The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay 12 volt and 6 volt together

will this work my 1950 6 volt works good wondering if i could mount a 12 volt battery on the firewall and hook up an alternator to charge it for a 12 volt sound system leaving the rest of the truck 6 volt

I think you may end up buring out your 6volt lights, indicators, etc... I may be wrong. I think you may be able to leave the exisiting wire harness, but change out your lights, etc. Theres a great "how-to" in the tech section of this website. It discusses the 12 volt conversion and what should be done. And what should NOT be done.

Jason

I think it would be much easier to change it to 12 volt period. Get your bulbs, resistor to gas gauge and a 12 volt alternator or generator. You'll love it. It will start much easier with 12 volts.

Are you talking about running an alternator for the 12V and keeping the generator for the 6V system? That would work if you could figure how to mount it but probably un-necessary.
If all you are running off the 12V battery is a stereo it will take a lot of running to run it down. Rig a power outlet for it and plug a trickle charger into it every night.
As far as starting better on 12 V, if you have proper size cables and good proper grounds you will have no problems starting with 6V.

What about adding another six volt battery? Batteries in series for the sound system and parallel for everything else.

I used a 6V to 12V converter and have a killer sound system in my 54. Two 2-channel amps, a signal processor, and front and rear speakers. It pulls less amps than the original radio.

Installed all under the seat and hid the speakers - so all look stock.

I think Fab 51 has the right idea;switching to 12 volts,and negative ground(which nobody brought up) will be more workable for a daily driver,not to mention being able to find accessories for your rig,being able to jump-start your wife's barge if it's battery goes dead,switch to HEi if you want to,and replacement parts for 12 volt are a fraction of the cost of 6 volt parts. Don't get me wrong-if it was my truck,I'd leave it 6 volt,and not worry about a stereo,but since you want to add the music box,you might as well do the full monty and just make it all 12 volt,with an internally regulated alternator.

It is possible to run dual electrical systems, but given the amount of trouble, I don't think I'd bother.

Once you've mounted the 12-volt alternator and installed a 12-volt battery, you're not far from a complete conversion to 12-volts.

You'll end up replacing all the bulbs, and installing some voltage reducing resisters, but its not a huge project, and will be easier to maintain than a dual system.