6 volt to 12 volt austin 7

[the17paynes@aol.com]

Has anybody changed from 6v to 12v on an austin 7 ruby.  If so how easy was it?

Any help appreciated.

Charlie

[Martin Prior]

Has anybody changed from 6v to 12v on an austin 7 ruby.  If so how easy was it?

Any help appreciated.

Charlie

Quite a lot of people have, Charlie, but far many more haven't.  I've never seen the point, unless you plan to do a lot of night driving and with the availability of LED bulbs that argument is far less persuasive than it used to be.

[Chris KC]

I still run 6V without LEDs and don't generally have any problem at all. The secret to making 6V work well is running good size cables - much thicker than you'd use for 12V - and use earth return wires to the battery rather than relying on earth through the bodywork. This minimises voltage losses and transforms the system.

[Ian Williams]

I am another 6V exponent, like Martin I do not see the point of going 12V, the only failing of a 6V system is it requires all connections to be in good condition, any resistance in joints or through undersized cable will have a greater effect. Think of it like a fluid flowing in a pipe, if the pipe is small it will resist flow, if there are poor joints the pipe will leak, either way you will not get so much out the other end. 12V can be thought of as increasing the pressure in the system to over come resistance, only really necessary if your 6V system is in poor condition. Much simplified explanation but there is no need to complicate and confuse matters with technicalities. The old argument that 12V allowed you to use larger wattage bulbs to gain brighter headlights is, as already mentioned a thing of the past

[Charles Levien]

I am another 6V exponent, like Martin I do not see the point of going 12V, the only failing of a 6V system is it requires all connections to be in good condition, any resistance in joints or through undersized cable will have a greater effect. Think of it like a fluid flowing in a pipe, if the pipe is small it will resist flow, if there are poor joints the pipe will leak, either way you will not get so much out the other end. 12V can be thought of as increasing the pressure in the system to over come resistance, only really necessary if your 6V system is in poor condition. Much simplified explanation but there is no need to complicate and confuse matters with technicalities. The old argument that 12V allowed you to use larger wattage bulbs to gain brighter headlights is, as already mentioned a thing of the past

The LED conversion available for the Ruby is particularly good as you can incorporate your flashing indicators into the side lights at front and pork pies at rear — a very neat conversion. When this is combined with a lowered output dynamo ( three amps is enough) the argument for staying at 6volts is compelling.

Charles

[Ruairidh Dunford]

I am told that the conversion is easy but I have no experience of doing it as all my cars remain on 6v - someone will know.

[Derek Sheldon]

Both my 1938 Opal and my 1930 Rosengart are 100% L.E.D. Plus as suggested all earth returns are direct to earth with new wiring. All joints are soldered not crimped and use the old bullet conectors. Dynamo turned right down to 2.5 amp. Both cars are capable of running all day and night on full headlights. A bit of work but stay on 6v.
Oh and I have a 12v gadget to run my Satnav. ( others suggest that is not necessary)

[Bill Dixon]

That is the way to do it Derek.

[Charles Levien]

It is certainly straight forward but, as has been said, care must be taken over connections and good earthing. Incidentally I have had no battery terminal corrosion since converting.

Charles

[Dave Mann]

Whilst I converted our cars to 12 volts nearly 40 years ago, with the availability of LEDs I wouldn't bother today, 6 volts served me well in the 1960s & 70s.