Hey guys...what would be the most efficient way
to drop 12vdc to 1.22vdc @80amps output? Could I just use a series of sand resistors or
something else? Sorry, I am kind of new at this.

 

You do realize that the resistors would be dissipating nearly 900 watts?

For efficiency you would need some type of switching regulator. But those aren't trivial to do at 80 amps.

What is this for?

 

What are you trying to make? If you provide some info about this it may be more easy to help you

 

What is source that gives 12 v dc and 80 amp current?

 

The bank of resistors would be very simple and might work to your satisfaction if the load current is constant.

How accurate must the 1.2 volts be, and how stable is the load current?

 

The implication of asking for 1.22 Volts is that the tolerance is plus or minus 5 milli-volts, which is pretty tight. On a switching regulator, 80 Amps out @ 1.22 v is about 97.6 Watts. assuming 80% efficiency you need 122 Watts in. for a 12V supply that is just over 10 Amps. This might be doable, but not for the faint of heart. Your big problem will be to find a suitable inductor to handle the current without saturating.

Trying to do this with resistors would only be possible with an absolutely CONSTANT load and the waste of tremendous amounts of power in the dropping resistor. If the load is 15.25 milliohms and the dropping resistor is 134.75 millohms then you get 1.22 Volts @ 80 Amps. and 862.4 Watts in the dropping resistor. Sounds pretty foolish to me, but what do I know.

 

The implication of asking for 1.22 Volts is that the tolerance is plus or minus 5 milli-volts, which is pretty tight. On a switching regulator, 80 Amps out @ 1.22 v is about 97.6 Watts. assuming 80% efficiency you need 122 Watts in. for a 12V supply that is just over 10 Amps. This might be doable, but not for the faint of heart.

You could do a sync rec buck converter.

 

The OP has some threads about earth batteries and joule thieves, used for to make energy. And I think this is somehow related to this.