6 volt to 12 volt simplified (LOL)

well I cannot leave well enough alone

what about positive and negative polarity?
what works better for old tractors?

well I have found the following

There is no strict answer as to "why" American cars are ground based systems. Rumors are that it was because of Benjamin Franklin"s guess to the "poles" of electricity as to which way current actually flowed, and degenerate into derogatory comments about american"s ignoring the laws of physics. The convention for labeling batteries, despite physics, remains however.
Despite any claim to the contrary DC Current ALWAYS travels from the ground (-) side of a battery to the positive (+) side; because electricity is made up of free electrons that accumulate on that side of the plate as a result of a chemical reaction.
Also, all switches (except immersed switches - no arc switches used for explosive gas environments) will "arc" when the contact is almost made.
Also, production prices between positive and negative chassis systems are no different as electrical systems are the same in concept as well as production. There is no "requirement" that one system have a master switch (or any switch for that matter) because of its ground source. It is true however that most of these positive systems use better wiring, and relays for current load where american cars rely on the switch itself to handle the current load; which increases the cost and complexity of the system (Lucas prince of darkness, Jaguar comes to mind).
Lastly, Ground based chassis systems have one inherent problem not normally seen on a Positive chassis system; known as a ground loop. A "ground Loop" is properly stated as an electron potential imbalance; where there are more electron"s available in one point of the car as opposed to another point in the car / this is eliminated in positive based systems and compensated for in negative systems by running ground straps through the chassis.



that is correct the current flow is from the negative to the positive terminals.


the bottom line in what I ferreted out is in a negative ground system the entire car(tractor) is charged full time. When you turn something on you are completing the ground circuit.

In a positive system you are turning on the power to the item being started.

negative ground advantages seem to be less corrosion on the body of the vehicle as it is under battery voltage at all times.(cathodic protection)
disavantages
The feeling is that the battery will discharge faster than a positive ground system.

Also the electrical wiring corrode faster because of the same reason. Now some believe the opposite is true about the wiring.


Now the positive ground advantages
some people believe the positive ground systems the switches when turned on or off do not spark(as much) like negative ground systems. This would lead to longer points life.

less corrosion on the wiring as well as less battery draw down when out of use.

i would also guess you would want the electron flow in the spark plugs from the electrode to the block. From the block to the plug would increase
the possibility of plug failure to carbon build up.
The electrode runs much hotter and is usually cleaner than the outside.

anyone has experiences to confirm or deny these theories?

At this point when switching to 12 volt with an old 6 volt positive ground generator I will be staying at positive ground.

When boosting stay positive to positive and negative to negative on the batteries. Leave the frame connection stuff out.

George

I bought a B last summer that had by far the most simplest 12V "conversion" yet. Mag tractor and two cables from a lawn mower battery to the starter. Guy said he mowed with it and it would run all summer on one charge. He would park it in the shed in the fall and throw on the trickle charger and head south for the winter. Come spring he would start all over. He was my neighbor so I believe him.

That is actually a valid question that I have always wondered about.
“Back in the day”, we always thought it was just because Ford and Chrysler wanted to be different from GM so they made all there cars Pos. Gnd. as opposed to GM’s Neg. Gnd.
And that might have been the reason. I don’t know if it was theory or arbitrary.

The military teaches DC Current flows from Pos to Neg, at least they did when I was stationed at Keesler, whereas civilian teaches Neg to Pos.

I was going to go out and switch one of my 6v 300U’s to Neg Gnd just for the fun of it to see if it would still run as good as it does now.

I will never convert one of them until I have a big problem and then I will probably just go with the Bosch VR. But it will also depend on which component I have the problem with.
Dell

Any of you guys who have ever used an electrolisis system to remove paint, rust, crud, etc. from tractor parts know for sure that DC electricity DOES indeed flow from positive to negative. You can see it right there before your very eyes. If you reverse the leads from the power source, so that the positive lead is connected to the sacrificial anode, instead of to the part to be cleaned, the material from that anode will flow TO the part you are trying to clean.

Drifting with positive ground.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEPjf4x73-E&feature=related

Well brian
At this point I have a farmall M and a w6 both with loaders used pretty regularly.

They both have a 12 volt battery installed with a manual battery top up once a month

I just check the battery voltage and when it gets under 12.5 volts I hook up a trickle charge over night.

Have to say it is very reliable like that. The tractors with mags can be done like this. A battery ignition system I would not try.

George

1/2 the cars and trucks built in 1940 were positive ground.All 6v tractors Ive worked on were positive ground.Dosent matter why .I just made sure they were connected the way they came from the factory.