The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay 6 and 12V questions

Well as some might remember, I had a problem a while back about not being sure if my truck is a 6V or 12V. I have 12v lights, coil, and generator. I bought a 6V battery and it would start fine and run pretty good. The last few weeks it would start, run a little and then stall. Eventually it would only start. Then the last 2 weeks it hasn't even started (I'm not saying its an electrical problem..I think its a fuel problem). Anyways, today I decided to put a 12V battery on it because it has all those 12V components. To my suprise (and delight) it started 2nd try. Stalled, and then started again. When I checked under the hood again the coil was really hot (the coil says 12volt right on it). I don't think the coild should be hot right? What could a hot coil mean? Could I be causing big problems by putting a 12V battery on it? (I disconnected it afterwards). Why would my engine start with 12V but not 6? Thanks alot!

The coil got hot because you probably don't have a ballast resistor. Even a 12V coil is only made to handle about 8-10V. As for the wiring, it should be the same(do you have plastic or cloth?) If you are running the original starter and it was 6 volts don't crank it forever or you'll burn it up/ I converted my old ford 860 tractor to 12V and the 6 volt starter works fine..spins it fast. Anyway check for a ballast resistor or with a multimeter to make sure you only have 8V or so at the coil...that's why it worked with the 6V battery. Hope this helps. Later

Dave

You are missing the ballast Resistor as was mentioned above. You best bet is to go get an IC64 coil from NAPA. It will have the built-in ballast resistor and you will live happily ever after. The external ballast resistor were / are the weal link in the ignition circuit so by upgraging the coil you will solve two of your problems at once...Thanks Randy

Thanks sooo much guys!!! I will get the coil from napa. Another question, does napa sell voltage reducers? Thanks again.

Fifth Avenue sells voltage reducers...check them out at www.fifthaveinternetgarage.com

Randy

Arcticat,
I bought all 3 from Scott's. Light duty for gas gauge,heavy duty for heater and ballast resistor for coil. No problems. I don't know how much a new coil is though. Is you're gas gauge working? 12 v might have fried it.

Curt B.

Actually I went to napa today and bought the coil, it was about 50 bucks and I have to pick it up tomorrow. That seemed a little expensive but whatever. My gas guage has been waving alot since I first put my 6V battery on it. 12V does the same thing so it might be fried...if it waves all over and does not give a very accurate reading does that mean its fried? I'm going to be heading down to scotts sometime in the near future to I will buy it then I guess. Thanks for the replies.

BTW, Hoggin, what kind of truck do you have? Do you have any pictures?

NAPA does carry voltage reducers. It was pretty cheap - I bought 4 things, including the voltage reducer, for a total of $16.

I put it on my '54 (running a 12 volt system) and my gas gauge is operating normally. The only thing I didn't like about it, is that it is made to be mounted (it is too heavy to hang off the back of the gas gauge). I had to be a little creative with mounting the voltage reducer behind the dash. Wasn't hard, just had to plan ahead. FYI.

Good luck,
K

If your gas gauge is moving then there's hope. My guess would be that your float came off the arm and it's bouncing up and down or the coil on the sender might be shorted. Either way the gauge should still be ok. Remove the wire at the ignition switch that goes to the gauge and investigate further. You could get Scott's to mail resistors to you. Should only take 2 days. Have you ever dealt with Gary Automotive? He quoted me $37.63 for the resistor coil. He knows every part number on everything back to the 1930'S and he's always cheapest. All auto parts stores in the province use him to track down old stuff. My truck is a 1952 1300 Chev. I'm closing in on finishing a 3 year frame off resto. It's fully assembled and I'm now blocking it out for paint. Don't have a recent picture but I took lots along the way. I can e-mail you some of panel replacement etc. if you want.

Curt B.

My gas gauge comes up to 1/8, and when I drive, it bounces..Just put a voltage reducer on it, but the PO had it hooked up to 12v..Is it fried? The truck sat in a field for about 6yrs with hardly any gas in it, so I thought that maybe the float or arm was sticking (I hope)..A new gauge is about $75.00..Thanks,Steve

You might also consider a Runtz for a voltage reducer. It is the only solid stave one available that mounts on the back of the gas gauge and is just 1/2 inch by inch. It makes for a much more reliable gas gauge readings and stops the nervous needle syndrome. By conrast the ceramic type of voltage reducers typically have a 40 percent error rate and to a gas gauge that runs on just a quarter of an amp...thats a lot.
Randy

Thanks guys! Actually I was going to phone Gary's for a fuel pump. I had heard about him but then napa referred me aswell. I am heading to napa to pick up the coil that I already paid for. While I am there I will check into the voltage reducer. Thanks again and I will report back!

I installed the coil but haven't tried it yet because I don't want to fry anything more than I already did. I asked about the voltage regulators and he said that all he had were ones that went from 12 down to 6v. O well I phoned Scotts and will have them by the weekend. Thanks again.