sunnybouy60 said:
Hello everyone, could someone explain the advantages / disadvantages of 12v
vs. 24 or 48v setups?
I'm no expert but my understanding is that higher voltages mean
less loss of power in long runs of wires, higher capacity battery
banks using smaller cells and inverters using slightly less
expensive parts.
That is to say, if you run 1000 feet of wire and pump 12V through
it then you'll lose more power than if it were 48V. If you need
a total storage capacity of 1000 watt-hours then you could do it
with (1000Wh/12V) 83 Amp-hours of batteries but at 48V it would
only require (1000Wh/48V) 20 Amp-hours. So, if you wanted to do
either of these with 20 Amp-hour batteries the first (12V) would
require 4 in parallel and the second (48V) would require 4 in
series. Series works better. Also, some inverters use essentially
the same parts for 12V and 48V but the 48V version will put out
4 times the power.
Unfortunately, there are a heck of a lot more 12V appliances and
lights than 48V (or even 24V) versions. If you want to run things
without using an inverter then 12V has this advantage.
Anthony