The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk 6 volt battery options

I’m curious to know from those who are still running on 6v, what battery or batteries have you found to work the best for you. Which ones did not? I’ve always just used what was available at auto store (typically not much of a choice) and they seem to go dead pretty quick when turning over engine a few times. Mine truck is still far from a driver but am curious what I should start looking at on the next battery swap. When I do searches on 6 volt batteries there seem to be a few options I’m not familiar with such as gel, deep cycle and such. I’ve always been curious about the Optima brand as well. For reference my truck is a 36 high cab with a 216.
Cheers

Get the group 1 size 6V Costco brand Kirkland battery
Save your receipt
If the battery goes bad within 4 year warrantee period they will replace it no questions asked and not “pro rated you pay the difference”
Straight up new battery with a new 4 yr warrantee

I don’t have a Costco membership but all my family does and since they warrantee so good I use them for batteries.
I’ve have only good experiences with Kirkland brand batteries, maybe I’m lucky.
My brother turned me onto Costco batteries when he let one freeze to death and he showed me how well they treated him
-s

That is good information about Cosco batteries; thanks for that. I have been using Optima 6V batteries on four of my trucks (the '42 was converted to 12V when I got it). I had one last 13 years; the shortest life span was 5 years. Still they are rather pricey but their life span offsets that to a degree. The 6V is very narrow and you can install it in the stock battery holder by placing diagonally.
Kent

I have been using Optima 6v batteries for many years - I have never had one go bad. You have to keep them charged.

If one ever gets discharged, you cannot charge/"revive" with a regular battery charger and/or regular charging technique.

Walmart used to sell Optima batteries. Amazon sells the 6v Optima battery.

I would recommend the Optima 6v also. I am using one in my Model T since it is not used very often. One nice thing about them is if you are getting creative about where to mount your battery, the Optima can rest sideways or any way you wish.

I would like to know from the earlier posters if they use one of those electronic battery maintainers such as the Battery Tender brand with theirs. Mine will not work. It stays in the full charge mode all the time.

Oh yeah I love my optima batteries too
I use a few on a solar portable power pack and I can’t say anything bad about them
They always have many amp hours of good use
I plug a house vacuum cleaner into my power pack and clean a car or two and that’s like 1200 watts for 30 minutes on a portable battery so nifty!
-s

I've had good luck with DEKA batteries, manufactured by East Penn Manufacturing, one of the last US manufactures of batteries. The standard lead-acid NAPA "Commercial" 6V battery is a house rebranded DEKA, the correct Group 1 size for many vehicles, and has given me good service. P/N 7244 for the NAPA battery, which is a DEKA P/N 901MF.

Others may have different experience, but I've seen too many Optima batteries fail in about 2 years to go there, FWIW. And, their technology is a bit dated. The life of the DEKA standard lead-acid batteries seems sufficient to me (5-7 years in my experience), especially for the price difference.

For vehicles that are 12V converted, some of the best AGM batteries are made currently by Odessey, FWIW, but they are pricy.

And yes, a battery maintainer is recommended for any of these options on vehicles driven only occasionally. The Battery Tender brand is considered the Cadillac of tenders, but I really like the Schumacher battery maintainers (I have two) that I got on sale at Tractor Supply a few years ago. Auto senses 6V or 12V, so can be used on a variety of vehicles.

My two cents.

Doug

I second the Deka !
That's what I run on my 50' 3100.
6 volt.
Todd

I've used 2 batteries in 18 yrs. They both were whatever Advance Auto Parts had in stock.

I searched here for my old posts on Optima 6v batteries.

I bought my first and last 6v Optima battery in 2006 (for $145).
It is still in my 1954 Suburban.
What a deal - 15 years later, you can now get that reliable 6v battery for $200.

What did you pay for those two batteries, Harold?

Thank you for all the input!

Here is a versatile 6v/12v battery tender that works on all types of batteries.
I have used one like it for many years.

checked online and this was mentioned about the Kirkland battery at costco

Costco no longer sells a Kirkland branded car battery as it’s been replaced in recent years by the Interstate brand.

Some people believe that the Kirkland car battery was such a good battery that Costco wasn’t making any money on them as they were lasting for 7+ years.

As loathe as I am to disagree with you, Tim, but ... that's not entirely true. I let my Optima discharge all the way once and Jerry walked me through how to revive it with a 12 volt battery (or a second 6-volt) and my standard battery charger. If using a 12 volt, it needs to be one with opening cells (not a sealed "maintenance free"). Insert a heavy copper wire/cable into the third cell (thus making it a 6 volt ...) and connect the two batteries to the charger in parallel. All the charger sees is one low 6 volt battery and will charge the dead optima. Worked like a champ. Its been a few years so the experts can correct any of that if I remembered it wrong.

If you can deal with the purchase price, the Optima is an awesome battery. I got tired of buying 6 volt batteries. It's been so long, I forgot when I bought this one. My local Autozone carries them, as does our local NAPA. I think I had to order the 6 volt, though.

We avoid buying anything from Amazon ... :P

“ If one ever gets discharged, you cannot charge/"revive" with a regular battery charger and/or regular charging technique.”

Jerry’s technique is the non-regular technique that I was referring to.
It has never failed me.

Thank You,
Jerry

Ok, Tim -- I won't argue semantics with you

Once we trick the charger into thinking it's just charging another low 6-volt battery, the process becomes pretty standard ....

But the bottom line, end-of-the day thing we can all agree on is that Optima batteries rock!

I have had Optimas last 13 years and I only replaced it because it was getting a little weak and I was getting ready to go to KC.

Allow me to throw gas on a very small fire. My ‘46 GMC is a “shed queen”; and rarely gets out to stretch its legs. Maybe 6 times in a year, and most of those times is a 5 mile loop to circulate the fluids.
Not very happy with 6-volt starting; the owner of my local battery warehouse suggested an 8 volt battery. That was 1997. I have used nothing else since. They last 6-8 years. I bought an 8-volt battery tender and that stays hooked up 24/7.
The truck turns over like it had 12 volts. We adjusted the voltage regulator to 10 bolts, which charges the battery and does not blow any bulbs. We do not have a radio.
As they say: You pay your money, you take your pick.

I grew up around the best electrical shop in Nashville Tennessee back in the heyday of 8 volt batteries. Dad absolutely refused to mess with any car that ran one. They were a really bad idea in the late 1950's, and they haven't gotten any better with age. If you feel that you absolutely must run one, at least do the voltage regulator setting the right way- - - -9.5 volts. Any higher and the battery will boil itself dry, assuming the vahicle ever gets driven any distance long enough to bring the battery up to full charge.

An 8 volt battery is a solution looking for a problem for anyone who is willing to do the kind of routine maintenance a 6 volt electrical system requires.
Jerry

I used an Optima in the 38 and got 10 years out of it before it died. No warning, just died. Since I was on tour and needed a battery "now" I replaced it with an O'Reilly 6v battery off the shelf. I got ten years out of it too and it was still working when I recently replaced it just because of it's age. When I converted the 53 to 12v I put it's new battery in the 38 and used the 10 year old battery out of the 38 as the core for the new 12v for the 53. The Optima has a lot of grunt but is it worth the price????? Not to me.

Greenie-Reddy --My truck has become, these past couple of years, pretty much a shed queen, also. Because it sits so much, the gas drains (or evaporates) out of the bowl and thus I have to crank a lot to start it after a long stretch of sitting. There are ways to fix this that the experts can educate us both on, but so far, my Optima is able to overcome this. I'm probably not doing the starter any favors, though ....

That particular one is only good for small batteries, up to 60AH for use on motorcycles, lawn tractors etc.

I have purchased many battery maintainers thru the years (I own and use eight of them) from cheap HF brands to the Cadillac, Battery Tender and you get what you pay for. Having a winter home in SC and my primary in NY, I maintain two sets of yard equipment and toys. The HF brand has short cords (needed to use extension cords) and I came back six months later to 2 out of 3 dead batteries, the first time I used them. I replaced them with Battery Tenders five years ago. They have really long cords (no extension cords) and I have had no issues since. Needing three more, I bought three what I thought were Battery Tenders, but were clones from eBay three years ago, they looked just like them, advertised them as Battery Tenders but were 1/2 the price (should have known better). When I received them, the cords were short but it was too late to get new ones as I was leaving to SC in a couple of days. Fortunately, they are still working, with extension cords but working.

Just my two cents!

It sounds like you need a "cord stretcher"- - - -AKA a soldering iron, some heavy duty wire, and some shrink tubing!
Jerry

I normally dump a couple tablespoons or so of gas down the carburetor before starting after a long sit. Then it fires up quickly without a lot of cranking.

Some of the Diesel engines I drove had a spring-loaded cap like a big oil cup on the intake manifold so we could give the engine a dose of starting fluid on a cold start. Something like that would be easy to add to an air cleaner cover for a shot of gasoline from a ketchup squeeze bottle when a hangar queen gets started after a long sleep.
Jerry

I put an in-line electric pump on the 53. If it sits for several days I turn the key to On the press the momentary switch for 3/4 seconds to fill the bowl. When running, the engine uses the mechanical pump and fuel bypasses the electric. I've heard of some folks plumbing it so that the mechanical has to pull the fuel through the electric but I didn't want to put that strain on the mechanical.

Jerry -- That's funny. I had one of those on my 6-71 and had wondered why you needed an oil cup on the manifold until someone educated me

That type of cup had a piercing device in the bottom, and drivers carried rubber capsules about an inch long filled with ether. Push one into the cup and snap the lid down, and a measured dose of starting fluid was released. We called 'em "horse pills".

https://www.ebay.com/itm/373689834742?hash=item5701a65cf6:g:4~EAAOSwKyJhHdkJ

Jerry