Why 6 Volt?

Stretch Cab

Stretch Cab

Well-known member
While admiring the museum cars at the Gilmore Museum I realized that information was given that some of the cars older than the 4 years of the "A" had 12 volt batteries. If i read correctly why did Ford go with 6 volt?
 
My guess is cost. Ford did just about very thing to keep the cost of their cars low. In today's dollar a model A type of car would be about $10,000 USD new and you'd not have much with a $10,000 car today...
 
My '28 Chevy came with a six volt battery. My '29 Hubmobile came with a 6 volt battery, my '32 Pontiac came with a six volt battery, my '28 Chandler came with a 6-volt battery, etc., etc. My '28 Reo came with an 8 volt battery.

6 volts was a common (if not THE most common) voltage for most earlier internal combustion engines. Most early tractors had six volts - a few 8 volts. The six volt battery was more than adequate for the 40 hp 4 cylinder engines of the day. Henry Ford was following his own assessment, as well as following the industry standard.

- Doug Vieyra
 
Dodge ran 12 volt batteries in the early years when they had the starter/generator unit then went to 6 volt after they changed to the separate starter and generator.
 
mhsprecher said:
Most cars were 6 v up to the early to mid 50s.
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6 Volt seemed to suffice fairly well, until compression ratios began to rise. It was a "BIG DEAL" when Chiefs' new '49 Plymouth had 7 to 1 compression ratio!!:eek: Pinging became a common conversation topic, along with the weather.:D
Bill W.
 
mshmodela said:
My guess is cost. Ford did just about very thing to keep the cost of their cars low. In today's dollar a model A type of car would be about $10,000 USD new and you'd not have much with a $10,000 car today...
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Actually a car with 6v would be MORE expensive to build, mainly because the gauge of the wire has to be larger in a 6v car.

That's one of the main reasons most, if not all, of the major manufacturers switched to 12v in the mid 50's.

 
Y-Blockhead said:
Actually a car with 6v would be MORE expensive to build, mainly because the gauge of the wire has to be larger in a 6v car.

That's one of the main reasons most, if not all, of the major manufacturers switched to 12v in the mid 50's.
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That's a good point.:)

The other major reason for going to a standard 12 volt negative ground was because electrical accessories were becoming popular and if everyone has 12 volts negative ground, one size fits all for the fan motors, radio tubes, A/C clutches, power window motors, etc.
 
mhsprecher said:
Most cars were 6 v up to the early to mid 50s.
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I think you mean Most AMERICAN cars were 6 v. Many European cars were 12 volts from the word go after those new fangled electric starters came in. I had a 1922 FIAT that was 12 volt. That model was designed in 1915 which is very soon after cars lost their acetylene lights.
 
6 Volts is cheaper with the limited wiring in the old cars. The 12 volt battery cost more to make than the 6 volt battery and the small amount for the larger copper wires is hardly that much in large volume.

For today's cars, the higher voltage makes sense in copper savings.

Marc
 
6 volt is likely because making a battery that could hold enough energy in 1930 required a lot of plate area and lead. So to get the energy you need to start the car you needed larger plates. A 12 volt battery would have been much larger and more expensive at a time when the batteries failed after a fairly short period of time.

The change away from 6 volt would later need a pretty big reason cause the automakers were pretty cheap. So they kept it.

The battery technology changed and the batteries started getting more and more capacity while becoming more reliable. Got to love science.

The 12 volt battery was needed later because the higher voltage allowed for a higher torque started needed for the higher compression engines that were becoming common by the mid- 50's.

I am pretty sure 12 volt accessories happened after the manufacturers were busy making the switch to 12 on all their cars.
 
Air conditioning began to appear around the mid '50s, about the same time as everything was going to 12 volts. That's the reason you don't see any 6-volt air conditioners.
 
6 Volts was popular in the early 1920's with the use of 01A tubes (5 volt filament) in the early radio's. The use of 6 volts was a natural for the early cars.

Marc
 
Thanks for the input. I saw that several of the early auto makers used 12 volt and just wondered why Ford didn't. 6 volt was enough and it was cheaper sounds reasonable.
 
Y-Blockhead said:
Actually a car with 6v would be MORE expensive to build, mainly because the gauge of the wire has to be larger in a 6v car.

That's one of the main reasons most, if not all, of the major manufacturers switched to 12v in the mid 50's.
Click to expand...

Depends on the year. As it relates to the model a the wire from battery to the starter is really the only wire that needs to be big. If money was the only criteria I would think the battery cost would out weigh the cable cost. Again assuming cost as the only factor in the choice of a 6 volt battery.
 
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