sounds like a great thought but does it have any problems or drawbacks. and what happens to the 8 volt battery after a month of being charged buy a 6 volt generator. how does it keep up? 8v-6v=$100 tow bill?
My buddy runs an 8V system in his '55 IHC pickup with no trouble. He said you need to adjust the voltage regulator so it will put out 8 volts (find an auto electric shop with an old guy behind the counter). Most of your accessories will be fine with 8 Volts but I'm not sure about a radio. Hope this helps a bit. Shawn
Most will tell you it's not necessary, it was an old trick for racers when they upped the compression in older mills. I never thought about the charging or lack there of however. You might have a point.
It will work but you have to set your voltage regulator to charge to 8 volts. I did it to my dodge w/ a 9 volt. You can buy the batterys through interstate batterys, and theyer cheep! Your service manual will have voltage regulator addjustment prosedures.
yea have you measured your 12v system, when charged up and running shouls read on a voltmeter 13 to 14.5 volts. just check the voltage with an external meter across the batt, check at idle and at higher revs....
Another option is a 6v Optima Red Top battery. Plenty of starting power (850 CCA), and no need to adjust the generator. JMTCW.
I set up a '50 Olds like that as the motor was pretty tired and didn't like to start on 6V , it worked pretty well . I did have a problem with the generator though , it tossed the solder out of the armature because I had the regulator set a bit too high . It seems to me somebody used to make a 6-12 V battery switch that worked like a diesel parallel switch only they use 12-24 V . It used two small 6V batteries , started on 12V and went back to 6V after the parallel switch was disengaged .
Shawn is exactly correct. My '46 was set-up in this fashion prior to it being switched to a 12volt system.
The 8V is really a bandaid for a poorly maintained 6V system. It does work well, and the regulator is easy to adjust once you get the hng of it(your shop manual should have the procedure in it). As a side note, when I was testing my stock '55 Plymouth 6V generator, I had it putting out 17V and 70 amps Point being that a 6V gen is more than up to the task of charging an 8V battery.
Bugman said it all ... a GOOD 6v battery, a reg. set at 7.8 - 8 volts, and clean grounds are all you need to keep it working. An 8v battery requires a reg. setting of 9 volts to charge, at the cost of the tar running out of the radio transformer & a new burned out bulb every night.
Years ago we had a 49 Cad that we ran an 8 volt tractor battery in. Adjusted the regulator to recharge the battery. Just get used to flashing headlights, the 8V made our dim seem bright and everyone was always flashing at us.
I sell a lot of 8V batteries to customers for their 6V systems. The only benefit of the 8V battery is that it spins the starter over faster than a 6V. Most customers do not adjust their regulators because a 6V generator should be charging close to 8V when the system is running. As stated above, a 12V system should be charging 14V. I would double check the voltage when the 6V system is running to see if it is close to 8V. My personal option is if your starter is not turning over fast enough with a 6V battery the electrical system may need repair. Grounding and/or starter repair are the two most common issues. Dan Marvin, Owner Exeter Auto Supply
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