24 volt to 12 volt converter

12thgenusa wrote:

...
Just a question. Do the gains/advantages of a 24v battery bank really outweigh all this other stuff?
*24v inverter
*24v - 12v converter
*24v charger
*Double conversion of 12v to inverter to 24v charger for TV charging

Wouldn't it be simpler/cheaper to size the controller properly and leave all the other stuff alone?

If you are starting fresh and know exactly what you want, maybe so. But once you get to 2000W and higher inverter loads, higher V can make things a lot easier.

And our system has sort of grown in fits and starts from a small hand held inverter, no solar and 2 GC2s, to 690W (soon to add 340W portable Solar), 2000W inverter and 4GC2s at 24V.

Specifically what prompted going to 24V was:
- I thought it would be an interesting project (prolly the most important reason)
- we were going to upgrade from 1000W to 2000W inverter anyway, but that would require re-wiring the inverter if I stayed with 12V.
- there was a sale locally on Kisae 24V 2000W inverter that I could just drop in place of the old 1000W 12V inverter after converting the battery bank
- our Rogue 30A MPPT controller is a really nice unit, but under-sized at 12V for our expanding solar. Didn't want to replace it. Could have bought another controller though if we had stayed at 12V.
- EDIT: never mind

Charging the trailer bats via 120VAC conversion at the truck is really not far-fetched and works very well. Especially since the truck's OEM 12V charge line was typically quite useless. Despite the double conversion, there is really no efficiency issue, as our truck's 220A alternator can easily supply the 500-650W Meanwell 28V charger in the trailer. And as I had the old 12V 1000W inverter left over from the conversion to 24V, and the Meanwell was already installed ... it just made sense.