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12v alt on 6v system


Mazdawg78

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Adding another alternator would require some pulley and belt work, just as adding power steering or air conditioning.  It could be done, and has been done. 

Electrically, I don't see a problem with a separate 12-volt system.  But maybe could use a 6-volt to 12-volt inverter to power the electronics, if they do not draw too much current.   Remember that the 6-volt side would require more than double the amperage of the 12-volt side, so you would need adequate wiring and fuse or breaker.   

I had a 12-volt pusher fan and a jury-rigged second battery to get the 12 volts.  I replaced the pusher fan with a 6-volt unit, and deleted the second battery.  Then I added an inverter for cellphones, GPS devices, etc.  So far, so good. 

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Is your 'Crown Imperial"  an 8 passenger or divider limo.....

Or is it an Imperial sedan?

Edited by Dodgeb4ya
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I would just convert the car to 12v. With the setup you are proposing you would have to change to negative ground anyway, might as well go to 12v and complete the conversion. If the wiring and switches are in good shape, 12v would run through it all just fine  

Adam

 

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5 hours ago, Dodgeb4ya said:

Is your 'Crown Imperial"  an 8 passenger or divider limo.....

Or is it an Imperial sedan?

Sedan. 

Power everything so lots of resistors.  I've searched on converting it to 12v but the search engine on here doesn't like my phone and doesn't give me any results. 

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i am totally clueless when it comes to this 6v stuff.  Whole new world.  What exactly do i need to do to convert to a 12v alternator system? I have power windows and all the little bells and whistles. The factory radio is no concern and will be disconnected.  I will be putting an aftermarket in the glove box.  Do i just put 12-6v resistors in the gauges, wiper motor and power windows? I also heard something about the distributor. 

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10 hours ago, Adam H P15 D30 said:

I would just convert the car to 12v. With the setup you are proposing you would have to change to negative ground anyway, might as well go to 12v and complete the conversion. If the wiring and switches are in good shape, 12v would run through it all just fine  

Adam

 

You do not have to change the 6V system to negative ground to please the 12V system you can run both with no interference from either one. There is a member Richie Hodge???? that runs a 6V positive genny for the original stuff and a 12V negative alternator for his A/C........and it works just fine, Plymouthy knows the guy.

Edited by Frank Elder
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that was Richie's brother, the car sold many years ago and a member here now owns that vehicle though not really active here for a spell.   Not been on the road for a bit as I recall.  If you not aware of the twins system making some voltage reading on the vehicle will have you scratching your head and looking over your shoulder for Mr Lucas.

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Thank you Don, I remember that thread now.  I just can't imagine why he kept the the 6v pos ground system in addition to a 12v neg ground system adding that much complexity.  Keeping the car stock shouldn't have been a concern at that point with all the other mods he did.

But we are getting off topic to the OP's question, so I guess the answer to him is yes and I got the benefit of learning something new today :) 

Adam

Edited by Adam H P15 D30
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1 hour ago, Mazdawg78 said:

Only reason i thought that adding a stand alone 12v for radio and compressors is because i heard/read that it's expensive to do.  I still can't find exactly what i need to do to convert whole car to a 12v neg ground system

At the top of the page click on the section for Technical Tips , then click on Technical , then click on Convert Or keep The faith , 6 Or 12 Volts . 

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***MAKE SURE YOUR WIRING HARNESS IS IN GOOD SHAPE*** Or replace it!

Change light bulbs and headlamps to 12v units

Add a Runtz resistor to fuel guage (though I've heard it will run fine on 12v)

Change heater motor to 12v (I used a 60's Dart)

Swap polarity on battery cables

Install 12v alt (you're planning to anyway)

Install 12v starter relay (6v starter is fine as long as you don't crank on it for 10 minutes)

Install 12v horn relay, horns don't care

Install ballast resistor to coil and reverse coil wires

If that car has power windows or power seats (not sure) it will get more complicated.

I probably forgot something but it's not difficult.

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22 hours ago, Mazdawg78 said:

Sedan. 

Power everything so lots of resistors.  I've searched on converting it to 12v but the search engine on here doesn't like my phone and doesn't give me any results. 

If your car was a Chrysler  "Crown Imperial" in 1953 it would be a factory 12 volt car.

1951-52  were still 6 volt hemi cars. 

Crown Imperials all have 145" wheel base and roughly about 350 were built in 1951 thru 1952..

There were over 21,000 1951 thru 52 Chrysler Imperials built like your car. Just a little fun info!

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9 hours ago, Jerry Roberts said:

At the top of the page click on the section for Technical Tips , then click on Technical , then click on Convert Or keep The faith , 6 Or 12 Volts . 

Thank you.  I've tried.  My phone does not like this page for some reason. 

9 hours ago, Adam H P15 D30 said:

***MAKE SURE YOUR WIRING HARNESS IS IN GOOD SHAPE*** Or replace it!

Change light bulbs and headlamps to 12v units

Add a Runtz resistor to fuel guage (though I've heard it will run fine on 12v)

Change heater motor to 12v (I used a 60's Dart)

Swap polarity on battery cables

Install 12v alt (you're planning to anyway)

Install 12v starter relay (6v starter is fine as long as you don't crank on it for 10 minutes)

Install 12v horn relay, horns don't care

Install ballast resistor to coil and reverse coil wires

If that car has power windows or power seats (not sure) it will get more complicated.

I probably forgot something but it's not difficult.

Thank you very much.

All dash cluster lights or run a resistor to it? 

Swapping polarity on cables meaning just reverse them?  Putting the 6v pos on the 12v neg? 

I do have the power windows but not seat. 

5 hours ago, Dodgeb4ya said:

If your car was a Chrysler  "Crown Imperial" in 1953 it would be a factory 12 volt car.

1951-52  were still 6 volt hemi cars. 

Crown Imperials all have 145" wheel base and roughly about 350 were built in 1951 thru 1952..

There were over 21,000 1951 thru 52 Chrysler Imperials built like your car. Just a little fun info!

Yes. It is a 52 crown imperial. 6v 331 hemi. Gyromatic trans. Etc etc thank you for the info

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8 hours ago, Mazdawg78 said:

Thank you very much.

All dash cluster lights or run a resistor to it? 

Swapping polarity on cables meaning just reverse them?  Putting the 6v pos on the 12v neg? 

I do have the power windows but not seat. 

Yes. It is a 52 crown imperial. 6v 331 hemi. Gyromatic trans. Etc etc thank you for the info

Change the cluster bulbs

Swap the battery cables

Windows - site above my reply

Gyro trans - I ran an R10 years ago with 6v solenoids on 12v for a long time without problems.  Not sure on your transmission solenoids.  Do they make 12v solenoids for the Gyro?  Maybe on the site above (they do list R10 solenoids)  You have an extended bell 331 so transmission swaps are limited.  Contact Wayfarer on this site if you wish to go that route.  On a side note, if he has a way to adapt a TF727 to a long bell 331, the performance would be significantly improved over the Gyro that's in it now.  Don't kid yourself, a trans swap is a major undertaking, I would look into 12v solenoids first, if available, run yours on 12v and see if they last.

Adam

 

Edited by Adam H P15 D30
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On 10/22/2017 at 3:56 PM, Mazdawg78 said:

I have a 1952 crown imperial with the 6v system.  I want to run air ride and a small stereo in it. I don't want to run all new electrical.  Could i run a single wire 12v alternator to an accessory 12v battery in tree trunk to run the compressor without repercussions

Why not add a 6 volt to 12 volt inverter ahead of just the air ride and stereo ?  Go to negative ground also.

Edited by dale
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  • 4 weeks later...

many of the companies will not list their input power requirements to sustain the rated output voltage and amperage...for giggles if you search you will find that if you get a 10 amp continuous output at 12 volt from the typical 6 volt input inverter, you current input to produced that from the 6 volt source is approx. 23 amps...you just eat up 50% of your output from the generator at SPEED....if you run this inverter at idle with a generator given the output you are eating your battery reserve..this is a negative curve....be totally sure of the operating parameters of any inverter you should install.  At the cost of a quality inverter....practicality does not enter the equation in my opinion.

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Converting it to 12volt is the only way to go unless you have a concourse level car, if you have a driver and want to have a more reliable system convert to 12 volts a hand full of bulbs and one of these and your done. I did my 32 roadster and no one was the wiser. Sure switching out all the relays starter etc. if the "correct" way to do a conversion but for things like a starter motor that is only used briefly I have done it many times as well as a lot of guys I've spoken to and have never had an issue. The key is good wiring wiring, if yours is in good shape your golden. On my roadster my battery was mounted under the floor in your case thats the only give away but I recall seeing dummy covers some wherepwm-82101_fp.jpg?rep=False

 

 

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   Should you decide to convert the car to 12v, I’d recommend contacting Ron Francis Wire Works. I rewired our ‘46 Plymouth (which was wired 6v negative ground when we got it) as the insulation was literally falling off of the wiring, using their “Git It Runnin’” harness, and now instead of just one fuse, we’ve got several. They were very helpful when I had questions, too. I can’t recommend them enough. They’ve got many harness systems available, so it’s just a matter of selecting what you want/need, and then visiting with them to confirm what would be optimum for your application.

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Here's one thing that I neglected to mention, if you're so inclined to run your stock 6 volt radio when you convert it over to 12 volts it's not going to be too happy about and before too long it will give up the ghost in a cloud of smoke. However the folks at Customautosound.com have thought of a solution. A convertor to run any 6 volt accessory on 12 volts

http://customautosoundmfg.com/product/power-inverter

 

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