Changing output of a 6 volt generator to 12 volts?

I'm sorry to say I haven't done this myself but when I was younger they used to convert the old 6 volt systems to 12 volt and do away with it. Replace the alternator (or generator), starter, and battery. Sorry I can't be of more help.

I've just made a 50 Farad power storage unit that charges with 6 vdc and puts out 12 vdc. Its expensive to make your own inverters, but if you're willing to dish out to run 12 vdc electronics from a 6vdc power source. You can try my technique. Make a circuit boad with 50 farads on it, divide the capacitors in 2 sections. each section is soldered together in parallel, but you connect the 2 sections together in series, doubloing the charging voltage, but lessening the Farad discharge by a few amphours.

1 farad = 1 amp so 50 is a large capacity. be sure to use slow release capacitors going for 3-4 bucks each. they break the bank but they're worth it. from my board, I ran a 2500 watt inverter, and then put a 5.5 vdc charger from the inverter back to the input on the circuit board to recharge itself as it was using up the farads. sounds complicating, and it was to draft. took me a year to get it right burning out many expensive capacitors at my expense. I

I plan on usingmy device to power up my entire house without having to depend on the power company.

Swapping the regulator is insufficient. If you want to convert your system to 12 V you have to replace

• the alternator
• the regulator
  
• the battery
• the ignition transformer
  
• the light bulbs
• maybe the starter motor (starter motor works only for a couple of secunds so sometimes it's not replaced, it could stand the overload)
  

I have done a 12 volt conversion before, using an alternator and a ballast resistor in series with the coil,series-connecting the lights,etc, but this particular tractor makes it difficult to replace the generator with an alternator due to the way it is constructed.I would like to maintain an original look if possible.I think I will buy an alternator regulator and play with it to see what I can get. If I can get it to work, I will mount it in the original regulator enclosure.

Thanks to everyone for the help.

Fitting a alternator-regulator will not work. In place of the normal "voltage regulator" U could fit a diode in place of the cutout but U still have no current-regulation as in the old "voltage regulator".Alternator current delivery is not neccesary, thus selfregulating!

As stated, the starter would work fine as long as the enjin starts easily[ not cranked for say more than 7 seconds]. But, you would need a couple of resistors, one for ing-coil, different one for lights etc.

So...to solve problem: Fit 12v alternator, change all bulbs to 12v, keep 6v starter.

Here in South Africa, many old VW cars ended up as Beach-buggies and the older 6v Buggys where converted as above.

Who is the manufacturer of the tractor, and of the generator? There may be 12 volt generators available.

Do an on-line search. Old tractors are a far bigger hobby than I ever imagined. One of my friends at work has antique tractors and goes to big shows all the time and has several catalogs from which he buys just about any part for any of his tractors, literally down to things like seals. There are several places that make a living out of building antique tractor parts from the original drawings and finding and salvaging old tractors and tractor parts. He even gets magazines like 'Harvester Highlihgts' and 'Red Power' that specifically cater to the antique tractor enthusiast. One of the places he shops is www.jensales.com. Take a look around, you may just find an original part. If you really want to convert it to 12 Volt, I'm sure that some of these companies could provide you everything you need.

I have been there; Wanted to convert my DKW from 6 to 12v.........A voltage regulator can't do it.

Easy option is to fit an alternator. I did not have money at that stage and got by, by rewinding the field coils with thiner wire of twice the lengh that there was on the coils. This still did not do the tric, so i fitted the smallest possible v-pully to speed it up. It did the tric temporaraly, worked at higher enjin rpm and kept the battery charged. Could work on tractor cause elect demand is low.

Current/voltage/cutout needs lot of tampering too....if you know how!

J

See a Massey tractor supply they will have the stuff. They did for mine when I went from a generator to altenator.

Dear sir/madam: Why not put the 6vdc generator & 6 vdc regulator on your Spare Parts Shelf, Buy a Delco Alternator with built in Regulator from your local Auto Wrecker, your starter will like handle the 12vdc. If it spins to fast,Install a 12vdc Solenoid on ahead of the starter and replace the 6 vdc battery with a 12 vdc battery. You now have a Old (1948) Tractor Converted to 12vdc. Just an old timer that started fixing things, before the 12vdc units started being imported from England, France & Germany in the early 1950's, Carl.

If you add just the right resistor in line with the power sensor circuit of a 12 volt regulator you should be able to trick it into regulating a six volt alternator. That would allow you retain the standard equipment you have.

You might try checking the following link they have conversion kits for some models.

http://www.waltstractors.com/

you didn't say what model you're working with, or whether you are having a problem with your 6 V system. In the old days we used to put 8 V batteries in 6 V cars, apparently the batteries are still available, I just checked, so if you're having a starting problem in cold weather that might help. If I remember correctly a few resistors for the instrument cluster, and a little adjusting and everything worked fine. I don't think you had to change the generator regulator or starter, I'm not sure what they did with the headlights.

It's been a long time ago, if you're local to California you might want to check the La Brea tar pits. There may be one of those conversions stuck next to a T. Rex

First. If you chose to not register with CR4, at least put some name in your posts, so we can understand who is saying what.

If I understand you correctly, you want to use a modified 12V alternator regulator on a 6V generator. Why? For what it is worth, the most simple voltage regulator that I know of was the first series regulator that Chrysler used on their first alternators, back in 1962.

It had only two wires. One was from the ignition switch. The other went to the field terminal on the alternator.

As for wiring, there are two basic wiring systems.

1. The first takes a battery signal and sends it through the voltage regulator, then to the field terminal on the alternator, where it completes the circuit to ground inside the alternator.
2. The second system takes battery, or ignition directly to the field on the alternator. From the alternator, the field circuit goes to the voltage regulator, then to ground.

I hope this helps some. If you need more detailed wiring, we will need to know more about the wiring on your vehicle, and more specifically what you are trying to accomplish. Good luck.

In the (distant) past I have exchanged the the 6 volt generator and starter cases complete with field coils with 12 volt ones for Ford applications. Just take the 6 volt end plates from the existing generator and and add them to the 12 volt case. Most 6 and 12 volt field coils for starters and generators of the same type (ie: Delco to Delco, Autolite to Autolite) are interchangeable. And, of course, all 6 volt add-ons like voltage regulator, coil and lights must be changed to 12 volt.

On the old VW's(1960's era ) they were 6 volt systems.A quick test of the generator output could be made by briefly shorting the filed wire to ground.The voltage would go over 30 volts.It seems that a regulator could be built to vary the field resistance of the 6 volt generator to produce 12 volts or 13.8 volts for that matter.

Any electronic engineers or hobbiests out there?

hobbiests hobbyists