9 volt system

Back in the 6 volt days up here in the frozen north I would bring the battery in the house every night and used a block heater. Just so I could get to work in the morning.
 
If the car wont start you fix the electrical problem or pump or carb .I use a 6 volt small VW battery ,I am running Fords 2,1/2 -3 volt volt sytiom with the resistor .Starts instantly .throws a 3/8 spark .I am about to experiment ,run a 3 bolt stock dried out Moisture soaked coil from John Shelor in PA USA .will post the results .

blucar said:
I guess the difference between my position on the use of 8v in lieu of 6v in the earlier cars, comes from the practical everyday use of a car vs. a "hobby" use of a car..
From 1952 to about 1974 I drove my '36 Ford over 94k, every day use during summer and winter driving in the inter-mountain west, Southern Nevada and Southern California..
In the 1950's, 12v was almost unheard of except in the very large truck batteries, the average 6v battery left much to be desired, especially if a person was on a limited budget..
I will admit that in today's world, very good 6v batteries are available and that a well maintained vehicle will generally start with an original type electrical system. After all, if the car won't start, you call AAA, or you take your new car to the cruise night..
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Straightpipes said:
Back in the 6 volt days up here in the frozen north I would bring the battery in the house every night and used a block heater. Just so I could get to work in the morning.
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I to have removed the battery from my car at night when I lived in Idaho.. Temps down to 30 below.. My father always said that "Monky Wards" had the best battery's in the world.. During the late '40's it was my job to go outside at 20/30 below at mid night to start my dads truck, keeping it running until it got good and warm, this would insure that the truck would start in the morning..
My son in-law in Montana uses a propane weed burner to heat up his tractors/trucks so they will start in the winter..
And people wonder why I live in SoCal.. DAH
 
I started this thread on the premises of better power for accessories I don't want to switch to 12 v.. Never said anything about not starting,, yet this thread keeps going back to "Maintain properly yada yada"

Talked to Fifth Avenue and his suggestion was to buy one of his 6 volt alternators.. Of course changing polarity would mean I would have to rewire all the switches..And buy the time I would buy everything needed to do the alternator I could buy three 8 volt batteries, and a whole bucket of bulbs

Although everyone says bulbs etc will burn out faster, anyone who has actually done it says it was never a problem.Some vendors even rate their bulbs 6 or 8 Volt

Oh well life is good if that is all I have to worry about.
 
itsa52 said:
I started this thread on the premises of better power for accessories I don't want to switch to 12 v.. Never said anything about not starting,, yet this thread keeps going back to "Maintain properly yada yada"

Talked to Fifth Avenue and his suggestion was to buy one of his 6 volt alternators.. Of course changing polarity would mean I would have to rewire all the switches..And buy the time I would buy everything needed to do the alternator I could buy three 8 volt batteries, and a whole bucket of bulbs

Although everyone says bulbs etc will burn out faster, anyone who has actually done it says it was never a problem.Some vendors even rate their bulbs 6 or 8 Volt

Oh well life is good if that is all I have to worry about.
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You can buy a 6 volt positive ground alternator if that is what you are concerned about. If you change polarity you need to reverse the connection to the ammeter and the coil but unless you have some very high tech switches there should be no problem with any of the switches, they just interrupt the flow of the current.

Charlie Stephens
 
I'll still stand on my earlier comments about 8v battery in a 6v system being a good choice to compensate for added accessories, aside from the cold weather staring pluses.. A simple adjustment of the regulator to allow the generator to put out more than 8v is all that is required..
Some people are intent on re-inventing the wheel... I believe in the KISS theory.. Keep it Simple Stupid..
 
Along with the 8V battery there also was a dual 6V with an added solenoid to give 12 volts for starting only. The 2 sixes normally ran in parallel until you tried to start the engine, hit the button and the solenoid would engage putting the 2 sixes in series to give a big boost to the starter. I used one in my 54 with a very tired 236, always started but was hard on the starter.
 
Reversing polarity on the system will make all the switches upside down. Upside down widow switches confuse the heck out of people. 7 window switches, one power seat and the top.. Not impossible, just one more thing to deal with.. Of course you need to take the interior panels off to access the back of the switches. The back seat panels you need to remove the seat first.. Gee I just gutted the interior again.

Thanks blucar, someone understands my problem.
 
itsa52; I think people only read the opening post, then shoot from the hip, replying without reading the rest of the posts. Thus the fixation on alleged starting problems.
I think your idea of speeding up your accesories is a good one. My dad had 8 V. batteries in a couple of his 6V. tractors about 10-12 years ago and they fit in the original battery trays. As I remember, they are the same size as a 6V. battery. This means that each cell is smaller, so the reserve capacity will be less (fewer plates per cell).
 
I don't think reversing the polarity reverses any switches. If the motors are field wound rather than permanent magnet then the motor runs the same way.

A starter motor runs the same way regardless of polarity, so why would any other motor run the other way?

Mart.
 
itsa52 said:
I started this thread on the premises of better power for accessories I don't want to switch to 12 v.. Never said anything about not starting,, yet this thread keeps going back to "Maintain properly yada yada"

Talked to Fifth Avenue and his suggestion was to buy one of his 6 volt alternators.. Of course changing polarity would mean I would have to rewire all the switches..And buy the time I would buy everything needed to do the alternator I could buy three 8 volt batteries, and a whole bucket of bulbs

Although everyone says bulbs etc will burn out faster, anyone who has actually done it says it was never a problem.Some vendors even rate their bulbs 6 or 8 Volt

Oh well life is good if that is all I have to worry about.
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Changing polarity does not require rewiring switches.
 
I worked at Best Tire and Battery in Kansas City back in the early 60s. We changed quite a few 6v over to 8v. Yes the regulator was set up. The Head lites had a special spring loooking wire hooked to the ground and the length of it was set to get the right voltage. Cant remember about the other bulbs.
 
Stop worrying about the switches becoming reversed. In order to reverse any of your motors, you have to reverse either the internal field connections or the brush connections, it doesn't matter which pair, it's the relationship between the field an brush connections that has to change. That's why just changing polarity will not change direction of those DC motors. Buying the best 6V battery that will fit would probably be your best bet and most trouble-free. ..B.
 
dewickt said:
Along with the 8V battery there also was a dual 6V with an added solenoid to give 12 volts for starting only. The 2 sixes normally ran in parallel until you tried to start the engine, hit the button and the solenoid would engage putting the 2 sixes in series to give a big boost to the starter. I used one in my 54 with a very tired 236, always started but was hard on the starter.
Click to expand...

The above tread by "dewickt" touched on a solution to obtaining added power for a 6v system without re-inventing the wheel, the only fault in his system is the switching arrangement..
If you wire battery's in parallel, i.e. 6v to 6v, 6v comes out, only with higher amps/reserve power, 12v works the same way.. If the battery's are wired in a series, pos to neg, 6v becomes 12v.
Many of the newer, more expensive cars, with their added electronics work this way, with two 12v battery's wired parallel in the trunk.. One on each side. It has been found that computer controlled cars will not start if the available power drops below 12v..
Within the last couple of weeks I almost put two 12v battery's in the trunk of a '49 Olds I'm working on because we felt we needed more power for starting the Olds engine, and running the power accessories.. At the last minute I found an "Odyssey" battery with 1500 w of cracking power and a very high reserve power level.
Of course the battery cost me $300., however, that was cheaper than two battery's, the wiring and two boxes..
My RV, a large diesel powered unit use's a total of eight battery's, six 6v and two 12v, wired in parallel and/or series for staring and/or house power..
 
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