wiring lights in series

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tilt2468
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Last seen: 9 years 10 months ago
Joined: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 - 06:57
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wiring lights in series

I have a 24v battery and want to install a lighting system that draws from the battery instead of using a second set of batteries for lighting. Most of the low watt led lights I have found are 12v dc. If I wire two lights in series will that drop the voltage to each light to 12v? I understand how wiring batteries in series adds the voltage and I don't know whether the principle holds true in reverse when wiring a load.

marylandbob
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Last seen: 5 years 7 months ago
Joined: Monday, June 22, 2009 - 12:24
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Re: wiring lights in series

Lights may be wired in series, to operate from higher voltage, only if they are both the SAME (Identical). Do not wire a 12 volt 5 watt tail light in series with a 12 volt 20 watt headlight and attempt operation from 24 volts!--Two identical 12 volt headlights may be connected in series and connected to the higher voltage. Be advised, some lights have the ground connected to the case, or mounting fixture, and are designed to ground to the vehicle frame. Do not use these, if mounted on conductive, common grounded parts of the vehicle. Electrical characteristics of pairs of devices in series must match, or voltage will not properly divide, resulting in one device getting greater than its share of voltage, with failure resulting!
A good D.C./D.C. converter is best!--Good luck!--Bob

Robert M. Curry

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