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just my opinion….  but…

The “electronics” you need to cut the voltage down from 12V to 6V would have to be really robust, and able to withstand about (at least?) 200 amps of current during the start sequence.

Turning over an engine (whether the system is 6V or 12V) takes the same amount of power.  The formula for power is P = I * V.  So a 6 volt system takes twice the current (“I”) as a 12 volt system.

Your challenge is also slightly more difficult because vehicles are DC (Direct Current), so you can’t use a transformer to easily step the voltage down from 12V to 6V.

One suggestion might be to keep a 6V battery on a 6V charger, and jump it from that…

Another plan would be to jump it with 12V.  It would stress your system more, but I’ll bet that starter motor would really crank!  Just apply the 12V for the minimum amount of time!

Let us know what your future path is!

Rocky

Last edited by rocky

just thinking . . .

the 6vdc "circuit" you need to leave in service would be the coil.

how about a switched in "ballast resistor" to drop the voltage to the coil during 12vdc cranking.   being able to remove jumper and swith out ballast and stay running would be the question.

The "ballast" could be a second 6vdc coil in series with in service coil.    the switch to go back to 6vdc would just short across the ballast coil

HOWEVER... this is just my WAG

Last edited by jfb05177

A bit off subject, but you can convert a six volt system to an eight volt system. The voltage regulator has to be set up to keep the battery fully charged, but that extra two volts makes a big difference in how the vehicle starts. It doesn't burn out bulbs or harm anything. I did it on an old 1953 GMC truck that I had and it worked great.

Back in the last century when 'electronics' and 'cars' were never part of the same sentence, I went to a battery recycler and had them make me a 3-post battery. This is a 12v battery with an extra 6-volt post in the middle. It cost about the same as a 12v battery. I ran my 6-V Lincoln car with a later model 12v engine (starter & alternator) for years with zero electronics. The only odd thing was I had to really watch the water level in the front 3 cells. 

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