12V vs 6V starter

henryv11 · Jan 3, 2014

How can you tell the difference between a 6V and a 12V starter?
Does a ohm meter measure the restance of a wire?
If so can it be used to test the field wires on a assembles starter by putting one lead wire from the ohm guage to the starter case & the other lead wire from the ohm guage to the copper lug coming out of the starter.
To determan which field is in the starter 6V would be one reading & 12V would be another reading.

Or does it not work this way?

David G · Jan 3, 2014

The resistance will be so close I doubt you can tell the difference. A 6V starter will run for YEARS on 12V. I have the same starter on mt MH44 that my dad converted in the 70s.

old · Jan 3, 2014

In theory yes you could check resistance to figure out if it is a 6 or 12 volt but the common cheap home meter is not going to do that since you would need a very accurate meter that would read down into the very low ohm scale like maybe 10 ohms max. A 6 volt starter will work for decades on 12 volts but if you have a 12 volt starter and try it on 6 volts it will spin very slowly and not likely to start the engine

Bob M · Jan 3, 2014

Theoretically your idea would work.

HOWEVER both 6 and 12 volt starter resistance values are so low (a few hundredths of an ohm) only a lab grade instruments can measure the difference. It is way beyond the capabilities of your typical VOM/DVMM.

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Incidentally most 6 volt starters do fine on 12 volts. My first ever 12 volt conversion (a '53 Super M) retained the OEM 6 volt starter. 35+ years later the original starter is still working fine.

todd hamilton · Jan 3, 2014

the 6 volt starter spinning a little faster on a 12 volt conversion generally helps starting a cold natured old motor. ran an SC Case like that for nearly 10 years. Don't crank the starter too long and get it hot.

pete 23 · Jan 3, 2014

On your smaller tractors like H & M up to 450 Farmall tractors, typically the 6 volt fields are soldered to main post in a parallel circuit. In other words, both sets of fields soldered to post. In a 12 volt, only one field coil is soldered to post and all four fields are hooked in series. This does not apply to larger starters.

DeltaRed · Jan 3, 2014

Just run that 6v starter on 12v.No worries. Done that for many years.

henryv11 · Jan 3, 2014

I guess what I was trying to find out was if y ou had 2 starters laying side by side on the bench if there was a way to tell which one was 12v and which one was 6v without taking them apart.

henryv11 · Jan 3, 2014

guess what I was trying to find out was if you had 2 starters laying side by side on the bench if there was a way to tell which one was 12v and which one was 6v without taking them apart.

Farmallhal · Jan 3, 2014

I believe Delco Remy the manufacturer of the starters and generators for IHC in most cases used a different colored ID plate to indicate the voltage of their products. 6 volt items originally were tagged with a Black ID plate while the 12 volt ones originally had a Red ID plate. It might be hard to tell what is underneath the red paint with which the tractor was painted by IH after assembly though unless a replacement was later installed manufactured by Delco-Remy.
There are some very sharp electrical folks on this forum who might be able to provide some more insight to your question but it appears it really doesn't make a difference if a tractor is converted from a 6 volt to 12 volt system as long as the 6 volt starter isn't engaged but briefly from the earlier responses, Hal.

old · Jan 3, 2014

Could well be hard to know. Maybe by doing a spin up test with a 6 volt battery you could tell since a 12 volt starter would spin pretty slow on 6 volts but a 6 volt one would spin normally

Jim Becker · Jan 3, 2014

(quoted from post at 17:34:40 01/03/14) It might be hard to tell what is underneath the red paint with which the tractor was painted by IH after assembly . . .

The data plates on the starter and generator were among the few things that IH actually masked before painting (at least in theory, seemingly pretty good in practice). Dealers, jockeys and individuals that did repaints were rarely that careful. Rebuilders habitually rip the tags completely off so you are pretty well out of luck on a rebuilt.

jasinpa · Jan 14, 2014

6-volt has 4 - field coils & a 12 has only 2 , but if you rebuild it for 12 volt use the 6-volt coils anyway same price & they take more amps , most dont know that 6-volt my not have the voltage but it has more amperage , thats why most newer diesel tractors use 2 , 6- volts instead of 12 volts

12V vs 6V starter

henryv11

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David G

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old

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Bob M

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todd hamilton

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pete 23

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DeltaRed

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henryv11

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henryv11

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Farmallhal

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old

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