VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - GENERAL Electrical - 6 volt Needle position Amp gauge 1953-54 Chevy

Hi everyone,

Just a question about the position of the needle on the AMP gauge for my 53 chevy. I have replaced my 6 Volt generator with a rebuilt unit (also polarised it) and my battery is about 3 months old. When idling the needle is just below the centre mark, when I accelerate it goes way across to the right (+ side). What concerns me is when I drive at night, as soon as I turn the headlights on the needle goes way to the left (as if it is discharging). When accelerating it does move to the right again. Is this normal when the lights are turned on ? There are some wires with split insulation near where they join onto the front terminal blocks, but I have replaced the front headlight bucket wires with reproductions. Perhaps I am losing resistance through the splits in the insulation ?

The exact same thing happens on my '51 Chevy..depending upon the battery charge of course. When my battery is fully charged and driving with the lights on, the amp meter will read on the plus side. At idle, with the lights on, the amp meter will read halfway between the center and the negative side. You probably do have some resistance due to the age of the wires and etc. but, for the most part, it sounds like your system working the way it should.

Thanks Junkyard dog. I will replace the cracked wires in the near future. I also have some cracked/frayed wires where the 3 wires hook into the turn signal flasher & out of the flasher into the terminal block. Sometimes both turn signal lights at the dash flash until I switch it off and then on again. I imagine replacing these suspect wires may fix this problem. Every man and his dog is telling me to change to 12 volts but I would like to keep it the way it is as it works fine. I do agree that 6 Volt headlights are not so bright, but they do the job. I think the more original I can keep the car the more authentic it will be.

Tony, If you have good ground and good connections and the switches have good contacts your lights will be as bright as 12 V.
I see a lot of 12 V cars with dim yellow lights also.

Yep, definitely keep the 6 volts. If everything is up to par the lights are just as bright as 12 volts.

Hi Tony,

I've had a nice 54 Bel Air hardtop for 32 years, as of today. It had a re-paint in orig colors about 35 years ago. (Still looks great.) Except for the re-paint and some replating, the car is essentially original with around 82,000 miles.

What I'm getting around to is giving a vote of confidence to the six volt system. I've driven the car all over the West Coast in the 32 years. Headlights, brake lights, turn signals all work fine. The key, as others have said, is to have a good battery, good connections, proper cables, etc.

Feel free to convert to 12 volts. But there's a lot more to it than meets the eye. AND, it just isn't necessary. I find most guys who do convert to 12 volt wind up with more problems than they solved.

I'd say keep the 6 volt. It's fun to tell guys it's original. Also sort of a put-down for the guys who decided it was "necessary" to switch to 12 volt!!

Just my two cents....

Bill

PS: Thanks to Big Bob you can see a picture of my 54 by clicking on the blue www just below....

Man, I couldn't agree with the above more! The first thing I did when I brought my '50, 3600 home two years ago was start with a new battery, new cables and clean contacts, rebuilt the starter, generator and regulator, clean all the rest of the terminal ends and contact points. I see out the front fine at night the taillight are a little dim but that's not because of low voltage, it's just that those bulbs were not all that bright to begin with. And if that bothers you they can be replaced with 6v LED’s, which will blind the guy behind you.
As far as starting, when she’s tuned properly it starts the first turn over and she’s never failed to start once since I brought her home. I've driven her in the hot summer and the coldest winter as long as it's dry out side.
I for the life of me don't understand the obsession some people have for switching to a 12v system. I spent sixty bucks on a voltage booster and run any 12v accessories off of that, like a 12v tach and a Sony under dash mounted AM/FM player. I'm also going to power a soon to be added 6v Redirad adaptor which I can use with an Ipod or similar device through the original stock 6v radio, which by the way sounds just great.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

it's been my experience that LEDs are not as bright as their incandescent counterparts. I replaced all the interior courtesy lamps and exterior lamps in our Corvette with LEDs. all of them illuminated less than the bulbs they replaced. in fact I went back to incandescents for the rear lamps because the brake lights just weren't bright enough. in all locations I used the highest power bulb that would fit. the black interior looks great with the blue-ish white glow so I kept them.

just a note. if the turn signal bulbs are replaced with LEDs the flasher will have to be replaced for one designed for the diminished draw of the LED bulbs. otherwise you'll have a hyper flash situation.

That's good to know about the LED bulbs. They have looked tempting.

I suspect that rather than just a bulb replacement, Denny may have been referring to the whole LED tail light assemblies out there where the entire face of the lens has 25+ LED's. I've seen them on trucks and they are VERY bright.

Nope, I think ya got it wrong, I'm talking bout the bulb replacements, just buy one and try it. An LED will fire off between 4v & 5v and the brightness depends on the arrary. The new hi-output LED's put out a lot of light.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

I spoke to the people at autolumination and ordered the brightest leds made that would fit.



it was very obvious by the reflection on the garage door that these were not near as bright as the stock bulbs.

and no, there is nothing wrong with the electrical system.

Seems that your mind is made up Dad, and I’m certainly not going to argue with you about it here on the forum. But I would like to just keep the record straight by injecting a little scientific observation to the subject rather than just depending on our individual subjective observations.
Here are just a few testimonials:
From the electrical instrument world:
http://www.sifammeters.com/LED_vs_Incandescent.htm
From the Porsche world:
http://www.356registry.org/Tech/safety_and_taillights.html
From the biker world:
http://www.webbikeworld.com/r2/led/led.htm
For Traffic lights:
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-95959227.html
In Aviation:
http://www.lrc.rpi.edu/programs/solidstate/cr_aviationBrightness.asp
In the home:
http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/...0-lumens-as-bright-as-incandescent-bulb/
In Auto Dome lights:
http://hubpages.com/hub/carleddomelights

Well there is a ton more and one could go on all day long with these examples. We can like it or not, but this is the future of automotive lighting.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Bill,

That's a very nice red 54 hardtop, and thanks for your input. I will leave the 6 Volt system in place, but replace the cracked wiring here and there. I have no problem with the headlights. I think it is the tail light bulbs that are not real bright. Perhaps I can just get a pair of brighter 6volt globes, I know some suppliers sell hallogen ones. Also my tail lights are not wired correctly. The top red lense I have made park/turn signal and because there is an inner lense on this, you can hardly see the turn signal when the park light is also on. The centre red lense is just brake light, but I think it is meant to be brake as well as turn signal. The bottom clear lense is backup as it should be. To wire it correctly I need to work out from the wiring diagram where the other 2 wires from the turn signal switch go. At the moment 4 wires are connected and the other 2 wires just exit through the column and I have taped them up, that's how it was when I bought the car as the previous owner had made the bottom clear lense the turn signal (which I fixed). My other alternative is to put a dual filament bulb in the centre lense and connect the turn signal wire to this so that brake and turn signal will both work. I believe the way this is wired up originally is that the turn signal overrides the brake light if both are on together, since it is only one fillament I assume that is how it works. I've never seen this system on a car in Australia.

Maybe a more true statement has never been made! Sorry Tony53, I just couldn't resist. I got a good chuckle from this and thought it should be shared in case anyone missed it.

Hi Tony,

Sorry to be slow in commenting. I was away from home from the time of your last post until just recently. I'm not up on 53/54 brake lights/turn signals as I should be. Altho it sounds like you're on the right track. Always good to check out expert advice (not me) or the manual or both.

Again, just my 2 cents; but I'm glad to hear you're staying with 6 volt.

Thanks for your positive comment about my 54 hardtop.

Good luck on making your lights brighter.....

Bill.