I have two devices which need to be battery-powered (remote area, no grid power available). One device requires 24 V, the other requires 12 V. Both are very low amperage (~50 mA).
Can I use my two 12 V batteries in both series and parallel to provide 12 V to one device, and 24 V to the other?
Alternatively, I know I could use a step-up or a step-down transformer, but at least one of the devices monitors and reports battery voltage (maybe both, not sure yet), which I would lose with a stabilized voltage output. If for example I have to use a step down converter to go from ~24v > ~12v, is there a type of transformer which simply divides the input voltage in half, instead of always producing a stable 12V output? If so, what is it called? And is it more efficient to step up, or step down in this case?
Edited for clarity: I prefer not to run the 12v12 V device off a single battery, because I'd like the batteries to drain at the same rate.
Here is a simple drawing showing what I'd like to do: