Battery poles reversed?

[shinysideup]

I picked up this 8 volt battery with a flathead I bought. I used it to fire the engine on a rolling cart and when the battery was low I checked it with my meter and this is what I found.(current flowing wrong direction) . My leads are correct and I checked six other batteries I have and they read correctly. If I reverse the leads its the normal positive reading.I used a second meter to verify as well.
I dont understand how the starter and coil worked either?

Chargers are 6 and 12 volt, how do you charge this 8 volt?

[shinysideup]

Thanks Roadrunner. Glad you could confirm that if the system as a whole is reversed in the car it will operate , with issues however. Im guessing it went dead and someone charged it backwards. I will discharge it and recharge correct polarity.

Anyone know what charger for 8 volts, or a safe way to use 6/12 volt style common charger?

[DocsMachine]

I had something similar years ago in a project rig I bought. As I was dismantling it (wasted body, I needed the frame and running gear) I noticed the battery was wired "backward".

I asked the guy i bought it from and he said the battery had died (left the lights on all night, or something) and he charged it with the charger leads reversed. (Wasn't paying attention, I presume.)

It worked fine, just had the wrong polarity. I kept it for a year or two as a spare for testing and jumpstarting, eventually used it as a trade-in on a new one.

Doc.

[calvinh]

Originally Posted by 440roadrunner

OK, first "the car." MOST things in a car will operate regardless of polarity

It might fry the radio, depending on the type of circuit

Most motors, starter, elec. wipers, heater motor, "don't care."

Most electric gauges --temp. oil, fuel "don't care."

The ammeter will read backwards

The coil will make poor quality spark "upside down" if memory serves, over time it will erode the plugs as I recall, and probably will pit the points early

NOW the battery

If this battery has "been that way for awhile" best thing to do is remark it for polarity and leave it.

If it was recently dead, then you can take a load like a headlight and leave it on there for a couple of days and run it COMPLETELY dead. Since you should be in a warm climate (FL?) you don't need to worry, but others reading this in winter conditions, do NOT leave the battery in the cold because when it starts to get discharged it WILL freeze.

After the battery is STONE dead, recharge on a slow charge the proper direction, maybe 6A or so. Many chargers will complain by tripping (cycling) the breaker repeatedly. To get around this, you can start charging by wiring the charger in series with a stoplight bulb or headlight to limit the charge current.

Yup. You are corrrect. It's bass-ackwards

I think I just learned 10 or 15 new things. Thanks for the lesson.

[shinysideup]

FOLLOW-UP* I did as 440 RRer said and discharged it, then charged it slowly back up correct polarity. Holds 8 volts fine now. Thank you!

It didnt take a month to do, just that long for me to follow up sorry.

[34 GAZ]

One day roadrunners battery info ^^ will come in handy. At least i,m subscribed to this thread now and know where to find it later.

[ffr1222k]

What voltage did you use to charge the battery? I did not see that answered anywhere.

I assume you used six volt since the 8 volt batterys were used on six volt systems.

[american opel]

thats pretty cool.i cant believe that worked.i guess i learned something new today!

[36 Airstream]

I once stupidly hooked up my 56 Plymouth (AUS) and ran it with reverse polarity.It ran fine,it just took me a while to work out why the inline fuse for the cd player kept popping.

Brilliant post Roadrunner!

[shinysideup]

Originally Posted by ffr1222k

What voltage did you use to charge the battery? I did not see that answered anywhere.

I assume you used six volt since the 8 volt batterys were used on six volt systems.

I dont know what you're supoposed to do since they sell 6 or 12 volt chargers.I dont see how to use 6v to charge an 8 volt battery. A couple volts short of a charge there!
I used the 12v on trickle and hooked up the meter to see what it was doing. It read 9.1v charging which is what it needs.

[Mr48chev]

In the mid 60's I had a Nash Metropolitan which came from the factory with 12V positive ground. The generator died and a replacement was way out of my budget. One of the guys going to trade school with me said just put a Chev generator and regulator on it and I did for a total cost at the time of about 30 bucks. We swapped the battery to neg ground and reversed the wires on the coil and it ran that way until I traded it away. The radio worked and the car didn't care.