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EFV-8 Club Forum / General Mercury Discussion / 1940 Merc gel battery 6 volt where can I get on.

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Discussion Topic: 1940 Merc gel battery 6 volt where can I get on.

Rickauf

06-04-2016 @ 8:02 AM

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Posts: 16
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I think title says it all.
My pops Merc has been sitting for almost a year. I put 6 volt battery charger on. It's been on a few days now.
Charger is set to 6 volts. Getting blinking green light.. Not steady. According to manual states that battery won't hold charge.
I have key turned knob under wheel set to on... Push button get nothing... Not even gauge movement.
My dad had purchased a plastic Merc battery box that a gel would fit in and look stock. Does anyone know where I can purchase a 6 volt "box ready" battery?
Thanks
Rick

Regards,
Rick Aufderheide

ford38v8

06-04-2016 @ 2:09 PM

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Rick, Your battery charger may not recognize your dead battery. If you can borrow another 6 volt battery and wire it parallel (not series! EDITED) with your old battery, your charger can hopefully pick up the charge. Worth a try.

Amazon has the battery you want, an excellent choice:
Optima 8010-044 6V Red Top Starting Battery. $112.59 free shipping for Prime members.

Alan

This message was edited by ford38v8 on 6-5-16 @ 9:37 AM

shogun1940

06-05-2016 @ 4:12 AM

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Do not wire in series, it doubles the voltage,, dry cell battery's will not charge if they get to low on voltage, connect a 6 volt battery in parallel and charge both together. I just paid $200 for a 6v optima at interstate.

TomO

06-05-2016 @ 6:01 AM

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Amazon has the Optima for around $113.

Shogun1940 gave you the correct advice about trying to charge your battery. Make sure that the battery is not connected to anything except the charger. You can also take the battery to a battery service center and have them try to charge your battery. I hope that you haven't damaged the battery. Optima batteries don't seem to recover as well as conventional batteries when they are totally discharged.

If your battery will not take a charge, check the case to see if you can open it to replace the battery. If you can, you should be able to put the Optima inside the case. If you cannot open the case and want a Script battery, you can buy one here:
http://www.antiqueautobattery.com/batteries/ford/2hf.html
or here:
http://www.restorationbattery.com/2hf.html

To save headaches, when you park the car remove the fuse from the clock and disconnect the ground cable from the battery. Doing this will ensure that your Optima will have a charge when you want to start it.

Tom

len47merc

06-05-2016 @ 7:02 AM

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Alan clearly must not've had his coffee yet. The battery disconnect is great advice, not only for safety's sake but also piece of mind. Just curious TomO - why your suggestion to additionally remove the clock fuse in addition to disconnecting the battery?

Know this is not the focus of your question Rickauf and only a tangent but feel the need to weigh in on something here. While I routinely disconnect the battery on my '47 after most all drives, or at minimum when the car is going to sit for more than 3-4 days, I have tested on several occasions the notion that our properly-running electro-mechanical clocks can run a 6V pos-ground Optima (in original-style case) battery down by leaving everything connected for 2-3 months of idled downtime without cranking the engine. Have never experienced a dead battery or even one that showed even the slightest deflection of the ammeter for additional charging when cranking and driving the car for the first time after that period, or a battery that displayed less that 6.2V when measured with my Fluke after this period -

From my limited experience and perhaps non-scientific tests here, it occurs to me that while disconnecting the battery is certainly safety and peace of mind appropriate, to do so to simply prevent the battery from discharging will not address the root cause of any potential problem and additional work should be done to ID the source of ANY drain. I say this because...

When bringing the '47 back to life I routinely had a battery drain problem that, while the car would start and run fine while the battery had adequate charge, would discharge the battery within 4-5 days if not disconnected. I found it hard to accept the little shot of juice the clock required every 4-5 minutes to rewind could possibly cause this and took days looking for the source until I quite literally stumbled across the problem. The terminal on the wire from the under-dash (radio) condenser to the ballast resistor (the condenser is mounted on the 'right' side of the resistor block under the dash and the wire for it crosses over the other two connections to its left and connects to the far left of the block) was slightly bent toward the front of the car and was making adequate connection through the then 66+ year-old original terminal insulations to drain the battery (see attached pic). This 'short' was not obviously visible to the eye and was found while under the dash with the Fluke sleuthing for the source of the drain and I almost burned myself when inadvertently touching the terminal with the back of my hand - it was hot as s#&t! This means it was like this while driving the car as well - an obvious fire hazard that could have been catastrophic!

My recommendation is everyone reading this to do as stated above regarding the battery disconnect and be absolutely diligent and relentless in finding the source of ANY drain before driving any car much distance, if any distance at all. Again, from my experience, these batteries should not drain down when connected and the car idled within even 2-3 months. I perceive they will go even longer - for a year? hmmm...don't know or have the time and patience to perform that long an in-practice test. Regardless - FIND IT - FIX IT - AND DON'T BANDAID A DRAIN! You and your car will be rewarded - and protected - for your efforts.

Fwiw -

Steve

This message was edited by len47merc on 6-5-16 @ 12:01 PM

ford38v8

06-05-2016 @ 9:43 AM

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Thanks, guys! I edited my reply above to specify parallel. My understanding of electrical terminology clearly requires more coffee.

Alan

len47merc

06-05-2016 @ 10:41 AM

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Cold adult beverages sometimes work better for helping my limited electrical terminology understanding Alan! As described several weeks ago I'm always more intelligent when drinking...

Steve

This message was edited by len47merc on 6-5-16 @ 10:41 AM

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