6V Pos Charger/Starter

C

chrismac52

Member
My car has the 6V Positive ground system. I have a 6Volt battery charger/starter. Does the positive ground matter when using it to start the vehicle?
 
Prolly not to start unless the coil doesn't like negative ground. Generator would need to be re-polarized. And any positive ground appliances might not work as advertised.

Jack E/NJ
 
Chris, You have two leads on your charger, a positive and a negative. I don't understand why you would want to reverse them to jump your car?
 
Chrismac>>>Repolarize just using the charger to jump start once in a blue moon?>>>

Of course not! Just do what Alan & Mike suggested.

Jack E/NJ
 
ford38v8 said:
Chris, You have two leads on your charger, a positive and a negative. I don't understand why you would want to reverse them to jump your car?
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If you do reverse them you'll have at least smoke if not a fire way before you get to the ignition switch to even try to start the car.
 
Jack E/NJ said:
Prolly not to start unless the coil doesn't like negative ground. Generator would need to be re-polarized. And any positive ground appliances might not work as advertised.

Jack E/NJ
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Jump starting a car hooked up the only way it can work, positive to positive and negative to negative does not affect any other components on the car, not the coil, the starter, nor the generator. No changes of polarity for anyting because the charger/starter and battery are hooked up to maintain the polarity. If you tried it the opposite way you'd fry something and never start the car anyway.
 
Oh no, I don't want to reverse it. Just didn't know if the polarity mattered when jumping. First time I owned a pos ground car. Wanted to make sure the charger would be okay to jump car (hooked up right way)
 
OK, now that we're all on the same page, the dire results of hooking it up wrong are not exagerated. Worst case scenario, your battery can explode, leaving you blinded and unable to find the fire extinguisher, and we'd never find out what happened to Chrismac, 'cause he don' post on da barn no mo'.
 
I guess I'm still puzzled here... When I jump-start my 34, I generally use a 12V battery (the car is still 6V). The car never sees whatever I'm using for the 'jump'. I hook 'whatever' to the post on the starter, and touch the other cable to a head bolt. The starter works the same, no matter which polarity I use. And, like I said, the rest of the car never sees the 'jump' - there is no connection back through the cable that connects the starter post to the starter switch, since the starter switch remains 'open'. (Of course, I have to turn 'on' the ignition switch, to provide 6V to the ignition system.) Back to Chrismac52... I suppose it depends on how you are using your 6V charger/starter. If you are running it 'through' the car, polarity matters. If you are hooking directly to the starter, like I do, then polarity does not matter. (But, why not hook it up as pos gnd??) JMO
 
bobH, I'm not an electrical engineer, nor do I make book, but I'd say you'd have better odds playing russian roulette.

Anyway, how is it you say you hook it up to "whatever" and then you ask: "but why not hook it up as pos grd?" ...?
 
When you jump the way you discribe its perfectly OK ,the power cannot flow back into the 6 volt systom since it is isolated at the starter switch ,polarty dosnt matter ether as the starter will turn only one way ,this is the best way to start a flathead when its been sitting for some time .Your critics should learn this it may save them some problems .I have been doing this for years .
chrismac52 said:
I just asked the question wrong. I should have asked if polarity mattered when jumping the car and it looks like it doesn't.
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I had planned on keeping pos to pos and neg to neg, just wanted to make sure that was okay with a pos ground system. That is what I meant by polarity not mattering.
 
chrismac52 said:
I had planned on keeping pos to pos and neg to neg, just wanted to make sure that was okay with a pos ground system. That is what I meant by polarity not mattering.
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I discovered by chance how little polarity mattered. When I got my car going again after sitting for 31 years I put in a new battery and grounded it negative just like modern cars, knowing nothing different. I ran it that way for 2-3 years with everything working fine except the battery gauge. It always read backwards - showing charging when it should have been discharging and vice-versa - until I delivered my car to an engine rebuilder who asked if I knew I had my battery hooked up backwards and whether my battery gauge read backwards. I didn't know and told him to hook it up right when he put it all back together. He did and just had to repolarize the generator and everything worked the same as before including my battery gauge finally reading right. That's about the only difference polarity makes - whether the battery gauge reads right.

One other difference that I didn't experience but have learned of is with the original radio. The original ******** only worked right with positive ground, not negative.

That's about it. Otherwise, hook it up any way you want.
 
Old Henry said:
I discovered by chance how little polarity mattered. When I got my car going again after sitting for 31 years I put in a new battery and grounded it negative just like modern cars, knowing nothing different. I ran it that way for 2-3 years with everything working fine except the battery gauge. It always read backwards - showing charging when it should have been discharging and vice-versa - until I delivered my car to an engine rebuilder who asked if I knew I had my battery hooked up backwards and whether my battery gauge read backwards. I didn't know and told him to hook it up right when he put it all back together. He did and just had to repolarize the generator and everything worked the same as before including my battery gauge finally reading right. That's about the only difference polarity makes - whether the battery gauge reads right.

One other difference that I didn't experience but have learned of is with the original radio. The original ******** only worked right with positive ground, not negative.

That's about it. Otherwise, hook it up any way you want.
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Henry, that may be true if you flip your battery around. This thread is talking about charging/boosting an existing battery. Polarity matters.
 
If you jump the way BOb H says its fine you are going direct to the starter and not through the the dash wirring .If you plan to hook up to the exsisting battery and use the starter button then polarity is important .
bobH said:
I guess I'm still puzzled here... When I jump-start my 34, I generally use a 12V battery (the car is still 6V). The car never sees whatever I'm using for the 'jump'. I hook 'whatever' to the post on the starter, and touch the other cable to a head bolt. The starter works the same, no matter which polarity I use. And, like I said, the rest of the car never sees the 'jump' - there is no connection back through the cable that connects the starter post to the starter switch, since the starter switch remains 'open'. (Of course, I have to turn 'on' the ignition switch, to provide 6V to the ignition system.) Back to Chrismac52... I suppose it depends on how you are using your 6V charger/starter. If you are running it 'through' the car, polarity matters. If you are hooking directly to the starter, like I do, then polarity does not matter. (But, why not hook it up as pos gnd??) JMO
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