Was informed by a friend a avg battery might be a good alternative to a auto battery for a non starter car. They're 6 volt and can be charged. Went to electronic supplier and the informed me the had varying amperage from 7 to 80 plus amps.. Question: what's best amperage for just running the coils and the tail light? My magneto works FWIW. Thanx
Dexter, I don't know what a AVG battery is, do you mean AGM? (Absorbed Glass Mat)
Your coil pulls around 3 A and only one should be running at a time. You can run headlights and brake lights at the same time so figure out what the maximum number of amps you are planning to draw at any one time. It depends on what your load accessories draw.
I'm sure there are others who will chime in with suggestions, mine is that the 7 -80+ amp rating is the battery's amp-hour rating. Probably any of the batteries will work if your cables and wires are sized appropriately.
On my 1913 car I run coils, headlights and LED brake lights. I put in the largest amp-h 12V deep cycle I could get. Now I am stuck recharging at least once a year. On my first '13 back in the 1990's I ran a little 12v gel cell trailer batter. It crapped out after a day on a tour. So the bigger you go the more electrons it will store up.
FWIW, IMHO, TH
Terry, you are right it's a AGM battery. Apologies. The fewer the amps the smaller they are and the less they cost it seems.
To expand on what Terry said above, the rating you are calling the 'amps' is actually amp-hours. For a battery rated at 7 amp hours, it would last 7 hours with a 1 amp draw, or 1 hour with a 7 amp draw, or 3.5 hours at a 2 amp draw, or any combination of amps and hours that multiplied together that gives the number 7.
Thanx Hal for the clarification. Do you use a auto battery on your 18 nonstarter?
So, if I buy a battery rated at 600 CCA, how long will it last. 600 hours at one amp draw or 25 days?
There must be a difference in CCA and amp hours. My new one says nothing about amp hours, just CCA.
I must be old - what is FWIW?
My dad used a lantern battery for starting our T and then switched to the Mag for running and lights.
I use a 12 volt auto battery the same way because I have a few extras
I considered "borrowing" a small battery from on of the electric cars belonging to my granddaughters but thought better of it
FWIW =
For whoever is wondering
or
For What It's Worth
or
Forgot Where I Was
You choose.
Fred,
FWIW-For what it's worth.
Dexter,
I have two 6 volt lantern batteries arranged in a wooden box with 3 terminals: Ground, 6 volt, and 12 volt. I use the 6 volt terminal for the coils. Yes, I know they will work on 12 volts, but they can overheat if left buzzing (Like when the car won't start). The 12 volt terminal, I use for my LED brake light. When the 6 volt terminal gets weak, I swap the batteries around. When it gets weak again, I put the coils on the 12 volt terminal with the brake light and buy new batteries next time I think about it. I actually bought a couple of 6 volt gel cell (I assume) batteries for a burglar alarm system with the intention of replacing the wooden box arrangement and adding a FP magneto charger, but I haven't done it yet. I have all the parts, just haven't gotten around to it.
Tom,
CCA is not the same as amp-hours. Starting batteries are rated in CA or CCA. Deep cycle batteries are rated in amp-hours.....I think
OK, don't laugh.....I use a Fisher-Price 6v for a child's toy. Battery and charger available for Walmart. It works and stays charged for a long time.
Here's a previous post on a charger and battery that I use.
http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/179374/232248.html?1314580631
Dexter, what are you going to do with the battery? That will help you decide how big of a battery you need. I have a 12V 12Ahr AGM battery under the dash of my 26 roadster. I use it only for LED brake and turn signal lights. At the end of the summer with no additional charges it still read 12.9 volts when I pulled it out for the winter. If you are going to only use the battery just to start on coils I would estimate this size battery will be large enough, but you may need to give it a charge once or twice during the summer, unless you add a Fun Project's Hot Shot Charger.
Hey thanks y'all.
Jason, I just need it to start the car on battery and to run a tail light. I've got decent headlights on magneto(they work good enough for my driving) and of course the mag for running ignition. So I'll go with something like 20/30 amp hours and use my rinky dink walmart 'lectronic battry charger which can charge @ 2amps on 6v. Happy new year to all y'all.
I just bought 12 Agm batterys for use in golf carts.
They are 2 years old and were pull outs from maintance of computer memory bank protection.
Very good so far for the past 3 weeks.You cant run them down all the way and leave them or it will mess them up.
you have to maintan them different but for 30 bucks apeice,they are working great.They are also sealed,so no damage to stuff
Cart is 36 volt, so 2 pairs of three hooked in parallel working great
Jim - Hal
Forgot Where I Was applies to me -
Dexter the Fisher Price batteries work well -about $50 at WallyWorld -get the big one!
I can't use them in the T because the granddaughters would be a bit upset.
DEX, You said have a working Mag. You might do like I did several years ago. Simply install a regular 12 v car bat and get or build one of John Reagans bat charger boards to charge your bat from the mag and it'll also keep your bat charged. Put it in and forget it. I did.