6 Volt Questions

I have an H that runs on 6 volt. Its hard to start to say the least. I've had the carb apart to work on it. And everything is good there. I have a good battery putting out 6.2 volts when its not hooked up and when it was barely charged. I know they have to have big cables. My cables get hot and reading on here I know they are probably a bit small. My question is can i use number 2 wire. Not 2 gauge, number 2 wire. The big heavy stuff or will this be to much? Also I have some misc wire laying around hows an easy way to measure the wire size? Finally whats the best way to solder the terminals onto the cable? Thanks as always -Keith

Not quite sure what you mean by no.2 However, if you can find some high strand wire you could go smaller then 00. I have Smaller high strand wire on mine and it cranks with no problems. Welding wire i believe is to be high strand and should work good. Make sure all connections are clean. However if you H is taking long to start i would look else where. My H can sit for 3+ months in the garage and start in 2-3 cranks.

I use 1/0 wire, with soldered connections. Never an issue. Clean and solid connections works everytime.

If you want good starts in any kind of temps, switch to a magneto. I had the F-12 out yesterday and took it to a Bike rally picnic for the kids. Turned out the adults liked it as much or better than the kids did. I think I started the daggone thing 30 times for those bikers! 1/4 turn, and she started every time.

Only problem with the F12/F14 is that if they sit for awhile, the gas drains back out of the downdraft carb (and the gas boils off a bit out of the bowl), and they need a wee bit of priming to start easily......otherwise you will crank enough until you get fuel back up into the carb.

A tuned up engine with a mag will start like a dream if the fuel delivery is right. No voltage drop to the coil. And if your battery is dead, the crank handle is your friend! contrary to popular belief, you do NOT have to spin a well tuned engine fast and multiple RPM's to start it. All it takes is 1 cylinder to fire, and away you go. If you know how and when to use the choke, it is not tough starting these old girls.

Nothing wrong with battery ignition, but I personally prefer mags.

I use 1ga cables you can get them at auto stores. They make cable thats used for starters and you can buy the fittings and solder. Welding cable can work but the cable made for starters is better.

Keith I agree with Gene. I just re-read your post. I posted some links last week for battery cable components on eBay. There is a trick to soldering terminals to cables, but it is not difficult at all.

Basically, get your cable stripped back so it goes all the in and just touches the bottom of the terminal. place the terminal in a vice, so that just a small portion of the terminal is in the vice, the furtherest away from the open end where the cable goes. Have the open end facing straight up.

Make sure that the cable and terminal are CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN. Have your solder ready, and put flux in the opening. Also, dip the stripped end of the cable into the flux to get it coated. heat the terminal with your soldering torch, and melt your solder until the opening is approx. 1/2 full. Keep the heat going to the terminal, and with the solder melted, push/insert the cable into the terminal with the melted solder. Immediately remove the heat, and keep the cable straight and properly oriented into the terminal. As soon as the solder solidifies, you can let go of the cable. let cool, and clean excess flux from the terminal and cable. I then use liquid tape to carefully seal any exposed metal at the cable to terminal joint.

done.

ps. this also works for the lug that goes on the other end of the cable. same procedure.

The bigger wire the better. Less ohm loss per foot and reduces heating of the cables. Factory made cable or soldered. Don't not use the clamp type fill all battery clamps. Those are designed to be a tempory emergency fix. Also everything "clean tight and brite" as far as all of you connections! I know of people who go so far as to removing the stater and cleaning the starter to block/bell housing mating surfaces.

All of the above will reduce voltage drop when cranking allowing the ignition system to get more voltage unless you have a magnito instead of a distributer.

If it's still hard starting then there is a problem someplace else like weak spark of fuel.

Rick

(quoted from post at 06:43:56 05/08/11) I have an H that runs on 6 volt. Its hard to start to say the least. I've had the carb apart to work on it. And everything is good there. I have a good battery putting out 6.2 volts when its not hooked up and when it was barely charged. I know they have to have big cables. My cables get hot and reading on here I know they are probably a bit small. My question is can i use number 2 wire. Not 2 gauge, number 2 wire. The big heavy stuff or will this be to much? Also I have some misc wire laying around hows an easy way to measure the wire size? Finally whats the best way to solder the terminals onto the cable? Thanks as always -Keith

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Here's a couple more tips on actually soldering the connections. Just like the other guys say make sure everything is clean. Treat it just like you would soldering a copper water pipe connection. Flux both the cable and the lug you're using. If you don't do much soldering buy it in the smallest container available. Flux will go bad over time. The key to this is it's color. It needs to be a light brown almost tan color and keep it stirred. When you first pull your can out of storage mix it up and see if it lightens up a bit. If it's dark toss it in the trash. Another solution to this is to buy Tinning Flux. It will be available right along side all of your other soldering supplies. Tinning flux will serve the same purpose and has a small percentage of solder in the compound. In my experiance it has a lot longer shelf life.
Instead of wasting money in buying the small soldering "capsules" from the auto parts store I simply make my own. Just take your regular solder wire and cut lengths equal to the depth of the cable lug you're using. Pack as many as you can into the lug and heat just like stated before.

Another tip I've found does an amazing job on a 6 volt sytem is to clean every possible connection very very well. This means everything from the battery posts to the connections at the starter switch. Don't forget your grounds either. Even remove the starter and clean up where the starter and the bell housing make contact. When you do this buy you and tube of di-electric grease and smear on every point of ground contact and every cable connection. Doing all of this will take a 6 volt system that turns over well to one that turns over very fast!

Good luck.

PS: Use Rosin based solder.

Seth's tip on cleaning everything including the surface between starter and bell housing/engine is one of the best bets. That tip alone made mine start every time easily even though I run 6 AWG automotive cables. No doubt the bigger the better, with that short of a cable run it is not that big of a deal if everything else is up to snuff.

On 6 volt systems, especially like an H versus a little Cub etc., its CRITICAL that all battery, ground, starter and switch connections be clean bright n shiny with quality connections cables and terminations. I recommend 0 better yet 00 Gauge Battery n Starter n Ground Cables and have a good solid frame ground connection (or even close to the starter) NOT any wimpy thin rusty sheet metal part. Dont forget the switch can be a cause of heat and voltage drop and poor cranking due to burned carboned contacts.

John T

There is a problem if the cables get hot. That would indicate a cable that is bad, or too small

I see you have had lots of responses to your issue but will add what I did to my H as it would barely or wouldn't start when I first got the tractor. First, I cleaned everything shinny bright as far as electrical connections were concerned. Everywhere an electrical connection is made I used external tooth washers between the connectors and other metalic components for an extra good bit into each other. I had new cables made from 00 size cables as short as possible. These were made at an automobile type facility like NAPA and all the terminals on both ends were soldered. The solder was done by inserting a flux pellet in the terminal under the cable and heating with a hot torch until melted. I ran the battery ground to the closest starter to bell housing frame bolt. When I got done with these changes my H starts like it is almost on 12 volts. Clean tight connections, good grounds, and proper size soldered cables are generally your keys to success unless you have some underlying issue with a component somewhere in the starting circuit, Hal.

I hadn't started my 6 volt H in about 3 months. Battery has not been charged in about a year, or maybe never, battery has been in it maybe 3 years (obviously it gets little use). It has 2 gauge cables, started it today, it took maybe 2 revolutions of the starter. Conclusion--Keep the terminals and all connections clean. The cable size is not that important.

Thanks all. I'm got it started today after a lot of cleaning the terminals and connections. Started right up. Maybe 3 seconds of cranking. Must have been a bad or just dirty connections. Charged the battery up and got some brush hogging done. Now shes ready for a sit until I get back from Arizona.