The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay An 8volt Battery Charger?

The truck I just bought had a 8v battery in it, I’m replacing it with a 6v battery along with rebuilding the starter, generator, new cables, all grounds and adjusting the reg.
But, with 6v & 12v being the only choices on 99.9% of the battery chargers, how would you charge the 8v???? And I’m not exactly sure what in the world I’m going to do that the misfit battery other than use it for a jumper maybe??? But I haven’t had to jump the AD’s since I brought the first one home four years ago.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

I think if you have a 12v charger with the 2 volt trickle setting you can use that with constant monitoring of the state of charge, but you really need an 8v charger to do it properly

Bill

Jerry gave me a good tip Bill, just put some resistance in the 12v line to drop a few volts across and monitor it with a meter. I've got a bunch of great big wire wound power resistors or as Jerry suggested a headlight would also work.
Thanks
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

If you want a 8 volt battery charger check stores that sell tractor parts that where the majority of 8 volts are used.They help start the 6 volts also there not a bad idea to have !

This old truck started fine for 56 years on 6v. But from what I gathered, the guy that had this truck for a
couple of months this summer, between the original owner and me, decided that the fix for bad grounds,
bad cables and a bad generator and starter was to just up the voltage.
Well now it's going back to the original 6v set up with all the worn out parts and units rebuilt and the
corroded connections fixed. These trucks start just fine when everything is put right.

Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

I agree completely Denny. I once had a 52' GMC 2 ton size that somebody had put an 8V battery in. It was a good battery but wouldn't take enough of a charge from the 6V generator to keep it up. A new 6V battery was installed and everything was great after that. Mismatching parts, especially electrical, is not a good idea IMHO.
Incidentally my 8V battery was a Delco Marine battery.

Denny,
I would have thought that you would have a variable supply on your radio bench. I have an old Eico one that I use and it is called a "battery charger/power supply". For me it is too valuble to ever use on a battery!

I had a real nice almost new HP dual 30a lab power supply but when it carapped oiut and they wanted hundreds to fix it I let it go for a couple of bucks at a swap meet.
When I run up the AC radios I use a Variac and with the 6v or 12v DC radios I just use a storage battery.
And now I have an 8v supply for the radio bench!!!! Or I think I might use it for some electroplating I've been wanting to try.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

You guys are funny you won't use a 8 volt battery in a 6 volt system but will charge a 8 volt with a 12 volt charger !

I was looking at a nice Packard at a cruise this summer and I noticed four caps on the battery. It didn't sink in until after the show what I had been looking at.

Hey there webster, I don't think you caught all that was posted. We were talking about using a charger on 12v with series resistance to drop it to around 8v or 9v at the battery.
The 8v thing pops up every few months Fred. If the owner would take the time to tune up his electrical system there wouldn't be any need to crank up the voltage. Sure you can push your generator to put out a bit more but your cutting the life span by a bunch and I haven't seen any 8v bulbs for sale lately bumping the voltage up to them will result in short
bulb life also.

DG
DG

Hello
Denny your first post !
An 8volt Battery Charger?


The truck I just bought had a 8v battery in it, I’m replacing it with a 6v battery along with rebuilding the starter, generator, new cables, all grounds and adjusting the reg.
But, with 6v & 12v being the only choices on 99.9% of the battery chargers, how would you charge the 8v???? And I’m not exactly sure what in the world I’m going to do that the misfit battery other than use it for a jumper maybe??? But I haven’t had to jump the AD’s since I brought the first one home four years ago.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

TO ME: THAT ASKS HOW TO CHARGE A 8 VOLT BATTERY? That was your question along with what to do with that misfit battery .A farmer would love it for his tractor.

Hey there webster, I don't think you caught all that was posted. We were talking about using a charger on 12v with series resistance to drop it to around 8v or 9v at the battery.
The 8v thing pops up every few months Fred. If the owner would take the time to tune up his electrical system there wouldn't be any need to crank up the voltage. Sure you can push your generator to put out a bit more but your cutting the life span by a bunch and I haven't seen any 8v bulbs for sale lately bumping the voltage up to them will result in short
bulb life also.

Denny I did catch the FRED ! And all that was posted .The point I wanted to make rigging the truck to 8 volt isn't ok but rigging a battery charger is ?
Both ways do work and may not be are ways.

Just on here to offer help and brother hood not looking for a back and forth bicker .This will be my last post on this subject until we have something to better spend are time with .Nothing personal and I do think you have a great deal of knowledge to share .

Denny,
my 38 came with the regulator set up for 8 volts. I found that out by testing the settings on the bench. The amusing part is to see the multiple grounds that someone was trying to use when there was a battery in it!

Anyway, I take it there must be a market for the 8 volt battery for it to be made. I am guessing it would be some type of farm machinery?

How to charge an 8v tractor battery.

http://www.tractorsupply.com/tracto...eries/heavy-duty-farm-battery-8v-0470580

Maybe someone can name a model of tractor (or golf cart) that came (stock) with an 8v battery. An Internet search gives back many results for 8v batteries being a common after-market "upgrade". Ford 2N, 9N, and 12N tractors came with 6v batteries.

8v batteries have been used for many decades as a "shade tree" solution for hard starting 6v vehicles (in 6v cars, trucks, tractors, golf carts). In these cases, the 8v battery was usually a cost-saving technique (actually, it was an avoidance technique in solving the causes(s) of the starting problem).

batteries for golf cars, forklifts and floor machines might be 8V if they use a 48V traction motor, in which case the OEM charger is 48V .... but they would be deep cycle batteries, not the SLI batteries some use in trucks and tractors

Bill