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Discussion Topic:
12 volt battery/accessories in 6 volt 36 Ford
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36fordor |
04-21-2012 @ 9:14 AM
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Member
Posts: 78
Joined: Oct 2009
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Am placing 12 volt battery in trunk of 1936 6 volt positive ground Fordor to operate modern 12 volt CD/FM/AM receiver & horn. (1) What gauge wire between trunk & dash should be used to power accessories? (2) What size fuses should be used? (3) What are my grounding options since car is positive ground? Thanks.
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carguy |
04-22-2012 @ 7:36 AM
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New Member
Posts: 167
Joined: Oct 2009
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Another option that you might want to consider is a power inverter that will convert your 6 volt positive ground to 12 volt negative ground. My company sells these (rated at 2.1 amps, 26.5 watts output)for $103.95 - we sell them to owners of the '55 Thunderbird that, like you, want to install a modern sound system. I'm confident you can find them at a lot of places, in fact, I'd be surprised if one of our great early V8 dealers doesn't stock them.
Bill Brown '34 Cabriolet
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TomO |
04-22-2012 @ 4:56 PM
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Senior
Posts: 7243
Joined: Oct 2009
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First you need to determine the power draw of the CD/AM/FM receiver, that will determine the size of the wire and fuse for it. Horns draw a lot of current, I would start out with a 12 gauge wire and a 30 amp fuse for the horn circuit. If the wire gets hot, you would go to a thicker gauge wire.
Tom
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supereal |
04-23-2012 @ 10:14 AM
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Senior
Posts: 6819
Joined: Oct 2009
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In additions to Tom's good advice, if you are not planning to hook up the 12 volt battery to an in-car charging circuit, I would run both positive and negative from the battery to the dash to operate your devices. That will isolate the accessory system from that of the vehicle, and allow mounting the devices without regard as to whether the cases are grounded, as is often the situation with radios, etc. Be sure to use polarized plugs to assure correct connection. The simplest type are the common AC plugs and receptacles, as they are polarized with a wide blade for ground. We have done this many times over the years so owners can run CB radios, GPS, and other devices.
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