Ferguson te20 (z120) 6v & 12v mess

[2011dandd]

Hello everyone as the title suggests, my tractors electrical system is a mess.

It runs fine but I’ve got:
6v dynamo
12v battery
12v regulator
12v coil
6v starter.

Not sure what route to take as I said it runs fine, going back to all 6v or going all 12v is going to cost a bit to sort out. Or just leave it?

It’s only a bit of fun it doesn’t do a great deal apart from log splitting and the odd show and the only inconvenience is that I need to charge the battery occasionally.

I would appreciate others opinions.
Thanks

 

[pomester]

Hello everyone as the title suggests, my tractors electrical system is a mess.

It runs fine but I’ve got:
6v dynamo
12v battery
12v regulator
12v coil
6v starter.

Not sure what route to take as I said it runs fine, going back to all 6v or going all 12v is going to cost a bit to sort out. Or just leave it?

It’s only a bit of fun it doesn’t do a great deal apart from log splitting and the odd show and the only inconvenience is that I need to charge the battery occasionally.

I would appreciate others opinions.
Thanks

What's your fancy? Looks like 6 of one and half dozen of the other...

I had my local generator (dynamo) shop rewind my generator to 12v. Appearance, belts, mounts, wiring all stays the same as does the tachometer drive if so equipped. They will do the same for the starter but there's no need until it needs service which might be quite a long time. This allows the use of modern peripherals and lights if so desired. Batteries are more commonly available and possibly less expensive. Changing to a one wire alternator is the modern way. Mounting the alternator on a Z120 is a challenge, the best system is rather expensive.

I have one 6v which is a mostly unmolested original and I plan to keep it that way. Lights are substandard and I can't run 12v pumps and whatnot.

I've a friend with your exact situation and he just charges the battery occasionally and it's been like that for 25+ years. Easiest and cheapest of all....

 

[Mule Meat]

Appears that you have everything needed to change it to a 12 volt except the alternator. 55 Amp GM type Alternators are not expensive and places even have mounting brackets for different tractors to mount them if your engine did not use the Z129 casting. TE 20 engines that used Z129 casting have bosses cast into the block behind the generator that are not tapped for bolts. Otherwise the conversation bracket will bolt up.

I have 1949 TE20 that I converted to 12 volt in 1975 and it still uses the 6 volt starter without problems.

 

[2011dandd]

What's your fancy? Looks like 6 of one and half dozen of the other...

I had my local generator (dynamo) shop rewind my generator to 12v. Appearance, belts, mounts, wiring all stays the same as does the tachometer drive if so equipped. They will do the same for the starter but there's no need until it needs service which might be quite a long time. This allows the use of modern peripherals and lights if so desired. Batteries are more commonly available and possibly less expensive. Changing to a one wire alternator is the modern way. Mounting the alternator on a Z120 is a challenge, the best system is rather expensive.

I have one 6v which is a mostly unmolested original and I plan to keep it that way. Lights are substandard and I can't run 12v pumps and whatnot.

I've a friend with your exact situation and he just charges the battery occasionally and it's been like that for 25+ years. Easiest and cheapest of all....

Thanks very much for the reply. My intention was to continue using it as is untill something really gives up.
Nice to here someone has continued in that vain for 25years though

 

[2011dandd]

Appears that you have everything needed to change it to a 12 volt except the alternator. 55 Amp GM type Alternators are not expensive and places even have mounting brackets for different tractors to mount them if your engine did not use the Z129 casting. TE 20 engines that used Z129 casting have bosses cast into the block behind the generator that are not tapped for bolts. Otherwise the conversation bracket will bolt up.

I have 1949 TE20 that I converted to 12 volt in 1975 and it still uses the 6 volt starter without problems.

Thanks very much for the reply. Thought the starter motor would suffer from the higer voltage, but your 40 years of use that way is encouraging. I don’t believe I have bosses in the block so will look for a an alternator price.

 

[Ericp351]

To clarify- a 12 V coil, less an external resister IS a 6 V coil. Coils aint smart. If your gen is good, get a 6v bat , toss any external coil resister, confirm a good volt reg and send it. The gen is the desirable and expensive part. I trust you can use a good 12v bat somewhere- car, truck, mower, et cetera. Your tractor does not need an alt made for a 1972 Cadillac as it ain't one.

 

[Jim L WA]

To clarify- a 12 V coil, less an external resister IS a 6 V coil. Coils aint smart. If your gen is good, get a 6v bat , toss any external coil resister, confirm a good volt reg and send it. The gen is the desirable and expensive part. I trust you can use a good 12v bat somewhere- car, truck, mower, et cetera. Your tractor does not need an alt made for a 1972 Cadillac as it ain't one.

To clarify- a 12 V coil, less an external resister IS a 6 V coil.

I don't agree with that. A 6 volt coil has around 1 ohm of primary resistance where a 12 volt coil has around 3 ohms.
The problem these days with keeping a generator is finding a quality voltage regulator that doesn't lose it's sanity and either won't charge or damages generators or ammeters.
Been there, done that, didn't like it.

 

[Ericp351]

MOST applications use a 1.5 ohm (6v /12v) coil with a 1.23 to 1.5 ohm bal. resister for 12 v.. You can- they are rare and pricy, buy a 3 ohm coil and forgo the external Bal. res. This includes many millions of OEM cars (about 1.5 coil ohm coils). I use STANDARD brand volt regs when possible, I do not try to out think Detroit as to coil resistance, and maintain proper 6v generators as practical. Cheaper, and cooler, in the long run. Also, using a low ohm coil lets you run a Ford type start sol., pre set up to let you feed full 12v to coil during start up, then will feed about 6v-via resistance wire or bal resister for run. Yield is brief hot spark on cold days for start-up.