50 Coronet project

[knuckleharley]

1 hour ago, Gregarious13 said:

Yes, there is a radio but we won't be using it, just the dial and controls for looks. Wipers are electric.

I have never understood why anyone worries about this. Just remove the fuse and you don't have to worry about it. If it's not fused,but a inline fuse in the wire going to it.

[Gregarious13]

5 minutes ago, knuckleharley said:

I have never understood why anyone worries about this. Just remove the fuse and you don't have to worry about it. If it's not fused,but a inline fuse in the wire going to it.

Are you talking about the radio? If so,  we are going to use a headphone jack to a small amplifier to drive the speakers. Only audio will be from a portable device like phone or iPod, so no need for any of the AM radio but we will use the original radio dials to turn on the amp and control the volume. If your talking about the wipers then there is already a fuse for them, but we will be using the wipers so I don't see why we would remove the fuse.

please clarify.

Greg

 

[Gregarious13]

I have had a couple beers already, maybe I should re read this tomorrow. The answer may be clear.

 

Greg

[knuckleharley]

4 minutes ago, Gregarious13 said:

Are you talking about the radio? If so,  we are going to use a headphone jack to a small amplifier to drive the speakers. Only audio will be from a portable device like phone or iPod, so no need for any of the AM radio but we will use the original radio dials to turn on the amp and control the volume. If your talking about the wipers then there is already a fuse for them, but we will be using the wipers so I don't see why we would remove the fuse.

please clarify.

Greg

 

You would remove the fuse from the fuse holder when starting the car with a 12 volt battery to keep from harming a 6 volt radio or any other 6 volt equipment.

Once done,you would replace the fuse.

[Gregarious13]

The radio is 6V Positive earth, it would most definitely not work on 12V negative earth as the car is wired now.  I don't see how removing a fuse while starting the car and then replacing it would protect the 6V devices while in operation. That would also be quite a hassle during normal every day use. I'm not worried about the radio anyway as we are converting it for use with an Ipod and Bluetooth. 

I am still  interested in weather I should use a voltage reducer on the window wiper motor. I imagine that it may move a bit too fast if the voltage is increased.  I think I saw a 12V wiper conversion somewhere that also had multiple speeds. I may go with that for ease of use. 

Greg

[knuckleharley]

23 minutes ago, Gregarious13 said:

The radio is 6V Positive earth, it would most definitely not work on 12V negative earth as the car is wired now.  I don't see how removing a fuse while starting the car and then replacing it would protect the 6V devices while in operation. That would also be quite a hassle during normal every day use. I'm not worried about the radio anyway as we are converting it for use with an Ipod and Bluetooth. 

I am still  interested in weather I should use a voltage reducer on the window wiper motor. I imagine that it may move a bit too fast if the voltage is increased.  I think I saw a 12V wiper conversion somewhere that also had multiple speeds. I may go with that for ease of use. 

Greg

Well,I tried to explain it,but I guess I will just have to give up.

[Gregarious13]

25 minutes ago, knuckleharley said:

Well,I tried to explain it,but I guess I will just have to give up.

I thank you very much for the input, regardless of my misunderstanding. 

Greg

[knuckleharley]

1 hour ago, Gregarious13 said:

I thank you very much for the input, regardless of my misunderstanding. 

Greg

Well,my explanations may have been lacking,also.

[Frank Elder]

Same with the wiper motor.

 

[vintage6t]

On 12/19/2017 at 7:54 PM, Gregarious13 said:

Ok, I got a question about Voltage reducers for the remaining 6V items in the car. What I think I need is one  reducer for the fuel gauge, one for the cloxk and maybe one for the heater blowers (do I even need one for them?). Is there anything else I need a voltage reducer for?  

I think the Gyro-Matic solenoid and governor will be ok on 12V. I'm changing all the light bulbs. The starter is fine. Am I missing something?

Greg

 

When I converted my 54 f100 to 12 volts, I used these 12v to 6v reducer.for the gauges and the larger ceramic resistor type reducers for the wipers and heater blower motor

Edited December 24, 2017 by vintage6t

[Gregarious13]

Thanks everyone! Merry Christmas! 

 

Here is what I will probably use:

12v to 6v DC-DC converter

 

This is similar to Vintage6t's recommendation and will take the 12v and provide a constant 6v but at 25A output. I should be able to use just one of these to power the few remaining 6V devices. 

 

I work on hybrid and electric cars for a living, they all have a DC-DC converter, but they deal with taking 200V-300V down to 12V. These cars don't have an alternator like a traditional car so the DC converter does that job. The answer has been right in front of me and I didn't notice.

 

Option 2:

 

I very well may just decide to replace the remaining 6v devices with 12v equivilants anyway as that will make for simplified/cleaner wiring.

 

The fuel gauge could be replaced with a modern gauge (just put the guts in the old housing). Speed Hut makes a fuel gauge that you can program to any sender.

 

The wiper motor can be replaced with a 12V fairy easily

 

We're eventually adding Vintage air to the car so the heater blower motor is part of that system. May just install the air box and only hook up the heater hoses for the time being.

 

That leaves the clock. I'm sure we can find another 12v analog clock that will.donate it's guts. I think the Chrysler 300M of the late 90's had an analog clock.

 

I hope everyone has a happy holiday and new year! 

 

Greg

[Adam H P15 D30]

Replace the wiper motor and heater motor with 12v equivalents, put a Runtz resistor on the fuel gauge and call it good. 

I did the gauge replacement to modern guts on my ammeter and though it works very well, it was a pain in the @$$ 

[Gregarious13]

2 minutes ago, Adam H P15 D30 said:

Replace the wiper motor and heater motor with 12v equivalents, put a Runtz resistor on the fuel gauge and call it good. 

I did the gauge replacement to modern guts on my ammeter and though it works very well, it was a pain in the @$$ 

 

That does seem very simple and straight forward. I do like simple!

The ammeter is another consideration as I won't be using it but I could replace it's guts with a volt meter so there is some charging system monitoring.

 

Thanks for your point of view!

Greg

[Adam H P15 D30]

Just now, Gregarious13 said:

 

That does seem very simple and straight forward. I do like simple!

The ammeter is another consideration as I won't be using it but I could replace it's guts with a volt meter so there is some charging system monitoring.

 

Thanks for your point of view!

Greg

I did that with my ammeter, not because of the 12v (ammeter doesn't care) but because of the 70a alternator. Besides I like volt meters better. 

[Gregarious13]

 

2 minutes ago, Adam H P15 D30 said:

I did that with my ammeter, not because of the 12v (ammeter doesn't care) but because of the 70a alternator. Besides I like volt meters better. 

 

My thoughts exactly!

 

Greg

[Gregarious13]

So here's how the dash looks now all wired up minus the 6V converter for the wipers, it will be where the dash speaker used to live.

 

I talked it over with my friend (the owner of the car) and he decided he wants to keep the 6v wipers and clock and just use the converter for them, so that's what I did.

 

I ran a wire to the glove box for a future power outlet he wants. 

 

The circuit breaker on the left is for the 6V devices, that's where the converter will connect. 

 

Circuit breaker on the right is for constant hot power to the power outlets and the under dash lights.

 

Under dash lights are on  a switch mounted on the bottom of the dash. That way the lights are in demand.

 

The high beam indicator light is now the low voltage charge warning light. No high beam indicator.

 

There is one ground wire from the dash that will bolt to the car body fo a good solid ground.

 

There will be three plugs on the dash. One for the wipers motor, one for the ignition switch, and one for the lighting and indicators.

 

All the light bulb socket contacts are new.

 

 

[Gregarious13]

A couple more pictures.

[pflaming]

That is beautiful work. I may return to my dash and take a picture of yours with me. 

[neil and ethan]

 gregarious 13    not to derail your topic,  maybe I am totally wrong ,  but     I was wanting to go the other way for now,

 with a 6 volt to 12 volt converter .  saw on amazon ,  50 $     4 wires ,    looks exactly like your voltage reducer in the pic.

 

     leave the car 6 volt, pos grnd.  ,  and to run a radio  etc .  maybe power seats ,     buy this converter. for  a 12 volt source

      I could be making some wrong assumptions here,

 so tell me .

 the specs on the  thing are 5-11 volts in ,    12.5 volts out , 10 amp . 200 watt. output .

  now several questions .

     will  12 v  neg. grnd.   radios and speakers work , if I only have insulated  ground to my 12 volt source.

 or does it matter.

 

    assuming THIS CONVERTER  may not be big enough to run a power seat , or maybe even a stereo .

     if I put a 12 volt battery in the trunk,  for surge,

     would this converter keep the 12 volt charged .

  or would it over charge and boil it away,

 

    

   

        

[Gregarious13]

N&E,

The converter your talking about is also known as a boost converter or step up converter. Theses are in hybrid vehicles too, but to supply a higher voltage to the drive motors under heave acceleration. 

 

The way you want to use it will work, in theory. But because it will be increasing the voltage it will also be reducing the current available. You can't have high current and voltage unless you use a capacitor to store the voltage and be able dump it (at high current) when needed. 

 

The capacitor won't work for continuous high current draw, only short bursts.

 

Most likely the power seats will draw too much current for the converter, so those are not going to work.

 

If you want this to work for the radio, you will need to find what the current (amperage) demand is from the stereo and speakers you plan to use is. If it's within the limits of the converter, then it will work.

 

As far as grounding the chassis of the radio, it will most likely need to be isolated from the car body. That being said, the boost converter should have two grounds, one for the supply and the other for the load. The converter will need 6v negative earth and the body of the converter will also likely need to be isolated from the cars chassis ground because your car is positive earth.

 

 

I wouldn't trust the converter to regulate the charging of a 12v battery on it's own, it's just a switched power supply, the devices using it's power do the voltage and current regulation but a battery doesn't have that capability.

 

It may be a good idea to at least converter to negative earth on the car. That means reversing the wiring on polarity sensitive devices. I believe the generator and regulator can be polarized for negative earth. Someone else will need to chime in on that. At least that would allow you to have a common earth between the converter, car and radio.(less chance of fire)

 

If your converting to negative earth then a12v battery and alternator is not much harder. 

 

Bottom line is the boost converter will work for loads within its limits but will need to be completely isolated from the chassis (assuming the car is positive earth) and it will not charge a 12v battery. The converters output is determined mostly be it's input voltage and current.

 

I hope that answers your question.

Feel free to PM me and we can discuss further if you'd like.

 

Greg

 

 

[Gregarious13]

A little more progress on the wiring. We got the engine compartment and transmission wired. Front lights and horn are next.

 

the transmission interrupter resistor and solenoid circuit breaker were moved to the firewall for cleanliness.

 

onve the correct battery is in place I'll make a real hold down, the one in the pictures was temporary for the test drive.

 

 

[Gregarious13]

I wired up two relays with their own power supply and ground, direct to the battery. One relay for low beam and the other for high.

 

this will take the load off the 62 year old headlight switch, and make the headlights really bright. I'll be using 9003 halogen bulbs.

[Gregarious13]

The front lights and horn are wired.

[Gregarious13]

The 12v-6v DC-DC converter showed up and I got that installed. I fabricated a simple aluminum plate that bolts on using the radio grill screws. I used a little foam tape on the rear in case it vibrates against the dash and for wire rub through protection. The converter is mounted with rivet nuts. 

 

I left the extra aluminum for future addition of the stereo components. In the past I have used a small amplifier chip that will power two speakers and has a headphone jack input. You can also have a Bluetooth input too. The chips use various input voltages so watch out for that when choosing one. All that will show on the dash will be a small 3.5mm headphone jack. Click here for an example.

 

All the Packard connectors are installed for the dash and under dash wiring. I have one for the ignition switch, one for the wipers and one for the lighting switch. 

 

i also took apart the turn signal switch and cleaned the contacts and replaced all the wires. I used a 6 gang Packard connector for that too.

[mrwrstory]

Gregarious,

I am struck by so few "attaboys!"  Even 'tho I'm way past wiring issues on my car, I enjoy seeing you workmanship and your work ethic. We need more "hands on" young guys and you are a great example.  Keep up the good work, keep us posted and,....keep us honest!

Good job and,..  atta boy!