6V, 12V Battery question

I am about to purchase a 49 Windsor and have a battery question. The current owner bought the car and purchased a new 6v battery assuming this was correct. The lights barely come on, blinkers won't work and the motor won't turn over. He stuck a 12v in there (and there is a ballast resistor) and everything works great and the car fires right up. Almost seems like a 12v conversion was done by someone else. How can I tell if a conversion was actually done? Seems like the car needs that 12v. If a conversion was not done, is it safe to continue to use the 12v battery since there is a ballast resistor? Thanks for the help.

You should look at the bulbs to figure out if it has been converted.

There has been much talk on here about using the proper battery cables. If it has small 12 volt cables it may cause issues with a 6 volt system. Also to convert to 12 volts will make it necessary to put shunts in each gauge, radio, clock, fan motor, wiper motor etc.

I see a lot of guys convert to 12 volts and find that it is not as easy as swapping a battery and light bulbs.

You may be able to look at the starter and generator for voltage markings.

It is practically impossible to convert a 49 Windsor to 12v and do it right. It has too many 6v electric parts that do not interchange, and cannot be replaced by 12v equivalents.

If it was done even half assed, the generator or alternator will be 12v and so will the coil. The light bulbs may be 12v. Things like windshield wiper motor, heater blower, radio, transmission controls, are the hard parts to change. It may have a Runtz voltage reducer, or a big resistor, or several of them. Or a center tap off the battery.

There is a good chance the car is still 6v but suffering from dirty connections, the wrong size battery cables (too small) and 60 years of wear and tear.

Start by inspecting the parts I noted above, and get back to us with the answer. We will know what to do from there (probably start cleaning and tightening connections, and testing parts).

Things like the radio and heater I'm not too worried about. I live in Texas so the heater is not needed too often. If I change out the cables on the battery and leave that ballast resistor on there, is it safe to leave the 12v battery on there?

You can pull a head light and see what voltage it is, look at the tag on the generator /regulator.

Many battery cables are replaced with ones from the auto parts store rack that are about 1/4 the size they should be.

The battery cable clamps should not be the ones with 2 bolts. Check for good clean connections including switches and solenoid.

No it is not. Use the 6v battery.

If it will not start and run on 6 volts you need to fix what is wrong. A 12v battery WILL NOT fix broken, worn out, or incorrect parts.

You might as well fix it properly, you will have to in the end. Putting in a 12v battery will only burn everything out faster.

You should also know, Chrysler used a POSITIVE GROUND electrical system. This means the battery goes in "backwards" compared to today's NEGATIVE GROUND systems. This is a common source of trouble, someone puts the battery in back to front and wonders why it doesn't work.

You should also know, Chrysler products had LEFT HAND THREADS on the left side wheel bolts. This too is a common source of agony to Chrysler newbies.

How about starter, generator, transmission, windshield wipers, headlights, tail lights, horn, do you care if they work? They are all electric on a 49 Chrysler. Feed 12 volts to a 6 volt system and they may never work again.

I'm new to all this, so sorry for all the questions. Would that ballast resistor not bring the voltage down to an acceptable level?

I just can't figure out why the six Volt battery barely worked, but the twelve volt has the car acting like normal.

It worked the way a shot of crystal meth can wake up a hop head. With similar results over the long term. You can wake up a half dead meth head with another shot of meth, and keep him going for a while but eventually everything burns out.

A quick glance under the hood will tell you if the car has a generator or an alternator. If it still has the generator, it is stock 6v + ground, 99 chances out of 100.

Just putting the 6v battery in right way around will help a lot. After that you can check the battery cables and start cleaning connections. From there, move on to repairing or replacing worn out, broken or blown parts.

I know this sounds like work and expense but believe me, nothing compared to the work and expense of trying to make that car work on 12 volts. There is no easy way out, and trying to use a 12v battery or change to 12 volts will NOT fix the problems but only make them worse.

Of course the best idea is DON'T BUY THE CAR. Frankly, 49 Chryslers are not very good, they are slow, obsolete, and lacking in all kinds of things besides 12 volt electrics. Things like power steering, power brakes, disc brakes, decent radio, V8 engine, proper automatic, etc etc etc.

Just 7 or 8 years later, by the mid fifties, they had cars that had V8s, proper automatics, 12 volts systems and everything else. So don't be a sucker, drop that heap and find a better car. Don't waste your time and money trying to turn that heap into something it isn't.

Quit fighting this.

As suggested pull a light bulb and see if it is a 6V or 12V. As Rusty has said if someone has tried to convert to 12V there are no 12V replacement for the various transmission controls. Get the proper 6V battery (Group 1) you can order them from NAPA or get them a farm/tractor supply store. Get the correct size battery cables, gauge O or OO (ought or double ought). Again the farm/tractor store.

A properly maintained 6V system is just as good as a 12V system. The 12V will give the appearance of working in a defective 6V system because it has twice the voltage to overcome bad connections and faulty wiring of a 6V system. Think of voltage as water pressure. 6V may not fully flow through a dirty pipe but 12V has the pressure to blow out the dirt and then cause leaks at weak connections.

Last year I bought a 52 Imperial and the first thing I did was get a new 6V battery, battery cables, radiator and heater hoses, brake shoes, brake cylinders, brake hoses. All these were replaced before I ever attempted to drive it on the street. It has the hemi V8 which has 7.5 to 1 compression ratio which is more than the compression of your flathead six. The 6V system spins the hemi to life just as well and fast as a modern high compression engine with 12V.

He says the car has a new 6v battery. Has not checked if it has an alternator or hasn't reported back.

Rusty. You have given him very good advice. Now it is up to him.

Wayne

Yeah, up to him to repeat the same mistakes we all made. O well, experience keeps a dear school but fools will learn in no other, as Ben Franklin said.

The 49 Windsor had a positive ground. Some things may work if you have the battery cables reversed. The clock may run backwards.

And the horn may suck instead of blow ha ha old joke.

Taking everything into consideration that I've learned here, I decided not to buy the car. The search continues. Thanks again for all the help on here.

Good idea. If you buy a car just 10 years newer you will have a much better, more modern car.

And...

Won't have to deal with that Prestomatic transmission either.

Won't have to deal with a lot of things.

I'm new to the forum and just purchased a restored 1926 Chrysler 58 Phaeton.

The car is RHD and was originally shipped to Austraila in 1926. It was restored in 1994 and then shipped to South Africa.

The fellow I bought the car from drove and enjoyed the car in South Africa and then had the car shipped to his home

here in East Texas. He shipped the car here in 2002, drove it about 500 miles and then put it in his barn under a cover.

It sat there until I took it out of the barn this year.

After owning several antique vehicles over the years I have these questions:

I was surprised to see that this vehicle has a 6V negative ground electrical system.

everthing I've owned in the past; 1951 and earlier was all Positive ground.

Is it true that cars shipped overseas to the UK or Aussi land were all Neg ground elect systems?

I'm also looking for any source of parts for this car as I need to service the brakes, etc

Thanks for any help and would love to contact anyone who ownes one of these cars......

My 1949 Windsor is a negative ground and I suspect that all earlier model were also. Try the "Resources" link on the left side of the WPC home page; a lot of good sources there. The fist place I would look is Andy Bernbauam http://www.oldmoparts.com/ . His inventory is extensive. Collectors auto supply has an online parts catalog that can help you find part numbers - www.collectorsautosupply.com .

The British cars and motorcycles I owned all had positive ground electrics, even the 12 volt ones. I doubt Chrysler made any such change to export cars. In the early days there were various systems, 6v 12v and even 24v, some + ground some - ground. It is possible Chrysler did not go to + ground on all models until after 1926 or maybe the car was changed at some time.

Ron your car may be - ground now but it was + ground when it left the factory.

My car is a positive ground...just miss stated.