8 volt battery

[Tom in SW VA]

If you install an eight (8) volt battery, do you have to make any electrical changes ?

Thanking you in advance.............................

Tom in SW VA

 

[Charlie Stephens]

Search the archives. Most people regret installing an 8 volt battery. Fix what is wrong with your 6 volt system or go 12 volts negative ground. By the way what is wrong with your existing system? Also you should have posted this in the Model A forum (I assume from your profile that is what you are working on).

Charlie Stephens

 

[willowbilly3]

I agree with Charlie, if your 6 volt system is all up to snuff, you shouldn't need 8 volts.
We switched a lot of old farm trucks over to 8 volt back in the day and even did a series/parallel on some so only the starter got 12 volts. IMO, 6 volt systems are a lot less forgiving than 12, everything has to be working right. Any bad grounds or resistance in the system and you have a balky starter. Also the starter itself has to be in good order with no drag. Any excessive starter draw leaves insufficient voltage to fire the points enough.

If you do switch to 8 volts, you can usually tweak the regulator to make the genny charge 8 volts.

 

[dmsfrr]

A couple common problems that cause sluggish starting on 6v vehicles...

(as previously mentioned) Battery & starter cable connections that aren't spotless, at all ends.
The battery ground cable should fasten to the engine block.
It's the shortest path to ground with the highest current capacity and least number of connections to the starter. (except for grounding the battery cable to the starter itself)

Having generic replacement battery & starter cables from the rack at the corner auto parts store.
Most of them are #2, #4 or even #6 gauge wire, which is insufficient for a 6v starter.
A 6v electrical system uses double the current of a 12v system and needs battery & starter cables of #1 or #0 gauge to function well.
Any switch, wire or connection in the starter system that is the weakest link defeats all the rest.
.
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