Re: 12volt battery in a 6 volt system

Posted by captaink on May 02, 2005 at 13:03:14 from (66.115.214.56):

In Reply to: 12volt battery in a 6 volt system posted by lekander883 on May 01, 2005 at 05:35:48:

Ah… I don’t want to offend anyone but here are a few things to consider when converting from 6-volts to 12-volt system ezpecialy the concern about burning out a 6-volt starter with 12-volts. I say this is a myth for the following reasons.

First, the law of physics states that in electricity; power in watts = amps multiplied by volts (or watts divided by volts = amps). Now, if you have a 600 amp 6 volt battery it will put out 3600 watts of power. If it takes all the electricity the 6-volt battery will put out to start an engine that means the starter takes 3600 watts of power. If you convert that system to 12-volts, 3600 watts divided by 12 volts equals 300 amps. Since the 6-volt starter is designed to carry 600 amps, the windings are heavy enough to handle the 300 amps at 12 volts easily. This equation is the same reason that when you wire in an electric motor or other similar load in your home or shop that takes 30 amps to run on 120 volts, it takes only 15 amps on 240 volts. Since on 240 volts it takes less amperage, lighter wire can be used to get the same wattage (power) for the motor.

Second, from the personal experience I have from converting a B, C, and an M to 12-volts. The M was done over 25 years ago. This tractor was (and still is) under a loader and was used almost daily for 18 years. In that time the only starter I replaced was the starter on the M and only once. Yup, you read that right ONCE. That replacement was the original one (1950 model) finally wearing the bushings far enough to cause the armature to drag on the fields. Nope, didn’t burn up, just wore out from all the starts it delivered.

I still maintain that if you burn out a 6-volt starter (either with a 6 or 12 volt battery) it is because you abused it by running it too long at one time and not giving it enough time to cool off.

By the way, I think the cost and effort of putting in a charging device is well worth it.

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