I am wanting to reduce the voltage from 12 to 6 for the wippers on my 53 f-100. Is the part called a voltage reducer? and can I buy it at a auto parts radio shack or a hard ware store, I would like not to order it. Michael
Yes there is such a thing. They can be bought at many parts supply store's if the counterman is willing to look it up. They can also be bought through the aftermarket, like Speedway if i'm not mistaken. OR, our own Mart here on the HAMB make's them.. I bought one for my 53 Chevy's gas gauge.. Send him a pm, he could probably help you out. Tony
When we set up the heater motor on my first car - 1941 Super Deluxe Coupe - we ran one of these ballast resistors on it. It cut the power from 12v down to just a hair over 6v. Here is a picture of one off of ebay, but they are supposed to be on just about anything from the 70s that ran points. Nice thing is that they are cheap too. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/RU-1...012QQitemZ220198509303QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWD1V
The wiper and blower motors draw too much current for the reducers that are meant for gauges. JC Whitney used to sell what you need, and may still have it. Locally an automobile or tractor electrical specialty shop might have something. I got one from a local place called "Auto-Ag Electric", so you get the idea.
The one I have is adjustable- it has adjuster knob on it. I have it hooked up so that the single speed motor I use for my wipers, can be run at two speeds. This is done using a three position switch. On one setting the wiper motor gets full juice, and runs at full speed. On the other switch setting the power goes via the reducer, and this can be adjusted to any speed you like. Adam F
There's two ways to go: 1) Electronic, 2) Electrical. Option 2 is usually a BFR (big fricking resister) that is made out of nichrome wire potted in ceramic. Otherwise known as a "furnace." Yes, 15 amps through a resistor to power wipers will generate some heat. So if you go this route, make sure the BFR is on the firewall by itself, and gets a little cooling air. Option 2 is the sophisticated way, but of course costs money. Ron Francis has one that goes for $65. You can also use this for all of your 6 volt needs, not just the wipers. It probably can't do heater fan and wipers together though, but lots of 12 volt fans can be had these days to replace heater fans. http://www.sachserodshop.com/pdf/162.pdf
For reducing voltage to your wipers, you must use a resistor. To determine the value of the resistor you need, you must first determine the voltage draw of the accessory. To do this, you should use a meter between the voltage supply and the wiper motor. Hopefully you still have the 6 volt battery for this. You will find that the voltage draw will vary as the wipers move. This is because the motor will have to work harder when moving the wipers up than down. A range of 5.5-7.5 amps is realistic. Once you have determined the range, you can then purchase a resistor. Go here: http://home.cogeco.ca/~rpaisley4/LEDcalc.html You will be able to enter the supply voltage, the desired drop, and the amperage. For this calculator is shows miliamps, so if you want to show 6 amps…you type in 6000 miliamps. In the example, you will use a 1 ohm resistor at 36 watts. Play around with the numbers a bit to find what you need. Then look around for a resistor that has a wire wound heat sink type resistor…usually they have tabs for mounting. It should loook like this: http://cgi.ebay.com/10W-10-Watt-40-...oryZ4664QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem Wire it in line, and you are done. Once you have installed it, you can use a voltage meter on the accessory side of the resistor to determine the exact supply voltage. Remember, this may change slightly as the wipers draw more and less current through the range. Another important thing to remember, the extra voltage is essentially discharged as heat, so the resistor will get a little hot…Just mount it out of the way. This will also work for blower motors…But should not really be used for gauges, because gauges are more delacate to voltage spikes, that can occur when the voltage is just applied. Let me know if this doesn't make sence. Tim MBL
There may be a way of using a (mechanical) 6V voltage regulator as a reducer. I will look into it and see if there is a possibility. Other than that, you could use a simple switchmode regulator to do the job and it doesn't dissappate power like the (toaster) resistor does. Pretty simple to hook up too.
I think Randy Rundle is sell in the new resistors that are mounted in a heat sink for these applications (12 to 6 volt drop). He has a good web site.
This may be a day late and a dollar short but I thought it might help..? Someone may have better info and could correct or inhance this data..? Late '50s FOMOCO and Fords in particular became 12 v systems but their gauges remained 6V through about '59 or so(? no matter). Anyway, NAPA sells a part #IR1 called a Instrument Regulator for the IP of late '50's vehicles - but the thing cost ~$53 - ouch - just for the guages... There are various vendors that can/do supply individual IC cuicuits that attach to each guage's inline power source. These seem to be priced at about $15/ per guage. Another option for the guages is make your own $15/guage IC by purchasing an IC from you local electronics supplier or the net - these are the LM7606 ic. It is a low amp 6 volt regulator with three(3) legs - input, output and ground - simple... The cost about $1 to $2/guage - I've seen bulk purchases as low as 86 cents, each. They have also appeared on eBay from time to time but usually with other IC's as a package..? As for the wipers, blower motor, etc.. Most of the mid 70's vehicles used a large ballast resistor and the blower speed selector switch to create a multi-speed blower - some had multiple windings. These were hugh/high wattage resistors for continuous operation. I haven't measured any of these resistors but they worked fine at the time. I don't know if it would work but with all the Pick-N-Pulls out there, it seems that this would be an inexpensive testing/source option - and I would consider it worthy of further investigation..? YMMV, JerryN36
JerryN36 has some good ideas. The instrument voltage regulator was used at least till the '80s as I had one in the Bronco II. Yes it should work fine for gauges designed for Fords, but it regulates around 5-5.5V not 6V as some of the Chrysler and GM gauges are set for. There are many solid state voltage regulators out there ranging from .5amps to 5 amps. They are very easy to configure for 6V. (Even a 5V regulator can be configured to provide near 6V using just a simple diode). The resistors trying to be used for wipers, heater motors, etc. are going to get hot. Mounting them to a heat sink will dissappate the heat, but these resistors are like toaster wire and do get hot. When they are hot it is possible for them to break (kinda like a filament in a light bulb). I still believe some sort of voltage regulator set to 6V is more reliable, and if it is possible to sustain 20Amps are so, then all of the accessories can be driven from it.
I drive a 55 everyday that I switched to 12v from 6V. I have never had a failure of a resistor for blower motors or wipers. I use the wipers all the time since I am in FLA. As for guages, I use one of the voltage reducers sold by the HAMB's Mart. He sent it from England. It was 20 bucks, and works for up to 3 guages. Unless you want to pay more than 30 bucks for the necessary drop of all voltage...you can go with this. Tim MBL
I'm surprised that no one sells a transformer to do this, not a big deal. More money, but no current lost as heat.
I got mine from Speedway for the wipers. It has a 10A tap and a 20A tap. The one for the fuel gauge I got from Night Prowlers.
As a electronics engineer, I would be amazed to see a step-down transformer that worked with DC. Transformers work due to the build up and collapse of fields caused by AC.
Ebay special: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&sspagename=ADME%3AB%3***%3AUS%3A1123&viewitem=&item=380016604093
Transformers aren't 100% efficient and they do waste energy as heat. And, they require AC current to work. Cars are DC. Although it is possible to build a 12V DC to 6V DC converter, it would have essentially the same drawbacks as the 12V DC to to 110V AC converters typically used by campers. If you have ever used one of those you know they have heat sinks and get pretty warm. Full vehicle voltage conversion resistors are pretty much always going to provide more or less than the desired 6 volts. As was already mentioned, short of replacing the 6V component with a 12V equivalent, a properly sized resistor for each component/system is the best option.
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