To battery or not to use a battery. What is the difference between a hot shot and a battery?
The engine /trans is an older but never run restoration. New mag. Rebuilt new coils never used since rebuild.
Engine was rebuilt to accept a battery. I just came back from buying a 6 volt, but maybe I do not need one. I always had a battery so that is all I know.
Is a hot shot worth using and what is it?
Thanks, Bob
Others will chime in but I'm pretty sure "hot shot" is just a term for a battery used to start the car (power the ignition system) when hand cranking. Originally dry cell batteries. Any modern batt will do. Don't know if "hot shot" was a trade name or not.
Robert,
Are you thinking of this product?
http://www.funprojects.com/products/hsbck1.aspx
Dave, that appears to be it. I do not understand all this but I'm le3arning. Thanks for your help.
I might just stay with the 6 volt starter system, but crank it for the fun of it. Crank on bat and switch to mag.
Your car was built without a starter or generator, but since the engine is built to have a starter and generator, you can use a 6 volt battery. Whether or not you use the starter or the hand crank is up to you. It is very convenient to have a starter especially if your back hurts or you have arthritis. It is also much easier to start if you should accidentally kill the engine in traffic. Your passenger doesn't have to get out so you can get out in traffic to turn the crank.
Anyway, my understanding of "hot shot" is a low amp battery which is large enough to buzz the coils, but not enough for the starter. Also if you drive at night you could convert all the lights to 6 volt and drive quite a ways on the 6 volt battery. They will be more dependable than mag lights which dim if you go too slow and burn out if you go too fast.
Norm
A Hot Shot battery is actually three and sometimes four one and a half volt dry cells each about the size of a pint thermos bottle. They were bound together and put into an oblong can. So they were huge D cells. Many cars with large engines and six volt batteries had too much voltage drop when cranking with the electric starter so these were sold to provide energy for the coil or coils for starting. Our 1913 Cadillac had a drawer for the Hot Shot and it was used to power the coil while the storage battery cranked the engine. The engine had 366 cubic inches with its 4 1/2" by 5 3/" bore and stroke. Battery voltage dropped to about four volts during cranking and so Cadillac provided a drawer to store the Hot Shot in for starting. Once running the switch was moved over to run on the storage battery.
Early cars like my Autocar had no magneto and used dry cells to operate the coils. They usually had two sets and were set up with a one/two switch so you could switch over to the second set when the first set was discharged. One later application was the use of a hot shot battery to power the glow plug on model airplanes. They are getting hard to find these days and there is no good reason not to use a wet cell battery. My Autocar will run for days on a wet cell battery but has trouble going for a day tour on both sets of dry cells. I use lawn mower or motorcycle batteries in all my cars now. If you keep them charged they will last for years.
Bob, you can buy a 6 volt battery that is made up of 4 D Cell flashlight batteries, but it will not crank your car.
A 6 Volt lantern battery Dry Cell will start your car for a whole season, if only used to power the coils, an you remember to immediately switch to Mag.
You will need a 6 Volt, Group 1, Wet Cell battery to start the engine using your starter.
Your engine will start on Mag very easily when warm, but will require more work to start cold on Mag.
The extra compression from the recent rebuild will make hand cranking more difficult.
First of all, a hot shot is a battery. They are usually either 6v or 12v. I used them for years in my '13, but now use a small Optima type battery that is about the same size as a Model T coil, and lasts forever almost. I like the 12 volt version, as it gives the coils a little more kick.
Go to a computer geek and see if he has server batteries that are no longer in use. They are 12v and provide excellent long term power. I have run on tour for about 300 miles just using this battery when my mag quit.
HOTSHOT was a brand of battery many years ago used primarily for old hotel fire alarm systems and electric fences. I used to in my other life inspect old fire alarm systems and many had HOTSHOT batteries in them. They were adopted for other uses such as a starting aid for Model T cars. They were a cell not a battery it took 4 cells to make a battery each cell was 1.5 volts. Most fire alarm systems were 6 volt systems. As time progressed the battery companies made a 6 and 12 volt battery in one unit. Some 1.5 volt HOTSHOT cell units may be found in antique stores, most of them are however rotted completely away.
Robert-
I have used an 8v lantern battery in my 1911 for a couple of years now. I use it to start the car then switch right over to MAG.
Does your 1912 have a starter? If so, you'd need either a 6v or 12v car battery. If all you are doing is powering is the coils for ignition, it does not make a lot of difference.
One advantage for 12v is a power-port for things like a GPS or phone charger.
I have a friend who used an old 9v battery from a Maketa cordless drill. He made an adapter to hook up the terminals and simply plugs it into his charger unit when he need to charge it.
: ^ )
They used to use those old dry cell batteries in magneto telephones too.
The magneto in the old telephone was to power the "ringer" in the phone. Once the other end heard the ringer they then picked up the ear piece and that off hook then hooked the dry cell batteries in series with the phones and phone line. The established connection was then DC powered so that the carbon microphone would work. Carbon microphone was really tremendously efficient and gave off a large signal that carried the conversation without any amplification on local calls. Thomas Edison is the one who put the carbon microphone into Mr. Bells phone. Before that the Bell phone was largely a parlor toy with no real value since it was very difficult to hear the other end unless things were super quiet. With the "new" carbon microphone the phone was a practical tool that worked. Since Alexander didn't really invent the phone it is no wonder he couldn't improve it either. Most historians (include me in this group) seem to agree that the real inventor was the other guy in the law suite since he clearly knew how it all worked. That happens a lot in science and patents. The guy that should be given most if not all of the credit was Tom Edison's lab since he improved the microphone by orders of magnitude over the patented Bell design.