Why does my FMTV LVAD have a 12v electrical system?

So, I started upgrading the LVAD lights to LED. i took out some Trucklite military LED lights and began as usual, to disconnect the old and reconnect the new. However, the numbers on the wires did not match the new unit. I turned over the housing of the old unit and in yellow letters it was written "12 volts." I checked the front lights and found the same.

In my experience, both with the military and with many different military trucks, I have never seen a 12v military truck that was not an NTV. Even my LMTV's are 24v.

So my question is why would this be the case with the LVAD? The main difference between my truck and a normal FMTV M1083 is this one has a cab with folding windows and doors, so it can be strapped down and thrown out of an airplane. Could this fact be part of the reason it is 12v? It's not that old of a truck either. Now, I am going to have to use the normal 12 volt lights with 12v led bulbs. Nonetheless, I wasted a good part of a day being confused.

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Derrickl112 said:

All the exterior lights are 12v on the FMTV's..

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and why do you suppose they did that?

bchauvette said:

and why do you suppose they did that?

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Most of the electronics on board should be 12v, just slap on a 24/12v alternator and 24v starter, nato slave plug and got yourself a mv.

Gotta think, the fmtv utilize a lot of off the self parts, and instead of asking all the electronic manufactures to make their part 24v they just make the majority of the system 12v and only have the 24v system for the starting.

Once you start getting into having more than one or two electronic control systems that depend on 12v, they just design the entire system to use 12v.

Look at the light setup, don't see the typical three switch / electric light panel, nope all integrated into the system.

jpinst said:

In my experience, both with the military and with many different military trucks, I have never seen a 12v military truck that was not an NTV. Even my LMTV's are 24v.

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All FMTVs have 12v lamps. It is part of the bad rap FMTVs get. 7 of 8 turn/brake/tail lamps had been changed to 24v bulbs in my M1094. And the truck gets blamed for the dim lamps

does the Stewart and Stevenson 2 1/2 ton Lmtv 1078 use 12 volt lighting. If so is there any spare terminals on the fuse panel to pick up 12 volt for radio and light install.

Just FYI - All lighting on the Oshkosh PLS and HET (circa 1990's) is 12 Volt as well. The older Oshkosh HEMTT and LVS (circa 1980's) were still completely 24 Volt.

so you are saying the 1995 S/S 1078 LMTV has 12 volt lighting?

camo21 said:

does the stewart and stevenson 2 1/2 ton lmtv 1078 use 12 volt lighting. If so is there any spare terminals on the fuse panel to pick up 12 volt for radio and light install.

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yes

Be careful when messing with the 12v or 24v terminal lugs in the breaker panel. When the civilians were installing the "jammer" in my LMTV he welded his ratchet and blew the main fuse link behind the cab.

Thanks for the info.