PhilJohnson Posted November 2, 2010 Report Share Posted November 2, 2010 Will it hurt anything? At the moment I have my 50 Dodge's ignition system running off of a 12 volt coil. I isolated the electrical system so the only thing that is running off of 12 volts is the starter and ignition. Everything else is disconnected from the battery. I just assumed that nothing would work. Tonight when I was backing up my car I noticed the brake lights came on. For kicks and giggles I turned the other lights on the car. They worked! They don't work as soon as a shut the motor off (using my two wire twist method) I plan on getting a 6 volt real soon so I don't want to screw anything up with 12 volts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
41/53dodges Posted November 2, 2010 Report Share Posted November 2, 2010 just turn on a light or 2 when you are running it. shouldnt hurt anything if its got a load. otherwise,the 12 volt conversion is fairly easy, you just need to worry about the: fuel gauge clock (if any) radio (if any) ignition coil (if you didnt change it already) starter solenoid (if any) lights positive ground system i know my truck is perfectly happy on 12 volt negative ground! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Coatney Posted November 2, 2010 Report Share Posted November 2, 2010 If your 12 volt coil requires an external resistor (such as the one pictured below) it is actually a 6 volt coil and should work well if you return everything back to original. The job of the external resistor is to drop voltage to 6 volts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilJohnson Posted November 3, 2010 Author Report Share Posted November 3, 2010 just turn on a light or 2 when you are running it. shouldnt hurt anything if its got a load. otherwise,the 12 volt conversion is fairly easy, you just need to worry about the:fuel gauge clock (if any) got that radio (if any) got that too ignition coil (if you didnt change it already) starter solenoid (if any) got that as well lights positive ground system I also have two solenoids for the transmission plus this weird electronic stuff on the carb. I also have an electric wiper motor as well. My Dodge is pretty fancy compared to most of the 50s cars I've had. Even my old Packard Clipper wasn't as fancy as the Dodge. For simplicity sake I am going to stay with 6 volt. Biggest help is some monster battery cables. My dad has them on his 54 Packard and that starts fine in the cold. I drove the old Dodge to work today (it is only 4 miles away) and turned on all the lights. Figured that would suck up all the extra current from the generator i know my truck is perfectly happy on 12 volt negative ground! My 51 Chevy dumptruck is pretty happy on 12 volt neg ground too but then there isn't even a starter solenoid to worry about on that one and it has vacuum wipers. If the Dodge had a simpler electric system I would try and convert but I am going to try and live with the 6 volt for now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.