6V to 12V "step up" auto voltage converter ....

[Crazy Horse]

There is a '55 Ford Sunliner convertible at auction right now on the Hemmings online auction site. It has its original factory 6V electrical system. Apparently late in '55 some left the factory 12 volts which continued on into '56 and beyond. This one was and remains six volts. The seller included this info in the posting .... "Sunliner is apparently stock except for the addition of a tachometer and a 6-to-12-volt converter with a 12-volt outlet beneath the dash".

I never heard of such a thing but they do sell them, I see all sorts for sale on line. I'm wondering how many here know of those and what sorts of use they might be put to? One I can think of would be to power a 12V emergency air compressor and maybe even the tachometer mentioned. .

 

[Loosehandle]

There is a '55 Ford Sunliner convertible at auction right now on the Hemmings online auction site. It has its original factory 6V electrical system. Apparently late in '55 some left the factory 12 volts which continued on into '56 and beyond. This one was and remains six volts. The seller included this info in the posting .... "Sunliner is apparently stock except for the addition of a tachometer and a 6-to-12-volt converter with a 12-volt outlet beneath the dash".

I never heard of such a thing but they do sell them, I see all sorts for sale on line. I'm wondering how many here know of those and what sorts of use they might be put to? One I can think of would be to power a 12V emergency air compressor and maybe even the tachometer mentioned. .

Charge your phone

 

[roy prins]

I have one in My 54 chevy and it runs the 12 volt wipers and a radio.

 

[Tony in SD]

Devices to raise DC voltage have been in existence for a long time. Most commonly found in car tube type radios. Most employed a mechanical vibrator that rapidly alternated polarization of the DC voltage on the primary side of a step up transformer. The step up side of the transformer was then rectified & filtered and the higher DC voltage (B+) applied to the plates of the tubes. This type would be a period correct DC-DC step up converter.
I experienced with solid state oscillators in electronics lab in the 1970s that would do the same thing as the mechanical vibrator. Modern DC-DC step up converters are solid state and therefore not period correct.

 

[Jimmydog]

There is a '55 Ford Sunliner convertible at auction right now on the Hemmings online auction site. It has its original factory 6V electrical system. Apparently late in '55 some left the factory 12 volts which continued on into '56 and beyond. This one was and remains six volts. The seller included this info in the posting .... "Sunliner is apparently stock except for the addition of a tachometer and a 6-to-12-volt converter with a 12-volt outlet beneath the dash".

I never heard of such a thing but they do sell them, I see all sorts for sale on line. I'm wondering how many here know of those and what sorts of use they might be put to? One I can think of would be to power a 12V emergency air compressor and maybe even the tachometer mentioned. .

Like Tony said, new ones these days are solid state. I have a step-down DC-DC convertor for my solar panels. Half my panels are 24VDC and the older ones are 12VDC. I had to do a good bit of searching the interweb to fine one that would handle the amperage. Someday when I upgrade my DC-AC invertor to a 24VDC model I will just rewire the 12V panels in series parallel and pitch the convertor. Been meaning to do that for only a decade now.

 

[Ultradog MN]

There is a '55 Ford Sunliner convertible at auction right now on the Hemmings online auction site. It has its original factory 6V electrical system. Apparently late in '55 some left the factory 12 volts which continued on into '56 and beyond. This one was and remains six volts. The seller included this info in the posting .... "Sunliner is apparently stock except for the addition of a tachometer and a 6-to-12-volt converter with a 12-volt outlet beneath the dash".

I never heard of such a thing but they do sell them, I see all sorts for sale on line. I'm wondering how many here know of those and what sorts of use they might be put to? One I can think of would be to power a 12V emergency air compressor and maybe even the tachometer mentioned. .

My thoughts on the matter don't go into it nearly as deep as Tony'S but with all the electronic stuff that's out there now I would be surprised if there wasn't a simple plug and play device to do that on any 6V machine.

 

[Bob Bancroft]

There is a '55 Ford Sunliner convertible at auction right now on the Hemmings online auction site. It has its original factory 6V electrical system. Apparently late in '55 some left the factory 12 volts which continued on into '56 and beyond. This one was and remains six volts. The seller included this info in the posting .... "Sunliner is apparently stock except for the addition of a tachometer and a 6-to-12-volt converter with a 12-volt outlet beneath the dash".

I never heard of such a thing but they do sell them, I see all sorts for sale on line. I'm wondering how many here know of those and what sorts of use they might be put to? One I can think of would be to power a 12V emergency air compressor and maybe even the tachometer mentioned. .

I bought a Case VAC where the 6 volt system was still intact, but no lights. I'm only buying LED's now. Couldn't find any 6 volt. So I got one of those converters to obtain 12 volts for my new lighting.

 

[Tim PloughNman Daley RIP]

There is a '55 Ford Sunliner convertible at auction right now on the Hemmings online auction site. It has its original factory 6V electrical system. Apparently late in '55 some left the factory 12 volts which continued on into '56 and beyond. This one was and remains six volts. The seller included this info in the posting .... "Sunliner is apparently stock except for the addition of a tachometer and a 6-to-12-volt converter with a 12-volt outlet beneath the dash".

I never heard of such a thing but they do sell them, I see all sorts for sale on line. I'm wondering how many here know of those and what sorts of use they might be put to? One I can think of would be to power a 12V emergency air compressor and maybe even the tachometer mentioned. .

Don't know about any "converter" but they make POWER INVERTERS. Connects your 12V car system to run your 110 AC house 8-TRACK player or Coffee Pot from your back seat. Had one in my '72 Buick.

Tim Daley (MI)

 

[buickanddeere]

DC to DC step up converters , lots of them around .

 

[Factotum]

I've been considering this for my 8N, it's 6 volt system that is working well but many accessories are not available in 6v. I wonder if a step up converter would enable a 12v voltage gauge to accurately read how well the 6v battery is charged??

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

DC to DC step up converters , lots of them around .

People need to be aware that there is no free lunch here. To get 1A of 12V output, you need more than 2A of 6V input. The voltage boosting process is not efficient so it's probably more on the order of 3A to 4A. To run that converter at full 10A capacity, you're looking at at least 25A of current from the 6V system, and probably over 30A...

On a tractor with a generator that by design is barely able to keep the battery charged when everything is working perfectly!