Now another problem with my sa200

[QA27]

I took somebody's advice sometime last year to stay with my 6 volt setup, it is working. So I went to buy a battery the other day. It's apparently commercial use. It's obviously 6v and claims 650 cold cranking amps. Well I installed it and it barely turns the motor over. I can turn it faster with a wrench. I brought it back to test it the guy said it was showing 6.?? vlts and about 700 cca's.

I've used a 12volt to start it and that is fine. It turns really fast. Am I stuck with a new $70 boat anchor 6 volt battery or is something not right. I'm sure they make a 6v to run this thing or they wouldn't have sold them like that.

Any opinions?

Thanks.

[gnewby]

I don't know what 6 volt system it has is it neg or positive ground. You wouldn't happened to have hooked your cables up wrong could you? We have an old 55 Ford car in my shop that is 6 volt positive ground. If it would have the battery cables hooked up wrong could make for bad results.

[Hotfoot]

12 volt will burn up that 6 volt starter fairly fast....used to do a lot of that back in the 50's when we were sticking Chevy engines in every old Ford we could round up, then going the 12 volt route on electrics.

[Aerometalworker]

Hmmm, so have you ever started it on 6v?

If no I would hook up a multimeter to the battery itself and see what the voltage drops too when you try to crank it.

If it drops very little I would suspect a bad connection or solenoid, If it pulls the voltage down a lot ( under 3.5 volts ) but wont rotate the engine id suspect a bad starter, or maybe a 12 v starter.

You might also want to check the voltage at the starter durring a crank so see how it compares to the battery voltage durring cranking. A big drop from battery to starter indicates bad connections, broken cables, or bad solenoid.

Just some ideas

-Aaron

[Jim-Tx]

Can you try another 6 v battery? Batteries have been known to be faulty. I'm wondering if the 6 v sat on a shelf somewhere waiting to be sold.

Long story I won't relate in it's entirity, be we got a battery at Sam's that wasn't any good because it was 5 years old! The guy at Sams said it was by the date code on it, but denied we bought it there the previous day. Unreal idiot. My torn up Sam's card is probably still blowing around their parking lot.

I'm just mentioning this as an example of how a person can get a new battery that's bad.

[QA27]

Thanks for the ideas guys. I'll check a few more things when I get a chance. Here's what I do know. The starter was rebuilt recently, guy said it's 6 volt but can handle 12, pretty heavy duty. Cables are clean and tight. I don't have another 6 volt battery to test with. When I crank the engine with a volt meter on it goes down to about 4v, shows 5v with no load. It is negative ground for sure. I have never had it started with a 6 volt battery. There was no battery in it when I got it a couple years ago. And I've always started it with 12v up until now.

Could be an old battery, but the guy checked it with 3 different checks and they all came up good. I don't know exactly what he did but I guess I have to take his word on it.

Like I said earlier, I don't have any problems at all with starting it off an old 12 volt battery. So basically your all saying that if everything else on my welder checks out that this thing should be able to start it no problem? I'll see if I can get a new one, but would like to rule everything else out prior to doing so.

Thanks again.

[Zrexxer]

Thanks for the ideas guys. I'll check a few more things when I get a chance. Here's what I do know. The starter was rebuilt recently, guy said it's 6 volt but can handle 12, pretty heavy duty.

I wouldn't automatically assume the starter is good, based just on that. Sure sounds like a starter problem. Pull it off and see if you can bench test it.

[Sberry]

There is a reason no one uses 6 volt anymore, this thing have a generator on it? If it was mine it would have been tossed in the scrap and had 12 with an alternator.

[johnny_waz]

Are you sure its a 6volt system?

Does it have a generator or alternator?

[lars66]

Check the builders plate on the starter even if it doesnt tell the voltage you can call a parts house with the # s and they can tell if its 6 or 12 volt if theres any doubt. Also the builders plate on the generator might have the voltage on it.

[QA27]

It has a generator on it. Works fine so I'll keep it. Even if I go to 12 volt I'll just get the regulator changed for it. I was the one who got the starter rebuilt by a reputable guy so I know it's good. 6 volt starter, 6 volt generator, putting out 6v to charge.

I talked to the guy today that did the starter and he said that 6 volt just might not be enough to start it will the older engine. It doesn't fire like when it was new. He load tested the battery too and it showed good. Anyways, I'm just going to go to a 12 v battery, get him to change the reg for a few bucks and call it good. If/when the generator goes, I'll either get it rebuilt or go to an alternator. Either way, if it charges the battery what difference does it make.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

[Capt-Ron]

You might check the size of the battery cables and the cable to the starter. You need larger diameter cables to carry the extra current of the 6 volt system.
Using cables for a 12 volt system in a 6 volt system will cause a voltage drop which may be enough to cause the problems that are described.

The 6 volt system is very adequate to start and run your machine and the only real reason to change it to 12 volt is to use an alternator for charging. The alternator will charge at idle and low rpms where the generator system will not.

I just converted a 1939 Ford tractor to 12 volts for a buddy because the old 6 system just wouldn't turn the engine fast enough to start. When I removed the generator I found that the wires had been cut and stuffed into the conduit with the spark plug wires. So it wasn't the 6 volt system that was the problem and I know that it would have been just fine if we had known that the generator wasn't connected. When I told him about this he decided to go ahead with the converstion since he had already bought the parts. Then a week later he knocked the new alternator off with a tree limb and I had to make another new bracket.

CaptRon

[horseman1]

I was going to suggest the same as Capt Ron. Like he says most battery cables set up for 12V systems wont do the trick in a 6v application. My '48 Farmall M is that way.

[Jim-Tx]

Those are good tips about the size of the cables. I used to work in a tractor shop back when 6 volt systems were still pretty common. I'm not sure they are even made anymore, but we used to put 8 volt batteries on some 6 volt tractors for better starting. They wouldn't burn the starter up but the cranking speed was a good bit brisker than the 6 volt.

[Capt-Ron]

Acutally you can buy 8 volt batteries, my Club Car golf cart uses 6 of them for the 48 volt system.

Capt-Ron