6 volt Battery Charging

[BigDave LM6174]

Look online, you can find them reasonably priced.  One of mine came direct from them at their website. 

[BigDave LM6174]

Batterytender.com
Part number 021-0144 is the one I prefer.  It has nice LED lights that are easy to read and it does not get warm like the smaller version, but both 6 volts work great.

[retired wrench]

  Fid you can do a sort of a batt test with a volt meter. Hook it to batt. check voltage, have someone crank it over and see how far the voltage drops. Say it drops to 2 volts you either have a weak batt. or a starter drawing too much amperage. Poor mans load test.

[Fid]

You can put a meter on it, read 6.3 volts but as soon as you hit the starter it will go to zero.

Pretty much what I said. True though, a shorted starter could cause the same symptom.

[JoeKeys2010]

Ok I went to the car this morning (I have it in a garage away from the house) and put a volt meter on it before starting it and the meter registered 6.2.  Cranked the car looked at the meter 6.2.  Increased the RPM to almost max, no movement on the volt meter, still 6.2.  I live in a small town and the nearest alternator shop is about 45 minutes away so I don't really want to drive that far if the car is not charging.  I sent the generator to the shop to make sure it was good.  I took one off of my parts car as well.  They said the one on my car was good but had to build the one on the parts car.  I installed one of the two on my car but don't remember which.  I did the same thing with the starters and both checked out good.  This guy builds starters/alternators/generators for me at work; everything from forklifts to welders to locomotives to automobiles so I trust his work.  My guess is the voltage regular, which looks very old, might not be working as it is the only thing I have not tested.  What do you think?

[joefrazer]

I agree, the voltage reg is not working. Remove the cover and check the contacts on each post for corrosion. They sometimes stick together as well. You can clean the contacts, use a fine sandpaper or emery cloth. Check to make sure all grounds are good...bad grounds will prevent a complete circuit.

[Terry T]

best deal for 6V Battery Tender Plus is $42 w/free shipping from Amazon

[kaiservagabond]

A simple test of the generator is to start the engine and let it idle. run a jumper from the FIELD terminal of the generator to a good ground.  Now get in the drivers seat and slowly accelerate the engine a watch the ampmeter.  As the engine speeds up you will see the needle on the ampmeter will follow the engine speed but don't let it go over the 35 reading on the gauge.  this will tell you if your problem is with the generator or the regulator.  If the needle on the gage shows a charge then the generator is good but the regulator is bad.

[JoeKeys2010]

Just got home from playing with the car.  I put a muiltimeter on it set on volts.  Battery fully charged registers 6.2.  Cranked the car 6.2.  Pulled on the headlights on bright dropped to 5.9.  Ran this way for 20 minutes no change 5.8  Turned off the head lights went to 6.1.  Ran for 20 mins no change 6.1. 

Put one end on a battery terminal and one end to one of the wires on the generator 6.8.  Tried the other wire on the generator 6.8.  Checked the two wires at the voltage regulator 6.8.  Changed the mulitimeter to the opposite battery post and the other end on the third wire on the voltage regulator 6.8.

Car ran for about an hour.  Shut it off and tried to crank it back up and it was sluggish.  Turned it off tired to crank it again, battery died.  Got the voltage regulator out of the parts car, no change in the above scenario.  Volt meter did not increase with terminals on the battery and the RPM's on the car increased.

My guess is both voltage regulators are bad.  Napa has one that I can order for $70.  I suppose I will buy it and try that.  One last thing, made sure all wires had good connections and sanded all the points.

[Terry T]

when you work on points, use a very fine grit, eg, 1000
points are typically burnished with a fine file that has diamond dust on it

[JoeKeys2010]

I know about sanding points.  I think the regulators are just bad.

[joefrazer]

Here's what you need!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1946-53-HUDSON-N-O-S-NAPA-VR-25-SIX-VOLT-REGULATOR-/171172619599?pt=Vintage_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item27daaee54f&vxp=mtr

[JoeKeys2010]

It's available new for $70 but I like the price of this one better. Thanks

[JoeKeys2010]

Ordered it.  It will be here Friday - Monday. Hopefully this will solve my electrical problem. Thanks again joefrazer.

[JoeKeys2010]

Put on a new voltage regulator today and it's charging!  The meter on the dash moved, it will run with the negative battery cable disconnected and the volt meter is registering 7.2  at the battery with the car running at a good idle.  Put it on a slow trickle charge tonight to get a full charge on it.  I did notice with the car switched off that the negative battery cable will spark a little when reconnected to the battery.  Is that normal?