How do I charge a 24 volt battery

[Trex]

On a loader at work we have 2 batteries tied togeather. The positve cable is on pos. side of one battery then there is a jumper bar that goes from that battery to the other pos. side of that battery then the positive cable runs from that. The Neg. cable (only 1 cable ) runs from the neg post of battery, The 2 negatives have a jumper bar on them also and just the one neg. cable running from battery. I hope i have explained this clear enough, I know it sure has me mixed up!! How would i hook up a battery charger to this? Would this be 24 volt? Is that what you would charge this, 24 volt?

 

[Dieselcrawler]

yes, that is a 24 volt system. unhook the wire between the 2 batts( runs neg to pos) and charge them seperatly. unless u have something around that is also 24 volt, u can just start it with it.

 

[94turboidi]

If its 2 12 volt batteries making 24 volt then the 2 would be tied together with one positive cable going into the negative on the other other one. Then there would be a cable coming from the negative on one battery and a positive coming from the other battery. If they are just positive and negative being hooked up then it will still be 12 volt, unless they are actual 24 volt batteries. If they are you need a 24 volt charger. If they are 2 12 volt batteries and you only have a 12 volt charger then undo the cables so the batteries get charged seperately.

 

[Dieselcrawler]

ok, i read closer, if i understand, there is a wire going from positive on one bat to positive on the other, and same with grounds. then it is still a 12 volt system. still better to charge seperatly.

 

[The Warden]

If I'm reading your description correctly, it sounds to me like the batteries are wired in parallel, meaning you have 12 volts but double the amperage (similar to how the batteries on our trucks are wired up; it just looks different). Two batteries wired in series (i.e. 24 volts) would have a cable connecting the negative terminal of one battery to the positive terminal of the other, and then single positive and negative cables running off the other two terminals.

If they're wired in parallel, just hook up a 12 volt charger anywhere on the cables or terminals, and the charger SHOULD charge both batteries equally, similar to how the alternators on our trucks charge both batteries through a single charge line.

If they're wired in series, you ideally want to hook a 24 volt charger with the negative side on the terminal that the "main" cable is coming off, and with the positive side on the terminal (on the other battery) that the "main" positive cable is coming off...and nothing would be hooked up from the charger to the jumper cable connecting the positive and negative terminals of the two batteries. Alternately, you can connect two 12 volt chargers, one to each battery...you're probably supposed to disconnect the jumper cable before doing this, but we never did....OTOH, we didn't have a very good battery lifespan

Hope this helps some...good luck!

 

[sassyrel]

On a loader at work we have 2 batteries tied togeather. The positve cable is on pos. side of one battery then there is a jumper bar that goes from that battery to the other pos. side of that battery then the positive cable runs from that. The Neg. cable (only 1 cable ) runs from the neg post of battery, The 2 negatives have a jumper bar on them also and just the one neg. cable running from battery. I hope i have explained this clear enough, I know it sure has me mixed up!! How would i hook up a battery charger to this? Would this be 24 volt? Is that what you would charge this, 24 volt?

if i read you right----thats a 12 volt system--both hots together,,and grds together,,makes 12 volts--not 24

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

if i read you right----thats a 12 volt system--both hots together,,and grds together,,makes 12 volts--not 24

Like he said, if I am reading the description right, that is a 12-volt set-up.


I am not saying they don't exist, but in all my years of using 24-volt equipment, I have never seen a 24-volt battery.

I have seen plenty of multiples of either 12-volt or 6-volt batteries wired to yield 24-volts, but never a single 12-cell 24-volt battery.

 

[94turboidi]

I don't know about equipment but there are plenty of 24, 36, 48 volt batteries out there made up of 2 volt cells wired all together.

 

[argve]

As mentioned some equipment does run on higher voltage batteries but typically they are in electric vehicles like fork trucks or man lifts or the like. And those are normally charged at a charging station with a manufacturer supplied charger but by the sounds of it you equipment has an internal combustion powerplant and will have just normal batteries for the electrics and electronics on the machine. And they way you describe the wiring on the battery it's a 12 volt system.

How many cells on each battery - each cell in a battery is 2 volts so you might have (2) 6 volt batteries in there so count the cells.... then we can make a better response...

 

[OLDBULL8]

Just count the caps for filling. A 6V has 3 caps, a 12V has 6 caps or 2 caps covering 3 holes under each cap.
If they are real large batteries like a 8D or 4D they will have 6 caps.

Sounds like you have a 12V system with 2 12V batteries in parallel .
If there 6v batteries then you have a 6v system.

 

[Trex]

Morning All, I want to Thank You All for the replies, It seem's that this is a 12 volt system with 2 batteries in parallel, now to charge them up can i just hook up a 12 volt charger to pos. on one battery then neg. on other without unhooking the battery cables from them? I have really gained alot of "How To" from you fellow's and i appreciate it!! This is a very helpfull forum with alot of very good people out there!!!

 

[The Warden]

now to charge them up can i just hook up a 12 volt charger to pos. on one battery then neg. on other without unhooking the battery cables from them?

If both batteries are the same size, have the same output, and are in roughly the same condition, that shouldn't be a problem at all. However, if one battery's significantly different from the other, you'd probably be better off disconnecting the batteries from each other and charging them separately...otherwise one battery may end up taking most of the charge, and you'll essentially find one happy battery and one that hardly has any charge at all.

Hope that helps some...good luck!

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

Just while we are on the subject, often especially older equipment and some big trucks will have a 24-volt system.

Sometimes, even in rather smallish trucks or farm-tractors, they will be wired to START on 24-volts and RUN on 12-volts.

In nearly every articulating loader that I have ever operated, the batteries will be immediately under the seat and usually wired for 24-volts.

It can get quite exciting when something goes haywire and melts away the posts and cables of all four batteries at once and you sitting right on top of them.

 

[hesutton]

Just while we are on the subject, often especially older equipment and some big trucks will have a 24-volt system.

Sometimes, even in rather smallish trucks or farm-tractors, they will be wired to START on 24-volts and RUN on 12-volts.

In nearly every articulating loader that I have ever operated, the batteries will be immediately under the seat and usually wired for 24-volts.

It can get quite exciting when something goes haywire and melts away the posts and cables of all four batteries at once and you sitting right on top of them.

Not only that, but they are a huge pain to swap out. Those batteries are redicuously heavy and packing them out and a new set back up loader and under the seat is not on my list of fun equipment maintance.

Heath

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

Not only that, but they are a huge pain to swap out. Those batteries are redicuously heavy and packing them out and a new set back up loader and under the seat is not on my list of fun equipment maintance.

Heath

Be careful that you don't smash any of your highly trained sensitive fingers and it affect your real job.