VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND NEWER 1949-1954 6V Battery & possible generator problem 53 Chevy

I have a query about my 6 Volt battery and generator.
My battery died after 1 year & 10 months, and although I do not drive the car much (about once a month), I have always disconnected it (both terminals),and use a 6 volt charger on the trickle setting, about 2 amps every second week to maintain the charge. Whether this charger is working properly I don't know, it does indicate a 2 amps charge on the charger gauge. However battery died, and wouldn't recharge fully again when I had it on full charge overnight. I have also been maintaining the fluid level in the battery since new, it was a Federal 901MF with a 645 CCA capacity. They only give a 12 month warranty on these here, and that's the only one I can get here in Sydney to fit the original battery tray. 6 volt batteries are hard to find in that size, so will have to that one again.
I was thinking possibly the generator also may not be fully charging the battery ? Does anyone know where the exact position of the needle should be on the amp meter when you are driving ? I know it is meant to go to the right when you accelerate, but how much to the right ? Can someone also advise as to how I can check if the generator is working properly. I have another rebuilt 6 volt generator in a box, perhaps I should just exchange the one on the car to see if the setting on the amp meter reads different.

Thanks Aussie Tony

if you are fully recharging the battery at monthly intervals and the amp meter is to the right of neutral when idling, i doubt the generator/regulator is the problem. i'd suspect the battery was a POS to begin with. put an ampmeter in the charging system and see what your gen/reg is doing. good luck,mike

I basically do the same on the 6 volt battery in my '51 Chevy. On my car, most often a one year battery will last less than two years. The last 6 volt, one year battery that I had lasted 9 years, but that was a fluke. I replaced that battery right at one year ago with another one year battery and that battery is now not maintaining enough charge to start the car after the car sits for several weeks. Even with a trickle charger, the results are the same.

At any rate, sounds like your generator is just fine and that your one year battery is the problem since it has exceeded the warranty by almost double.

:) :grin:

The 6 V batteries in my cars have the one year warranty also. I replace them every 6 0r 7 years if they need it or not. Under normal conditions NEVER hook a charger to them. The cars stand unused from Oct. through April and the batteries have enough life to crank over the engine long enough to refill the carburetors (that my yearly test).

Mike I am now thinking that my battery may not have been fully charged each time I had it on trickle. And also a few times I just started the engine and let it just idle for about 45min. Someone told me the car has to actually be driven above a certain speed for the generator to actually charge the battery, so possibly that may have causeed the battery to die the last few months. I'll check the charging system, but as you say I think I may have let the battery discharge beyond repair.

Wow, 6-7 years is pretty good, I am guessing Gene that you drive your car at least once a week, and probably a decent distance to keep the charge in the battery. Is this what you refer to as normal conditions ?
Also that's pretty amazing that the batteries are still fine after not using them for 6 months, I'm assuming that you hook a charger to them each month when the cars are not being used.

Hi Junkyard dog,

I'm glad I'm not the only one with this battery problem. Do you remember what brand that 6 volt battery was that lasted a long time ?. Anyone else out there had any experience with the Federal 901MF ? There is a supplier here that imports the Optima battery. It is made there in the States and is a spiral cell design. It's expensive but they give a 2 year warranty and I've been told they last up to 10 years. Only problem is the 6 volter is very narrow, so you'd need to make a special battery hold down for it. I think we need to find a battery with a 2 year warranty so that when it dies before the warranty we get a replacement, that way we never have to buy a new battery for our cars again

In 1997 I purchaed a new 6V battery from NAPA, I replaced it in 2005 because we were leaving on a long trip into an unfamiliar area and I did not want to face the possiibility of looking for a 6v battery on a Sunday afternoon in a place where there are probably more cows than dogs, cats, and people. We have severe winters here and from 97 to 2001 the car was parked in an unheated garage, I put a 1 amp motorcycle battery charger on the battery for one day every two weeks to assure full charge and no damage from freezing. Two ways to check for battery condition, one involves a meter and the other a Hydrometer. A hydrometer will identify a single bad cell.

Tony 53: The battery that lasted 9 years was an Allied. It cost around $25 and that was the longest lasting battery that I have had in the car. The new battery that replaced it one year ago (April of 2007) is also an Allied and after a year it is already starting to fail. Most of the other batteries that I had in the car previously, before the long lasting Allied, were either from Sears or from the auto parts store and none of them have ever lasted over two years. Even with the battery that lasted 9 years I had to put a trickle charger on it during the winter or it would get too weak to start the car in the spring.

:) :grin:

I don't drive them once a week but do drive them enough before storage so as to be sure that they are fully charged . There are only two or three companies that make the 6 V batteries and they are sold under any names. The ones that I use are sold by a farm store, cost around $25 to $30 but have gone up in price this year. They are made by Johnson Controls here in Wisconsin. J.C. is also very active in making batteries for "eletric" cars.

Ya, the prices of the 6 volt batteries have gone up. Noticed that when I purchased my newest 6 volt last April. As I remember, I paid around $48 for the battery.

:) :grin:

Tony53: Your battery might have been very old when you bought it. I always insist upon a "fresh" one. By that I mean it must be less than 6 months since production. Who knows how long it sat around on the shelf and what happened when it was quick charged for its sale to you.. Now that the production date is just a sticker, it can easily be torn off. Young guys know very little about 6 volt systems. One of our members here with a '53 took his car to an auto electric shop to have the generator rebuilt. He had a NOS Delco voltage regulator. When he got it back, he called me and said the repair made the starter turn over fast. And on the phone, he started it. I immediately thought
someone must have put a 12V battery in the car and I was right. The final 18 year old kid had put a 12V Optima in the car. Well, that really messed up things including the NOS regulator. The kids explanation was "Well it had six cells". The shop made their work good for our member....

Thanks everyone for your expert advice.

Today I called up my battery supplier and he told me that they import the Federal batteries from the US dry and only fill them up the day before someone wants one, so they are not sitting around for months with battery acid in them. Also last night I put my charger on high and hooked it up to the battery again. Last time I did this the instructions said you could charge a flat battery "overnight" on "high", that obviously didn't work, so this time I left it on there for 24 hours. Then I hooked it up again, and turned the ignition and it seems to have charged up and turned the motor. Since the car has been sitting for a couple of months, it didn't start on the first turn. The battery turned the starter about 4 times, then progressively slowed down until on the fifth and sixth turn it died, so it may not have been fully charged (as per the instructions). I'm sure the car would have started on that last turn:-) So anyway, it looks like the battery may be salvageable. I'll charge it again for 2 days next time then see if it will retain the charge and get the car going again. Hopefully after an hour of driving it will be charged up again, if not then I'll get a new one. The battery guy also said the charger I am using does not regulate the battery, and that I should get at least 3-4 years out of the Federal. He recommended I buy the charger with "1 AMP" trickle which cuts in and out as the battery discharges and that I should leave this on the battery all the time.

PDXJoe: I know what you mean about people putting 12V parts in a 6V car, when I bought mine it had a 12V coil in it, not sure if that would have made much difference but I changed it anyway.

Looks like we get ripped off down here with battery prices, they sell the Federal one for $175 AUS, although most of that is probably profit for the retailer. $30-40 sounds pretty good !

Sure sounds like you need a new battery.

:) :grin: