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battery cable question

Bob N.Y.

Bob N.Y.

Well-known Member
Location
Norway, N.Y.
I am resurrecting a 1930 Model A Ford doodlebug. It was already converted to 12 volts negative ground and I am keeping it that way. It still has the original starter and the positive cable goes directly from the battery to the starter, no solenoid. I have read comments on here about using larger cables for 6 volt systems and smaller cables when 12 volts are being fed to a 6 volt starter. What size cables should I use in this application? The positive cable needs to be 30 inches long and the negative cable needs to be 12 to 14 inches. Thank you.
 
My Farmall C was converted to 12v. It damaged starter drives I got from YT. After 2 starter drives on 6v starter I put my oldest 12v mower battery and used 10g wire instead of battery cable. No more starter damage.
If you have 10g wire try it.
I doubt if the starter uses more current than a lawn mower. Wire could be beneficial to 6v
Starter.
My opinion my not ne shared by others.
It works for me.
 
No. Don't use the extra heavy 6v cable. That was only needed for the 6v system that used the 6v battery. In that application you needed all the juice a 6v battery could give ya.
Me personally, I'd use some relatively light 12 volt cable. And my little point of advice, is to not grind away on your starter with your 12v battery. To protect and save some life span of your 6v starter, you should only be engaging the starter for a mere few seconds at a time. Just enough to start, and not continuously to figure out what your, its not starting ailments are. If it aint starting right up with a crank or 2, then its time for an engine tune up when it comes to 6v starters. A 12v battery is not your answer to a hard starting 6v system, and laying on the starter for minutes at a time every time you start it, is just going to fry your starter in a lot shorter order. So keep things (points, plugs, carberater) tuned up so it starts right off.
 
10 gauge sounds very light. I use it for the alternator output charging circuit. I've had 3 riding mowers and they all used 6 or 8 gauge for the starter.
 
I'd use the run of the mill auto type battery cables 2 or 4 gauge and it will work just fine and help lessen the blow of 12 volts on a 6 volt starter
 
Yes, 10g is light. Lawn mowers don't use anything bigger.
I went with a mower battery and 10g wire to keep from shearing off starter drives.
6v starter on a 12v battery.
After chipping a tooth on flywheel, I was able to replace 6v starter with a 12v starter on Jubilee.
I fished out over 10 starter drive parts on Jubilee.
Yes you can use a 6v starter on 12v. Good compression engine and you may be more likely to damage something like I did.
 

The majority of cars and pickup trucks built in the last 40 years or so use either 4 gauge or maybe even 6 gauge.
 
While normally 6 volt systems require extra large cables, if you use a 12 volt battery and a 6 volt starter, I don't like big cables but maybe 4 Gauge.

John T
 
I had this debate with dad about using a smaller wire to the starter on his H when he put a new starter on it. I used about a 4ga wire for it. works much better than it was. Big cable from the old 6 volt days was slamming the gear in.
 
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