh my memory and see how I wired my radio up because I have some 12v stuff behind the dash that I should be able to tap into for ignition.

 

[BrickRunner]

I had emailed Eaton about the same time I created my thread, but never heard back. Glad you got an answer.

 

[mudgudgeon]

Eaton should be able to tell you the maximum current draw for the lockers in normal operation.
Or maybe they give a recommendation for fuse capacity?

Once you know max current, you can verify your 24-12volt converter is suitable. And set fusing to suit.

 

[cruisermatt]

If you think you'll be adding more 12v accessories I would just start from scratch with a 12v panel off your first battery and run everything off that. You can use a 24v relay to power it if you don't want it hot all the time

 

[svsisu]

If you think you'll be adding more 12v accessories I would just start from scratch with a 12v panel off your first battery and run everything off that. You can use a 24v relay to power it if you don't want it hot all the time

If you center tap 12v from one of the batteries you will kill it quickly. Tons of info on this in both the diesel/24V and 70 series forums. I would use a good a converter (victron) or something like a Vanner battery equalizer.

Quick Reference:

Technically that would work, but it is a good way to kill your batteries. In a 24v system both 12v batteries are quite sensitive to any charge or discharge imbalance and pulling 12v off just one battery for accessories will cause premature failure of both batteries. That’s why most people run a 24-12 converter to power their 12v accessories.

@AirheadNut 2x
If 12V is taken from 1 battery this one will always draw some internal current to balance with the 2nd battery. On start, the weaker battery will suffer. Results in low lifetime.
I even put a load balancer to make sure both batteries get equal charge. In some LC 24V the batteries are mounted quite distant and the long connection doesn't help on equal charge.
120W/10A or 240W/20A DC-DC converters are cheap-cheap. They do draw a little mA on idle, thoug. But my truck can sit fir for 2 weeks with it on, without any issue. If that doesn't comfort you, put a 24V relay in the ignition switch line and switches the DC-DC.
Cheers Ralf

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Is getting 12v from a 24v 70 series really this easy?

The IPF lights on my rig set up by the previous owner are hooked up to 24 volts even though they are made for 12 volts. Time to fix that. Talking with a friend who knows a lot more than me and he suggested that as one battery reads 12v and the other reads 24v, we could take a direct output from...

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[hoser]

I know some Hummer H1's are 24V and Eaton has e-lockers for them. Would like to see the install manual.

 

[drenmaster]

I know some Hummer H1's are 24V and Eaton has e-lockers for them. Would like to see the install manual.

That's what I was trying to explain to the rep I talked to because I figure it's just a different harness that works off 24v.. but after explaining my situation it was silence and the response "I think you just need to step it down to 12v."

 

[cruisermatt]

If you center tap 12v from one of the batteries you will kill it quickly. Tons of info on this in both the diesel/24V and 70 series forums. I would use a good a converter (victron) or something like a Vanner battery equalizer.

Quick Reference:





And more from the same thread:

Is getting 12v from a 24v 70 series really this easy?

The IPF lights on my rig set up by the previous owner are hooked up to 24 volts even though they are made for 12 volts. Time to fix that. Talking with a friend who knows a lot more than me and he suggested that as one battery reads 12v and the other reads 24v, we could take a direct output from...

forum.ih8mud.com

I’ve never had an issue with this. But I always use a relay trigged by key-on so nothing is powered with the key off.