Electrical question

Erwin Sanchez-Flores has a nice 6v/12v set up on his pickup that I saw at the national meet. He's in the roster.

If you're going to go to all that trouble of fitting a 12V alternator why not switch the whole car over to 12 volts....I did and it was fairly easy. That way all your bulbs are cheap and easy to get, there is less stress on your wiring...etc.

You can install a 12 to 6 Voltage Reducer Regulator to provide 6 volts for the overdrive and gauges. It works grate on my 48 Packard that I changed over to 12 volt for air conditioning. you can get a 20 amp unit on eday for about $50.00

Richie:

On one of my other cars, we have a 12 volt reducer that uses a relay to shorten the amount of wire to the horn. You might want to switch to 12 volts and use a reducer for small stuff and a reducer with relay for the larger loads. Just a suggestion, your car(ride), I'm still having starting troubles when the engine is hot, may have to go 12 volts. Bob

One of these days I'd like to do the inverter thing as well.



I like my 6 volt system, and intend to keep it. However, a cell phone charger is something I'd need on a long trip too.



This topic stays on the back of my mind, so I'm paying attention to the recommendations here.



Mark

Richie-



Just food for thought, here. I know you are still undecided on which way to go, but thought I would fill you in with the changes I've made and let you keep pondering your route.



In Doc, our '52 Sedan (one in the avatar), even though she had 116,000 original miles when I bought her, the original wiring was frayed, missing insulation in places, etc. On a sidenote, my in-laws house burned to the ground after their Lincoln spontaneously combusted. Since I'm not real fond of fires, or of "chasing shorts", I took out ALL the original wiring and went with a modern fuse box and all new wiring. While I was at it, a 12V conversion ensued, mostly because I wanted AC. Yes, that means a few reducers, all new bulbs, adding the alternator, adding a rewound starter, new coil and VR. I run a modern day AC/Heat system, a modern stereo system that is hidden inside the tissue dispenser (not yet installed). Additionally, just before the nationals, I put a socket charger in the dash and two in the B-Posts for backseat occupants (the boys use them for video games and DVD players).



Pros and Cons: Some of the pros include beautiful night-time driving with the halogens, phone charger and GPS convenience, always a good strong charge and starting capabilities, hotter spark, brighter taillights and courtesy lights, CD capabilities or even such things as Sirius could easily be added, and the 45* cooling that comes out of the vents with the AC on, is most beneficial here in the deep South. Most importantly, I've got tremendous peace of mind.



I'm one of the ones that's a somewhat stickler for originality. That said, most everything I've done is hidden (like the stereo in the tissue dispenser), the under-dash unit looks as though it "could've" been factory, the bracket I used for the compressor is an old-school unit, the GPS can reside in the open glovebox or can easily be removed from the windshield while parking, and I put some lights in the original radio, so it will still "light up" at night.



Some of the Cons include: Price. New wiring, new fuse block, new bulbs, alternator, starter, not counting your time, is going to cost something, but it's not exorbitant by any means. Another con, for me anyway, is that I am no electrical genius. As a matter of fact, electricity scares me, to tell the truth. BUT, I can follow a schematic. Along with Park's help, Ken Cates' website, and some time, it's done, and done right--everything works. Lastly, yes, you are giving up some originality with the 6V system, i.e., no generator, different battery, 12V headlamps. There IS something to be said for a good, solid 6V system that works like it was designed to work. For me, I just couldn't "modernize" with an out-dated and worn-out system.