The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay how long will a '42 run on a 12volt battery?

I would like to convert my truck to 12volts if I can get it running, but I don't have a 6volt battery to get it running with.

Can I start it and run it for a short while on 12volts? or do I need to buy a 6volt battery?

yes, it should run until the coil or points fry ... OTOH, your other post says the starter won't turn it over, so there may be a whole list of other problems that could prevent it from running on any voltage .... you should start by determining why the starter isn't working

Bill

Yes thanks bill!

I will be bringing the starter in to a friend of mine today, he has been rebuilding starters since before I was born, so he should have a good idea whats up with it.

I live out of town so I'm trying to make a list of what I need to minimize trips back. just needed to know if it would run on my 12volt battery to test an make sure the engine doesn't have any major issues, maybe i will pick up a 6volt flashlight battery, and switch to that as soon as it starts up.

I would unhook your gas gauge, you might fry it with the 12 volts. And don't run heater either. Since you are converting it won't matter if you ruin the bulbs, but try to save those for us that have retained our 6 volt systems.
Kent

Just go and buy a 6-volt battery instead of messing around and wasting your time.

Look at the battery cable terminal where it attaches to the starter. There should be another, smaller wire under the same nut that attaches the battery cable to the starter. That's the power feed to everything else in the electrical system, lights, ignition system, etc. Just isolate that wire, and attach the 6V lantern battery + terminal to it, and the - terminal to a good ground like the engine block. Now, use a 12V battery and a pair of jumper cables to run the starter- - - -problem solved. The starter will handle the 12 volts with no problems, and the ignition and other functions will still be on 6V.
Jerry

When I just want to run the motor on a project I usually power the coil with a 6 volt trickle charger. I find this very useful as the coil voltage is not affected by the starter draw.

When I purchased my '52 and wanted to see if the engine ran, I used a 12v battery. I simply isolated the starting and ignition circuits from the rest of truck and connect the 12v battery directly to each. Fired right up after carb and ignition rebuild. I only ran the engine for a few seconds before tearing it all down.