jump starting a 6 volt battery

my car is 6v can i jump it with a 12v truck? and what will it hurt if any.

 

Don't turn your lights on while it's hooked up and you'll be fine.

 

I've seen it done dozens of time (used to have a friend with electrical problems on his '41 Plymouth). He eventually converted to 12 volts and I've been running the old 6 volt battery in my '39 for over a year- no problems!

Jay

 

I use a battery pack to jump mine and ive never had a problem, like stated before dont turn you lights on when hooked up.

 

Yeah, It'll work. If it doesn't start don't keep trying it though. The long term effects may not be too great. I used to carry an extra 12 volt battery, and some long jumper cables in my Merc. That way I could jump it myself from inside the car. 6 volt system,A warm high compression Flathead, and a summer day. Not a good mix. 12 volt conversion due before summer.

 

i left the key on the other day, i got it started and took it down the road ,voltage reg kicked off and it didnt have a good charge yet and it shut down. adj reg. and let it run, now its on the charger .any tips on how to adj reg properly 48chevy 216

 

Best way to do it is to leave the battery out of the equation. and MIND THE POLARITY!!! Hook one cable to the starter side of the solenoid, and the other to ground on the engine. The 6 V starter will crank a lot faster on 12v, but it won;t get hurt, and nneither will the solenoid for occasional jumps. Disconnect as soon as you get a start.

 

Also, keep your feet off the brakes until the cables are disconnected.

 

So I am running a 8 volt battery in my 50 chev. The battery was dead when I tried to start it. How do I charge a 8 volt battery? I apologize for this question but I have never had a 6V car...this is a whole new world for me.

 

Since an 8 volt car is really a 6Volt car with a bigger battery and stepped up voltage regulator, my suggestion would be to try to charge the battery as much as you can with a normal 6 Volt charger, get it up as best you can to around 6 volts (will the charger charge it up to 6.5 or 7V?), then try to start it just like you would if it were still a 6 Volt car.

If that doesn't work very well (because a previous owner found out that 6V didn't start this car very well, so he went to 8V), then you could follow the procedures other people posted earlier about jumping with 12V.

I would like to elaborate on a previous post- make sure you turn off all radios, lights, brake lights, etc to keep 12V from blowing bulbs etc (it won't hurt wipers, blowers, starter motors etc), and have a helper hook up the last jumper connection just as you are about to start cranking the starter, and to quickly unhook the jumper connection as soon as the 6V engine starts.

Don't forget to take the usual precautions not to let a "spark of connection" ignite the hydrogen gasses that the batteries are exhaling when your helper hooks up the last jumper cable clamp or disconnects the last jumper cable clamp. I will either fan lots of air across the battery top to clear away any explosive gasses or make the very last connection away from the battery, such as on the engine block, or accessory bracket, or frame so the spark is nowhere near the battery.

After the engine is running, the car's voltage regulator will take over the job of charging the 8 volt battery correctly.

I have jumpered many this way without damage by being cautious.

 

I used to do it with my 52 F1. It worked, but usually it would fry the condencer in the distributor after more than a couple trys.

 

I did that on a little 4 cyl tractor when I was a kid and the 6 v battery BLEW UP...

Fortunately it was BONE DRY so I didn't get an acid bath..

Win some, loose some, I call that a win...

 

My brother had to do it quite a few times on his 53 Chevy truck. Just as everyone else had said get the 12v battery off of your system ASAP and keep all lights and accessories turned off. Also don't do it alot if you can help it.

We don't have to worry about it anymore. He switched to 12v and never looked back.

Good luck.

 

If you have good access to the starter side of the solenoid, apply the hot cable there and the other to the frame, observing polarity as someone else mentioned. If you do it this way the battery is out of it. You already have the ignition switch on and are just spinning the starter with the 12 volts. I think that is probably what Plym 46 meant when he typed battery side.

 

I've done it many times. Take the jumper cables off as soon as it starts. Never had a problem.
Forget 8 volt. If your not going to convert to twelve and you drive it lots..... get an Optima red top.

 

Positive to your left nipple, hand on fender, ground to radiator support. It will charge just fine, have a friend turn it over for you.

 

This is how I was taught to do it, first don't have the 12 car running, jump it while its off it'll have pleanty of power to turn the 6 volt over. Then what we used to do is make sure everything was off lights etc. on the 6 volt, put the ground cable on and the positive on accept for the one going from the 12 positive to the 6 volt positive. What we used to do is just barly touch the 12 volt to the 6 just to give it enough to start, soon as it did just pull the 12 volt positive off. I've jumped probably 80 car/trucks/tractors that way and never had one blow up or any problems with the 6 volt when we were through.

Michael