Deas wrote:

Hi, LangdonStevenson.
You will need to have your batteries connected in series, NOT in parallel - that is negative to ground, positive to negative and positive to the starter. You will also need a either a 24 volt generator or a 24 volt alternator to charge them, plus the relevant regulator - some alternators come with regulator built in.

Just my 0.02.
 

Thank you Deas, yes a 24 volt generator would be ideal.  I might look around and see if I can find one.

8C wrote:

Solar panel
 

That is looking like the easiest option currently.  Thank you for the input!

The current owner, who fitted the starter says that it's 24 volts, but I've asked the mechanic to double check for me.  He's also checking the generator voltage, but given the voltage regulator has "12 volt" on the spec plate, it seems pretty likely its a 12 volt generator (either original Australia spec or an upgrade)

The "solar panel on the roof with charge controller" is sounding like a popular and simple option and it would be the quickest solution.  I like the idea of having an alternator supplying ample power, but realistically I probably don't need it - certainly not at this stage.  Perhaps down the track.  Thank you for the explanation of what you and others have done though.  It's good to know what the options are and how much work they will be.

trainzkid88 wrote:

are you sure its a 24v starter. 12volt units did exist.

these old girls are originally 6v as it was only to run lights and maybe a cabin fan.

to simply keep the batteries charged for starting a small 24v solar panel can be used with a charge controller to keep em charged.mount it on top of cab and presto charge whenever its outdoors.

or you could get a 24v generator to mount in place of the original.(this is rare and hard to find.) there is a american company that does generator to alternator conversions ie they mount custom alternator windings in a generator body(expensive)

or do what others have done remove the brushes and fan from the existing generator mount a lovejoy coupling or similar to the protruding shaft and mount a alternator minus the pulley but keeping its fan inline with that.

or you can do what i did dismantle the generator fit new bearings and have a longer shaft made to take the drive gear and protrude further from the brush plate end so you can mount a taper-lock pulley this allows the correct driven speed to be obtained so the alternator is working properly.

i also made a custom bracket to swing the alternator from so i can tension the vee belt with a bit of maths i calculated the right ratio to get the minimum drive speed for it to excite and start charging just above idle. taper-locks allow easy ratio changes as the one taper bush fits multiple pulleys.

both methods require a suitable voltage single wire alternator with built in regulator so they are self exciting this makes wiring simple. the delco SI models are ideal and readily available.

here's a tip when wiring multiple batteries the leads joining batteries to each other must be the same length.
and the leads to the battery bank should be the same length too particularity if joining more than 2 together.
the ground and positive feeds must be at opposite ends of the battery bank so it acts as one large battery this means they'll have better service life as they charge more evenly. (like water electric current will follow the path of least resistance so shorter lead equals less resistance)

going down the conversion route means you'll have ample power and can have those mod cons like decent lights, a cabin fan or even get real flash a decent radio and speaker system or even a portable fridge to keep those beverages cold.
 

josh wrote:

If charging a 24v system with a 12V generator system, you have two pretty simple choices, one is to charge each battery separately with a charger, no need to disconnect them, or if using the 12v generator, you will need to set up a switch that will allow the generator to be connected to one at a time, after starting the grader, allow the generator to charge one battery for half the time you expect to run, then switch.
There are other options, but they get more complicated and expensive.

Cat did use 12V starters for the main engine on some of the early D2 J models.
 

Hi Josh, unfortunately I don't have power where the grader will be living, so I would have to go with the second option.  I'd be worried about keeping both batteries equally charged if I was manually swapping the charging, but it's definitely a workable solution.

Ray54 wrote:

My guess is you have 6V generator. Since it looks typical to what would of been original with the grader, black lettering on the tag 6v, red lettering was 12V. I don't see any red in the picture. But the black/red color was a Delco thing, and from picture I cannot say it is Delco.


But what kind of use do you plan, and what climate are you in? If you are running lights, or just using the batteries to start, the charging needs are very different. The simple cheap way is charge with a battery charger or solar charger. If you are plowing snow in the dark you need to put a working charging system on it.
 

Hi Ray, the plate on the regulator says 12 volt, so I'm confident it's not 6 volt, but I'm having that checked.

I'll be using the grader to maintain a few kilometers of gravel road so it will most likely be day time only and definitely not plowing snow in the dark - thankfully snow isn't something I ever have to deal with where I am in NSW, Australia!

A secondary question regarding starting - does anyone know what spec for a pair of 12 volt batteries I should be using for the 212 grader (which uses a D2 motor)?

a pair of pair of u1mf or u1rmf 12volt mower batteries would be more than sufficient with 300 cold cranking amps remember that is at minus 18 degrees celcius.

dimensions each 195 Lx125 Wx155 H with a terminal height of 182mm and a weight of 7.7 kg. they'll fit in a standard plastic battery box and are available at all good parts stores.
buy em as a pair charge em separately on a battery charger at home first to make sure they are fully charged then install them.

point of caution some people fitted 12v regulators to 6v generators so check the tag on the generator it works but it can burnout the windings as its not designed to work at 12v.

the simplest solution is a 24v solar panel and charge controller it also probably the cheapest too.

Thank you for the recommendation TrainzKid88, much appreciated.

I'm going to have to figure out a location for the new batter bank to go as the original battery box will only fit one battery.

That's interesting to know about the 12 volt regulators on 6 volt generators.  That's definitely a trap!

Yes the 24 volt solar panel is definitely a good option.

I had another thought though earlier - because the grader only requires 24 volts for starting perhaps I could build up a switching circuit who's "normal" state had the two 12 volt batteries wired in parallel, allowing them to be charged from the 12 volt generator.  The "switched" state would change the parallel wiring to series wiring while starting, then switch back during operation for charging.

it can be done with relays but its complex easier to either separately charge them at home or charge them at 24v.

Charging them at home doesn't work for me unfortunately, so it's either the 24 volt solar charging or deal with a bit of complexity.  I'd really like the machine to charge itself while operating if at all possible so I might put a little like into researching a switching circuit - possibly with solar charging as a back up.  Now that would be ideal!