What do the guys do with 8 volt batteries that want to put a tender on? Someone said they just used a 6 volt tender. Wouldnt that take it up to and keep it at 6? One more thing didn't they call them battery "ticklers" at one time? How do they work?
Most 6 volt chargers' actual output is around 8.2 volts, so placing it on an 8 volt battery will charge it to capacity quite nicely. The 12 volt position, when used on 8 volt batteries, charge at too high a rate. I like to use "wall warts" which list their output and currents up to 1 amp. although most are around 350 to 500 ma. You can "float" these across your batteries all winter and they will be ready to go next April. Just be sure to keep the water level up. You can find many of these at tag sales for $1.00. These were used to power video games or other small power accessories.
Battery Tender makes a 8 volt charger
Check on line...
Willard:
I respectfully disagree with your numbers. Most 6 Volt chargers will charge between 7 and 7.3V since more than that will boil away the battery. But assuming you have one that puts out 8.2V it would NOT charge an 8V battery since an 8V battery needs 9.3 to 9.7 to charge. The open circuit voltage of an 8V battery is nominally 8.4 volts so it would not be charged by an 8.2V source. Lead acid batteries have 3 cells for 6V version and 4 cells for 8V version. You cannot charge an 8V battery up "part way" with a 6V charger - it will not charge the battery at all and the 8V battery will soon be ruined by lack of charge and sulfation. Some of the more uncommon type chargers that produce a constant current will charge 6, 8 and 12V batteries but they tend to be very small chargers by design.
Its important when talking about chargers to specify if your talking about "float chargers" or "trickle chargers". HUGE difference.
Fred,
I think I have heard the word "tickler" used on an enrichment device on some type of carburetors. The "tickler" was a small button on top of the float chamber. When pushed down, it would push the float down and relieve the pressure against the float valve, thus allowing more fuel to flow and thereby raising the fuel level in the float chamber, and even flood the carburetor some. Too much, and starting could get difficult. This form of enrichment could only be used in gravity feed fuel systems, and was at one time quite common on motorcycles.
I seem to remember someone posting on this Forum, a battery charging and tending system that consisted of a plug-in transformer such as used on electronic devices, and a light bulb.
As I recall, the idea was that as the battery's charge increased, the brightness of the lamp changed (I don't remember which way).
Does this sound like something Fred might find useful? Does anyone remember who posted that, or where it might be found?
As a further note, I think the most probable supply of 8 volt batteries would be at Tractor Supply, and I think they would also be the most probable place to find a charger for them.
Any other ideas?
https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=8+volt+battery+tender
Here are a couple of alternatives:
http://www.batterystuff.com/battery-chargers/8-volt/
(Still can't understand why anybody would want an 8v battery in their car, with no 8v bulbs available..)
I use an 8volt battery that has done the rounds on 4 of my cars, 29 chev and 3 T's, never changed any thing or blown any bulbs!
I will go way out on a limb here and say it is of no use to install an 8V battery when lights are a necessary part of the equation given all the problems that come with it. I will also state that it is impossible NOT to have very short life when using an 8V battery unless the 8V battery is not being charged properly since applying 9.35 Volts to an 8V battery is totally necessary to keep it fully charged and for it to have a normal life but with at least 9.35 volts applied to a 6V bulb (even one designed for 7V operation) the bulb life will be less than 4% of its normal life - yes less than 4%. In the future when LED's are in use even in headlights then it will be possible to not have this issue. The formula for life expectancy of a tungsten filament bulb (this includes halogens) is that the ratio of filament design voltage to applied voltage raised to the twelfth power is the ratio of actual life to expected design life. This is a published formula and is verifiable. 8V was predominantly a tractor conversion idea with daytime operation assumed.