Hey Guys...Question... I put an 8 volt Battery in my 51 Chevy. Do any changes need to be made involving resistors for gauges, etc. or to the Charging system? I noticed everything was quite a bit Brighter, (headlights, turn signals) and the Amp gauge was always on the discharge side now..... A little input from those who have tried or used this would help.... Spoons
I think my former stepfather did that in one of his rigs. The bulbs don't last as long though and you need to turn the regulator up so it will charge the 8 volt battery as now the generator is only 6.something volts. Back in the day it was kind of a half assed fix to rigs that usually had other problems beside hard starting.
We did that a lot back in day of 6V systems. Makes them start and run like a 12V sys with no damage to the charging sys. All we did was put a Sun regulator tester on the regulator and adjust the points slightly to increase the charging rate to keep the 8V batt at about 8.5. Try it, you will like!!! Funny, been reading all the "Down Side" of this. I ran 8V upgrades from 54 and later in my 47 Chev, 37 Ford and 34 Ford, never had any of the problems people are talking about This was in OR then, maybe my Buddies and I were just lucky, we all did the 8V switch. When you went to buy a batt, they always had all 3, 6, 8 and 12V. Lots of farm equip had it, thats where I learned about it. I still say Good Luck BTW, all the stuff back then was made in the Good Ole USA, maybe thats the differance.
Didn't make a big difference on the '51 Cadillac I had. It might work fine on a Chevy. It all depends on the CCA's it has.
I agree with Daveydeuce, it was done and is still done in colder climates. You can't lump all 6v car makes/engine size, and brands of electrical systems into some impossible area where they all behave the same at every temperature. If you lived back then, your tractor, truck, or car had to start or you didn't eat. All 6v vehicles are not equal, some worked fine on 6v, others were notorious for not starting well. That generator does not determine the voltage output at all. It can produce much more than an 8v battery needs. It's the "regulator coil" side of the voltage regulator, that sets the output of volts. You just need to get the info on which adjustment to make, and where it is located.
You are on the discharge side because your regulator is not calibrated for an 8 volt battery. In general you recharge 15% higher than the nominal voltage. 15% of 6 volts is 6.9 volts, and that is not going to recharge that battery. IOW you are running on the battery. The regulator needs to be set up about 9.2 volts, which is 15% above 8. BTW, in a DC circuit, power = volts times amps.
Don't do it.....I have replaced a lot of brake light bulbs,killed the radio, burnt out fog lights and now this year the gas gauge qiut working.....can't say the reason was 8.5 volts comming out of the regulator or not? But the main thing to consider is the if you leave your foot on the brakes to long you tend to burn out the bake light bulbs and the you are in traffic not knowing if they are working...so if you do make sure to have extra bulbs and tools with you...
I had a 6/12V battery in my '51 Cadillac when I first got it. It had the best of both worlds without needing to worry about converting it. It was 2 6 volt batteries in a standard 6V case that used a solenoid to connect both of them when starting. The one bad thing that happened was the solenoid stuck and the posts where the solenoid connected to melted. I went to an 8V battery after that but it didn't have the amperage I needed. I ultimately went with an industrial variety 6V battery that had enough amperage to crank the Caddy over reliably.
Why not put two 6 Volt Optima batterys connected in parallel. They have almost the same foot print as one old 6 volt battery, and twice the cranking power. Problem solved. No other changes are necessary. Just use heavy cables as far as you can to supply the starter. Iceman
Why not install two Optima 6 volt batterys in parallel, still 6 volt but twice the cranking power. And they use almost the same foot print as the old 6 volt you take out. Just make sure to use heavy cables in the process, and to the starter. Every thing else is back to stock, and nothing to change. Iceman
When I replaced the regular 6 volt battery in my 49 Plymouth with a 6 volt Optima, the engine started to crank over as quickly as if it was getting a 12 volt jump. One might be enough.
I've got a CJ3B Willys Jeep that has an 8V in it. Adjusted the regulator to put out around 9V. Has worked great for a couple of years but I don't have a radio...........
We used that setup in our '47-55 Seagrave, Pirsch and Van Pelt fire engines. It always worked well. The six volt lights sure got brighter too. Normbc9
In theory your gauges (fuel) should not be detrimentally affected by the voltage increase. Just keep in mind that you are forcing 30% more voltage onto all your electrical components. As for your ammeter, that should be reconciled after your voltage regulation adjustment. The ammeter only indicates direction of flow. I always recommend having your ammeter serviced though. We do a number of them here in our shop and have never had one burn up down the road.
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