The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay 6 volt radio

I searched for old discussions on the advantages and disadvantages of switching from 6 volt to 12 volt. There are quite a few opinions but it seems to come down to better lighting, the advantages of modern sounds, and maybe easier starting. Living in a cooler climate the extra voltage may help starting on cold days.

I still have one big question. What do I have to do to switch the orginal 6 volt radio to 12 volt? I'm trying to keep the orginal look and feel of the truck without changing too much. Can the orginal radio live through a change?

How do you figure "it's a shame that the Ford guys thought of it."? What difference does that make? It has some very helpful info.

actually the Ford guys didn't "think of it" they just wrote it down - folks have been doin exactly that for decades, and you can get all the necessary voltage dropping stuff from any repro GM parts dealer who covers a lot of the 6V years - or from any Radio Shack, and any w/ a good tech on staff could prolly even design it for ya

Bill

That's good info at the FORD website.

My neighbor who is a retired Buick mechanic told me he upgraded to 12v an old '50 Chev he had. With a 12v generator in place, he just bought one more 6v battery & wired it in in series. Now it's possible to tap off either 6v battery to run things like the original radio and anything else you dont want to go out & buy 12v parts for. The starter he left 6v but fires it up with 12v. As long as you don't hold the starter button down for extended periods it works just fine and spins much faster. You would have to replace the 6v starter with a 12v one anyway so get all the mileage possible out of the old one. He said it lasted untill he sold it a few years later.

That is a good article on three terminal regulators. They give the best results because the output doesn't vary much with the load.

The radios can be converted to 12 volt operation. You need a power transformer out of an old 12v tube radio, a 12 v vibrator and a set of 12 v tubes. The old GM Sonomatic radios turm up on Ebay all the time in the 12 v form.

Not to hijack the thread, but...

THANKS to TooMany2count!!! Now I can go to Radio Shack, spend about $10, and do a simple 12V conversion!!!

Excellent Info... Who cares if it is on the F*rd site? You can bet your a$$ that the US learned everything they could from the Japanese during WWII.

I'm with you Joe... I was born in '66 and i figure if its older than I am its cool... no matter what make...

I especially like the looks of the early '50's F*rd... The one on Sanford and Son...

www.antiqueautobattery.com sells a twelve volt battery with a six bolt tap.

Thanks guys - I think I will start with Radio Shack and go from there.

Another alternative would be two 6v optima batteries. You'll have to modify the battery hole in an AD to get them to fit though.

Ok... so I went to Radio Shack to get the parts...

They don't carry the 7806 or 7808 regulator.

They don't carry the 2N5881 transistor either.

Resistors, diodes, caps no problem.

Soooooo... I am trying another route...

Using a LM317T variable regulator with a potentiometer. the result should give me an ADJUSTABLE output range of 1.2V to 13.8V. Used in conjunction with a 2N3055 transistor, I should get up to 15 Amps of current capacity.

I will try to get it done today and will post my results. Once it is tested, I will post a schematic.

If it works, I may be interested in marketing the whole assembly. It seems like there is quite a demand for a 12V primary - 6V secondary power supply, and nothing commercially available.