12 volt Willys 6 volt Parts.

[athawk11]

My Wiilys had a 12 volt conversion sometime in its past. �A new harness from Walcks and all but two items are hooked up and working well.

I have a Harrison heater and a fender mounted blackout light. �Both are 6 volts.

Prior owner bragged about how good the heater worked. �Now I know why. �Poor little 6 volt motor was receiving 12 volts. �It runs like a bat outta heck.

The blackout light is a vintage WWII NOS. �I know I can cut out the 6 volt and solder in a 12 volt bulb, but when I opened it up to inspect it, I found an original manufactures date of Feb 5, 1945. �This thing looks brand new. �I just can't bring myself to tear it apart.

So, that brings me to my problem. �I need to reduce the volts to 6 for these parts. � I have Googled the subject, but I'm not an electronics guy and the ohms, wattage, resistors, regulators, voltage, is all a bit confusing for me. I can't even tell what the wattage is on the light bulb. �I don't know how many amps the heater draws.

Surely, someone at this site has been faced with a similar problem. �Is there a safe, straight forward, non-invasive way to reduce the 12 volts to 6volts for these items and still supply adequate amps to motors and bulbs? �If so, details of the parts used and where I can find them would be very helpful. �Photos are always great. �Even some instructions will help. �Descibe it to me as if I'm an idiot...because I truly am.

Thank you for all the support and Merry Christmas to all.

Tim �

[Matto]

Tim,
       My Jeep had been converted to 12 volt by a PO. The heater was wired binto a ceramic voltage reducer called a "VOL-TA-DROP"
made by American International. I googled it and nothing came up. Here's a link to a diffarent style reducer.
http://macsautoparts.com/early-ford-pickup-ceramic-voltage-reducer-reduces-12-volts-to-6-volts-4-amp-maximum-2-amp-minimum-v12873/camid/FP1/cp/JS0R3CHL1076825E/
Here's a link to a solid state style reducer for delicate parts like gauges.
http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Runtz-12-Volt-to-6-Volt-Reducers,2374.html
I'm not to familier with blackout lights but can you just change the bulb? They make a 6 and 12 volt bulb for the socket on the dash light.
Matt

[RussellL]

Dropping the voltage to the light should be pretty straight forward.  Since you are dropping the voltage by half, and the bulb is just a simple resistor, you can just take an ohm meter and measure the resistance of the bulb.  Go to Radio Shack and get a simple resistor of the same value that can handle the wattage of the bulb.  Say 25 to 50 watts?    Hook it in line with the power to the bulb and you should have 6 volts at the bulb.  

The heater motor won't be quite so straight forward to figure out since you can't measure the resistance of the motor when it is stopped and get a useful value.  I'd get a rheostat speed control that is designed for the heater.  Use a volt meter on the wire into the motor after the rheostat.  Dial the rheostat down until you see 6 volts on your meter.  Then unhook the rheostat without changing it and measure the resistance of the rheostat with an ohm meter.  Get another resistor from Radio Shack of that value and hook it inline with the rheostat.  You should then get 6 volts at the motor with the rheostat turned up to full.  That resistor will need to be able to handle the full amps of the motor.  If the motor specs call for 6 amps then the resistor will need to handle that current.  

[mrspeedyt]

you could experiment a bit with putting another lightbulb in series in the power wire :-? ... since it is a resistor too. shouldn't make much difference if that bulb is 6 or 12v... although I would start with 12v bulbs... taillight bulb, stoplight bulb even a foglight or headlight bulb. change the voltage drop bulb to get the voltage in the proper range for your needs. the voltage droping bulb could be utilized as an extra running light or fog light. of course it will be burning on the dim side.

[athawk11]

All pretty interesting ideas.  I had to learn what a Rheostat is.  I like the idea of an additional bulb as a resistor.  Maybe I'll add a license plate light or something similar.

Tim  

[Bob W]

You will need another bulb that is the same wattage as the blackout bulb, or the voltage will not divide equally. It's probably best to save the 1945 bulb and get a 12V bulb.

A used blower resistor from just about any 70's - 80's car can be wired in series with the heater blower to reduce the voltage there.

[athawk11]

Hi Bob.
I tried to find a 12v blackout bulb, but had no luck.  I know you know this, but these old bulbs come "housed".  Much like the bulb in a headlight.  Is there such a reproduction of the original look in a 12v?

Tim

[F Bill]

You will have to try the usual military parts suppliers...Pick up a Military Vehicles Magazine at you local  big book store, or go online to the G 503 website and post a for trade ad...The 6V  blackout lights are getting scarce in NOS or Original, but there was an excess of 12V ones for a while , so you should still be able to find one.

Ron Fitzpatrick Jeep Parts       Peter Debella        Midwest Military    Brent Mullins Jeep parts  all come to mind and there are many more..

[Jesse]

If the lightbulb /mount was fixed and you couldn't replace the bulb, maybe you could drill out some rivets or spot welds holding it in and put in a new one. I did that with a pair of older parking lights, I could just re rivet in the original bulb holders if I wanted to. Then again, parking lights are not very rare or significant. I don't even know what your blackout light looks like, this advice could be useless.

If you do end up stepping the voltage down with an aftermarket resistor, check and see that it really steps things down significantly. We bought one from NAPA and it turned out to only step down .0000nothing volts, so that you had to wire 94 thousand of them together to get a 6v drop that was needed.

[athawk11]

Hey Jesse.
Here is a Blackout Light. �It is mounted on the driver side fender. The horse shoe thing is the bracket it mounts on. �The black face with the hood/bonnet is the actual bulb. �A smaller bulb is actually encased into it, much like the bulb that is encased into a standard headlight.


It is "sealed". �A replacement bulb would come with the black face and bonnet type thing. �On the back, the wire attaches to the bulb feed and is brazed? welded? to the unit, making it completely water tight and sealed.

Bill, I for the life of me cannot find a 12v replacement. �Maybe that surplus got bought up. �An electronic friend of mine says he has an old porcelin resistor that he believes will work. �Hopefully he can find it. �I still like the 6v light bulb wired in series. �I'll let you know what I end up doing. �

I hooked up the Harrison heater. �The old switch is a Cole-Hersee Rheostat 3 position switch. �If I just turn it up to low, the voltage is less than 6v. �This will be okay until I figure out how to reduce it right.

Tim

[RussellL]

There is a thread on WillysMjeeps that mentions a 12v blackout bulb at Beechwood Canvas.  I've verified that they do list a 12v blackout bulb for $95.  That thread also mentions a source in Vietnam, but does not mention the website.  

[Tumbleweed]

http://www.rustrepair.com/stepvan_parts/onlinecat.htm?r=sv&p=wi-heater-ht.mot

Tim, try this website out. I purchased a 12V heater motor because I had the same problem with my 6V running at warp speed as well. I burned up a heater rheostat along the way. Now that I have a new 12V motor and rheostat it works great and no smoke from the switch. I did have to cut the shaft a few inches since it was longer but it was a perfect fit other than that.

Hope it helps,

George

[athawk11]

George,

That's a really great idea.  Kind of thought about that approach, but didn't know where to begin.  I don't know much about motors.  Which one did you choose for your heater?

Tim

[Jesse]

Hmm I see what you mean. I wasn't sure if it was a sealed bulb or a unit with a funky bulb holder that wouldn't work with current stuff.

If you were feeling very crafty you could 'make' a blackout light out of something else, like a Unity fog lamp. For the lid cover thing you could braze on a piece of capped pipe that was cut in half to the original size.

As for the heater if you haven't found a solution you could try taking the original motor to your local parts store, we were able to measure it up and find one that was the correct size/bolt spacing to fit.