Dynamo 12 Conversion, any thoughts?

[Henry Boler]

Hi All,

 

I've been thinking about the inevitable and have been wondering what to do with my dynamo. When my truck (1931 Dodge Brothers UF-10 Panel Van) was on the road I was on 12V and all was well, but had a 12V alternator on the engine. I have the original dynamo and it is in good condition, but ideally I'd like to run it on 12V and am looking at options. Seems that it could be rewound to 12V but there are caveats being that there may not be room inside for all the extra wire required as you halve the diameter of the winding wire but double the number of coils which equates to a chunkier winding.

 

Another option is to regulate it to 12V but then it only charges at higher revs which is not ideal at all.

 

In my head I wondered if I might be able to come up with a clever digital solution that can step the voltage up from 6V to 12V but I haven't looked into that yet.

 

I want the truck on 12V because of things like jump starting, charging and also in England it seems almost impossible to get a 6V battery that will last more than 6 months whereas the 12V ones are great and all have a 5 year warranty and are less than half the price too.

 

Has anyone here had a rewind done or any other style of conversion? Let me know your thoughts,

 

Regards,

 

Henry

[TerryB]

A 6V to 12v converter probably can’t supply the amperage you would need to run the lights.  Would a 12 generator from a 1956 and up Chrysler product fit?  

[Alan Cutler]

Hi Henry, did you see where Matt actually installed a 12v unit, housing and all, inside of a 6v Generator shell....

 

Page 19, post dated April 25.

 

 

 

 

[Henry Boler]

On 6/19/2021 at 7:10 PM, TerryB said:

A 6V to 12v converter probably can’t supply the amperage you would need to run the lights.  Would a 12 generator from a 1956 and up Chrysler product fit?  

This may be the best option I think. I'm very reluctant to do any damage to the dynamo as is. So that could live out its life in a box if I find a nice looking alternative. Might have to be an English option from something though given my location. Dodge and Chrysler stuff doesn't show up often here.

 

On 6/19/2021 at 9:27 PM, Alan Cutler said:

Hi Henry, did you see where Matt actually installed a 12v unit, housing and all, inside of a 6v Generator shell....

 

Page 19, post dated April 25.

This is also a clever solution. It would still require a replacement dynamo first as I'm not going to machine out the original. Interestingly I seem to recall someone selling devices branded "Dynamators" which are as you may guess, alternators that look like dynamos.