6 or 12 volt system

[Indiana George]

I bought this john deere a about 2 months ago, serial number 602908. When I bought it it was not running.When I got it home,I was looking to see if it was 6 or 12 volt system. I called back the seller and he told me it was 12
volt but it had a 6 volt coil on it. how can you tell if it is 6 or 12 volt system.
Thanks

 

[Anonymous-0]

All A John Deeres built with the battery box under the seat were 12 volts.
The reason they used two 6 volt batterys was to get more amperage than one 12 volt battery.

That's my story, and I'm going to stick with it.
That is unless sumone proves me wrong.

 

[David G]

You have to look at the battery and generator/alternator voltages, everything else has to follow. Take some pictures of the battery with connections and generator/alternator.

A 6V coil is fine in a 12V system with a ballast resistor. I actually prefer that so I can bypass the resistor during starting for a hotter spark.

 

[John T]

Yo Harvey, I love that line, I use it myself...

"That's my story, and I'm going to stick with it."

Just to add a bit of info in case some may not be aware, in series the batteries Voltage is additive (6 + 6 = 12) BUT the available amps (such as say the Cold Cranking Amps (CCA)) IS NOT ADDITIVE. If each battery had for example 500 CCA, the two in series still has ONLY 500 CCA. HOWEVER if placed in parallel, VOLTAGE STAYS THE SAME IS NOT ADDITIVE BUTTTTTTTTTT THE AVAILABLE AMPERAGE (CCA) IS ADDITIVE. So if you placed two 12 volt batteries in parallel, and each had 500 CCA, you can now deliver 1000 CCA to the starter.

That's my story n Ima stick to it also lol

Take care Harvey

John T

 

[Indiana George]

It did not have a battery when I got it, and it has a generator.I looked at the generator for markings but I didn't see any.and it has the battery box under the seat.Now the ballast resistor I don't see anything connected to the coil.

 

[Indiana George]

Another thing I forgot to mention is that the battery box has two ground cables in it.and the only marks on the voltage regulator are numbers.
one is 2kb and the other 1441. Do they mean anything?

 

[David G]

Harvey said it is 12V, I do not know enough on that model to challenge that. Take a picture of the tag on the generator and post. You will burn up a 6V coil if run on 12V for a length of time.

 

[David G]

2 ground cables would mean batteries are in parallel, but still could be either voltage. I would just convert it to 12V with alternator and be done with it. There is really no reason to leave a working tractor at 6V.

 

[Old weldor]

A john deere a with the battery box seat is 12 volts. I still have my dads 49 A which he bought new. I stopped using two six volt batterys years ago and went to a single 12 volt battery. It has the original generator and it charges fine. Positive ground by the way.

 

[Pete in MD]

If the tag on the generator hasn't been painted over, a red tag is 12V, a black tag is 6V.