Help for a newbie? Dividing DC power

[guitarguy89]

Alright so here's what I've got going on. I have a forklift I work on everyday, it's electric and the battery is 36v. Long before I came along the lights were broken off and I can steal a 36v supply from the old harness. I have rigged up my own little amplifier with speakers along with a cheap set of lights. I have a small voltage step down circuit because both the lights and amplifier draw 12v. So I step down the 36 to 12 for these devices. I want to add a car lighter socket as well. Now on to my question, is there a way to split the 36v into 3 even 12 volt leads? I quickly wired the lighter socket in with this and it's drawing too much much. The lights dim, and there's a terrible noise coming from the speakers

 

[BobK]

It is not clear at all what you did. Please explain further with a schematic if possible.

Oh, and no, there is no simple way to make a 36V source into 3 12V sources. However, you could draw 12V from one of the 3 12V batteries that make up the 36V power supply.

Bob

 

[guitarguy89]

Ok so excuse the crude sketch I made but this is how I have it wired now.

And this is how I would like to have it wired. With each component receiving it's own dedicated 12v supply. I don't want to chain them together as there are times when The lights won't be running or times where nothing will be drawing power from the lighter socket

 

[davenn]

OK that looks reasonable

you need to tell us what the current capability of the 36V supply is
and what current is required by the lights and amplifier
Maximum current from a car cig lighter socked is usually around 8 - 10 amps maximum (actual current through it will depend
on what is plugged into it, but must not exceed the 8 - 10 Amps)

you need to be very careful that is all 3 are in use, the 36V line can handle that and not burn out the cabling

Where is the 36V coming from ?

Dave

 

[BobK]

3 separate DC to DC converters would do it. The is no way to equally split a voltage like you want to unless the loads are always on and all take the same current, in which case they could be wired in series.

Bob