8 Volt Battery

Is my 8 volt battery ok for this and will it cause any damage.

What is the advantage of the 12 volt conversion kit? Or why do most people make this change?

Thanks, Earl

In my case the generator went out and needed much more than brushes and with the regulator mucked up for 8 volts and the battery now failing I decided to go to 12 volts.

With 12 volts you can use a proper resistor for the coil voltage to eliminate that issue.

There are several reasons for the switch including ignorance. It will spin a low compression (worn) engine faster and that is the most common reason. Next is the cost factor - sometimes the six volt generator is expensive to repair and when faced with this cost as well as the battery replacement, folks get the much cheaper alternator.

I also understand 12 volts better than 6 and that was an added factor in my decision. If the generator had not needed extensive repairs I probably would have kept it 6 volts.

Or switch it back to 6 volts - you will probably need a regulator and coil as well as the battery itself of course.

hth

N - joy

Mountainman...CA

8v batteries are an odd item all to themselves. To my knowledge, nothing save locomotives ever specified them as original equipment -- certainly not the Ns.

What an 8v battery will do for you is: 1. Over-power your starter which will result in faster RPM at cranking, 2. Present problems for your charging system, since the generator only puts out 7-8 v and therefore cannot properly charge the battery, 3. Present problems for ancillary electrical appliances (eg. headlights) since they're only designed for 6v.

What an 8v battery won't do for you is provide better performance in the long run. It may mask an underlying problem, as Claus pointed out, but the problem is still there, and will worsen.

12v conversions will 'modernize' your N, but like the 8v thing, you really won't get any better performance out of it IF it is properly maintained in the first place.

It's ultimately your decision -- nothing really wrong with going 12v if that's what you want to do. As for all those that say that there's something wrong with the 6v system, I say that chances are the electrical system is fine and the fault is elesewhere. More than once our '40 9N has been started via hand crank in 20 degrees or colder just to prove it can be done.

Best wishes,

Pete