Technical with all the 6v vs 8 v batterys....

how do you charge a dead 8v battery???

 

8v charger

 

But I’ve heard of folks using a 12v charger on low settings.

 

Anthony is on the right track. On chargers, the "open circuit voltage" (no load) is higher than the battery voltage; it has to be, or the battery wouldn't charge. With the batteries load on it, the battery will bring the voltage down, and as long as you're not "pouring the coal" to it, you should be OK. But watch it for a while. I found this out when I bought a solar charger for the battery on my boat lift. Out of curiosity, I tested the OCV. It was about 25 volts, but when I connected the battery, it was only putting 12 some volts into the battery. As long as the current is down, it should work.

Or, you could find out why 6 volts won't do it in your application so you don't have to worry about things like this.

 

I'd buy a cheap 9volt power supply from a thrift store and solder on some clamps to the wires.
Yes, it would take a long time.

 

PO put the 8v inthere... I keep hearing it's better and easy... tryed to charge it,... left the key on and it drained to 5v... 6 volt charger ony brought it to 6.2.... 12v charger brought it to 7.1... so I ordered a 8 v charger....she starts pretty quick If I remember to turn the gas on...
. so my thought is this..... the gen should have no problem getting it to 8V?????

 

I used to use an 8V bat. on a 235 6cyl. pickup--really could tell the difference in starting (even all the lights were brighter, some didn't last long though). Can't remember but I think I just put in the bat. and went with it-6V generator, wiring, starter,etc. Never replaced any of them, everything did well. The 6v generator seemed to charge the 8v bat. just fine.

 

You don’t.
You fix 6 volt wiring, clean grounds use the right size wire, use a good quality battery and replace or rebuild worn out stuff.
You are going to have to do that anyway.

8volt batteries.....
They must be secured with Duck (DUKW) Tape or a piece of bailing wire. Don’t forget to replace all the old fuses with pennies or copper wire. I have seen a .22LR used in a pinch.

 

most excellent post of not reading the question...lol... winner...

 

6 volts won;t do cause it's a 8v battery... question is how do you charge it... if you have an 8 volt battery on the bench... it has no ground.... so is the only way to charge it an 8 volt charger.... that is the question.. for me, I would just convert to 12v over buying an 8 the biggest part of the 12v conversion is the cost of the battery

 

so anyway.... I ordered an 8v charger...

 

One of the issues with putting an 8v. battery in is will the generator keep it up? It wont unless it's an 8v. generator also.

 

I wouldn't make a blanket statement like this until I checked the open circuit voltage of the charger. My suggestion was actually to use a 12 volt charger at a low setting and let the load of the battery pull the voltage down.

 

thats another thing I was wondering, but a 12v alt will put out 14 volts... so a 6v must go over 6v ... correct..

 

I was replying to this sleeping bag statement with my blanket statement...


"Or, you could find out why 6 volts won't do it in your application so you don't have to worry about things like this."



I didn't nore have I ever put a 8v in place of a 6v... but what I was wondering was how do you charge a 8v battery... my 6v battery charge only charged it to 6v... has anyone that has done this ever checked to see that it actually ever has 8v???

 

Sorry, man. It's just that, up until now, all 8V posts have been about applying band aids. If you have a legitimate use for one, carry on.

 

As long as the regulator was reset to at least 9.5 volts. It's not a hard job as long as you know what you are doing.

 

It's the regulator which determines what the output is. An open circuit alternator can generate over 50 volts AC if you spin it quick enough. You can adjust the regulator output voltage if it's a mechanical (contacts and coils ) type regulator. I have tested open circuit "6 Volt" generators before the regulator and got upwards of 9 volts.

 

As a kid driving well used Oldsmobile cars that didn't start well when hot on 6 volts, an 8 volt battery was the fix. Install an 8 volt battery, & adjust the voltage regulator to put out enough volts to keep the battery charged. (always in the back yard)
All the small lamps were rated at 6 to 8 volts no problem, head lamps were rated at only 6 volts, so you would lose one once in a while. Not a big deal at the time. As for charging a dead 8 volt I don't remember a problem. Maybe I never had a dead one.

 

Each time the Earth circles the Sun, the 6 volt vs. 8 volt discussion flares up again. I bought a 6-volt pickup (1946) in 1997 and replaced the dying 6 volt with an 8 volt based upon the advice of my battery warehouse guy. He said it was an “old hot rod trick”. We adjusted the voltage regulator to output 10 volts. Wow, it turns over nicely. Never burns out bulbs.

Meanwhile, I spoke to the Battery Tender guy at Carlisle. He said the 8V units were out of stock but he would pester them to make some more. About a year later, I bought mine from ‘Sol’ at Hershey. Sadly, Sol is no longer with us- but BT still has them. Keeping the thing connected 24/7, the 8 volt batteries last about 7-9 years. I do disconnect the power to the gauges because my mechanic told me the alternator gauge is the devil.

 

But if your car has all 6 volt lamps and devices by going to 8v. and adjusting the regulator to put out about 9v. in order to properly charge the 8v. battery, you'll also likely see very shortened life of lamps, or other items rated 6v. on the car.
As someone else mentioned, swapping in an 8 v. battery is putting a bandaid on what's really wrong. No reason a 6v. battery wont work great if the starter is good, and everything else is also correct.

 

I don't think he wants to hear about this.

 

probley right....like said my question was how do you charge it....but... I'm gonna bet 90% of the people that put 8v instead of 6 never adjusted anything... tried a 6v charger,,, didn't work.... tried a 12v didn't work.. so bought an 8v.... found this out... an 8v battery charged to 7.4 volts is only 25% charged... like said.... I never even new my vicky had a 8v battery,... till I left the key on and drained it down to 5v.....so looking at the battery to see how old it was...09/23, I noticed it was an 8v... so once its charged I'll start it back up to see if the gen is capable of putting out 9v to keep it charged... I had a issue with my 31 Cdan hard starting and dead battery issues.... I did the ground straight from battery to the engine (float a motor mounts) and a couple from the motor to the frame.... no more problems ,... and it's 6v.... and like everyone keeps saying....I'd find out why the 6v doesn't work when it worked fine on 20 million other cars... that and they used to start these motors with a hand crank...

 

You're probably right. I had no business getting involved with this thread, as I have never been in possession of an 8 volt battery. Knew some folks who did, but it's not the same.

As before, carry on.

 

v batterys...
I APPRECIATE your posts... I don't no nothing about anything, and for sure . first for me, and it was part of the car when I got it.. well worth the learn though.... and I now own a 8v charger.... 72 yrs old and never needed one

 

just found this out.... the 8v charger won't bring it up past 7.4 volts.... acid battery so no memory???was only getting charged to 7v by the car... now it's a 7 v battery???? had it on for 6 hours... gonna try again tomorrow

 

Do you remember over 50 years ago working in a repair shop, we had to use a hydrometer in each cell to record the specific gravity when doing diagnostic work on battery or charging systems. I do recall that we were looking for one cell which was really low which means it's a bad battery, but also we saw that when recharging a dead battery, the specific gravity never came up to showing fully charged after we charged it for a few hours, even if the battery was okay for the dead cell tests.

But get the car back a week later to retest for customers approaching winter weather, and then they would read fully charged with the hydrometer, if the system was charging correctly. I don't know why, but it takes a few days to read fully charged with specific gravity readings, so maybe you'll be ok if you slow charge it each day for a while.

Don't overcharge it for hours on high, as you already know.

On the comments of band aid with an 8v battery..... These guys are in warm climates, or not old enough to recall back when the big overhead V8's came out with the anemic 6v systems in minus 20 overnight winter weather with the daily driver outside because the blue collars couldn't afford a garage. You'd get fired if you couldn't make it to work more than one day per winter. You'd be out there freezing your ass off trying to start that early 50's Chrysler baby hemi with the 6 volts, with that straight weight oil, and so much voltage is lost during cranking, that then you have like 3.5 or 4 volts at the coil and it's never going to start with it also cranking so damn slow.

Same is true with old farm tractors, get out there at 5am to plow the driveway or haul hay to the cows before going to work, and the tractor won't start either. I remember those days, but never had money for a new 8 volt . We used a 100w drop light under the car hood.

Don't talk about bandaids if you lived in a warm climate. There's a reason every company dropped 6 volt systems, some knew it earlier than others, like 12v Olds in 1953.

 

Typical lead/acid batteries are 2.1-2.2 volts per cell so an 8v battery is 8.8 volts. You're going to need at least that much or your 8v will be so undercharged as to not help at all. Setting the generator regulator is a must, and it needs to be done with a fully charged battery.

 

If it makes any difference, I spent most of my life in Minnesota.

Batteries can die at any time in their lives. They usually last multiple years, but can die anytime. This is especially true of specialty units, like "factory original" reproductions. I think that at this point, the battery needs to be load tested.

 

You are dead on, Frank. I remember those days. Dad would remove the battery and bring it in and set it behind the heating stove. First thing in the morning a pan of red coals from the stove beneath the engine. After eating, the battery was installed and she would start right up. I do nor recall him needing to do that after 12V.
I did the light bulb trick, one near the engine and one near the battery.

Ben