If you don’t set the system up properly to begin with then yes you WILL run into problems. The thing is you have to know the theory behind how the systems work. People are used to 12V setups, not so much with 24. If they were not good systems then like HZJ60 guy says, NATO and every other military on the planet would NOT use them. The same for fixed wing and fling wing aircraft, almost all of these use 24 volt or better. Large industrial equipment and large marine equipment is almost always 24 of better. They ARE solid the thing is you have to know what your dealing with and acclimatize properly. For example do NOT use unmatched batteries, most of the problems iv seen are a result of people that have two batteries that were either bought at different times, are different brands or are different capacities. Any mismatch in the cells will ultimately lead to failure, so its essential that you get two brand spanking new batteries. Furthermore once they are new you want to connect them into parallel outside the truck and stick a charger on them to be sure they are both fully balanced.
Also many problems come from people pulling power off of just one cell unaware of the long term consequences. Prime culprits of this seem to be car audio shops which at least here in Victoria all appear to have totally incompetent techs, as all three big shops here were trying to tell me there is nothing wrong with pulling power off of just one battery as they are doing 3-4 times a week and all the stereos work. That’s going to be a lot of pissed off people who are going to loose their batts in the next year and thus lodge complaints against 24V unjustly (in my mind.)
As for running your 12Volt accessories, my suggestion is to do it with an equalizer that way you have the ability to pull more load than the units rated capacity, also it is a super easy way to be sure that your batteries are always within balance (+- .05V.)
Also as stated above a 50amp 24V alternator is the equivalent of a 100amp 12V alternator. Think of a wall socket at 120V, (for those folks from North America) the average socket is on a 15 amp breaker. But I assure you there is far more POWER (watts) in 15amp @ 120V vs 15amps @ 12V
Amps x volts = watts
15A x 120V= 1800W
15A x 24V= 360W
15A x 12V= 180W
Another thing that is of importance, where about’s do you live Rackman? If you are going to be operating it in cold climates 24 is a big bonus, lets say for example you don’t always have the advantage of being able to plug the block and batts in…. 24 is a good thing to have.
And my BJ74 cold start in the morning, NOT glowed is well under ½ a second… not that that’s a big deal, its just a rather nice change from my old dual batt 12V BJ60 and every other diesel iv ever driven.
Also for jumping what you have to do, is attach the jump cables to ONE battery then sit there for 10 min while it charges, then the same with the other… so it’s a bit more involved takes some time, but it is doable. Also as a final note, yes if one battery fails you will be less likely to start it. However if one battery fails on a 12 volt system well guess what… your still hooped, at least with a 24 you still have some power for some systems.
.Im sure you will be ok. To be fair, half,maybe more of the 24v problems are due to owners attaching 12v accessories to one battery causing the batteries to have unequal power and thus ,starting problems.
