Johnny B:
Can any one tell me any advantages of using a 24 volt instead of the 12??
Mark S:
The biggest advantage with a 60lb. 24 volt is you'llget longer use of the trollerthan with just a 12 volt. Also after 55 lbs you can only get them in 24 or 36 volt.
That's the deal. I really don't know the motor thing very well yet, but electrically speaking....
If you are running a given motorat a given power, you will deplete a given battery in a given amount of time (give or take a few 'givens'). If you want to run it longer, you need more battery, or a more efficient motor. Period. You can only get out what you put in. (That whole Law of Conservation of Energy thing)
To use a second battery to add run time, you either you run 2 batteries inparallel (for a 12 volt system with both positive battery terminals tied together and both negatives tied together), or you switch to a 24 volt setup that uses the two batteries wired in series (the positive of one battery will be wired to the negative of the other, and the unused terminals become the new positive and negative of your new '24 volt battery'.
You could also add a 3rd battery for a 36 volt system.
The higher powered motors will demand more juice, and if they are used at 12 volts, they will draw large amounts of current and require BIG wire. If the same size motor is operated at twice the voltage, it only takes half the current to do the same amount of work.
I imagine that the bigger motors are 24 volt to keep the operating current lower to prevent battery damage, and the medium motors come with the 12/24 option so that you have the choice of running on a single battery if you care to.