I don't believe they were 24 volts to start with. If you go way back I believe
they first used 6 volts just like everyone else. I believe the 24 volts came
in when radios became a necessity. The first radios required tubes and were
not efficient. Cables have to be at least twice as big with 12 volts and power
losses in twelve volt systems are much greater than 24 volt systems. The power
loss in a wire is the resistance of the wire time the square of the current.
Moving a lot of power at 12 volts is really tough without huge losses. That's
why 12 volt winches are very limited in their power output. The better
question might be why aren't "new" civilian vehicles 24 volts? Of course they
will run much higher voltages as the hybrid vehicles come out. Even my golf
cart runs on 36 volts.
M51 - running cool wires with 24 VDC.
Dave
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
"Tom C." wrote:
> I have been reading the list for some time now. I am a semi-stalker, have
> posted a few times. Anyway, I am always seeing posts concerning converting
> MVs back to 24 v. Can someone give me a technical explanation why the MVs
> were 24v to start with and what is the advantage in a military vehicle.
> Thanks, Tom Carell
> http://www.geocities.com/m561gammagoat/index.html
>
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Oct 08 2001 - 10:58:56 PDT