1955 problem charging issue

[DiIanni]

Question: When charging a 6 volt positive ground battery, do I reverse the leads IE red to negative terminal and black to positive terminal?

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[zeroroadkill]

Question: When charging a 6 volt positive ground battery, do I reverse the leads IE red to negative terminal and black to positive terminal?

NO, the battery is the same no matter what voltage or the cars ground. Connect your 6VDC charger as normal, red lead to the positive terminal, black lead to the negative terminal. Ground is ground no matter if it's positive or negative, don't let the positive ground chassis confuse you. Your chassis is +ground meaning that the +battery terminal goes to the chassis and/or engine, the - terminal is the feed side which goes to all components, just the opposite of most cars. Most people think of that the + is the hot side of the battery and the - is the ground (return) earth side. Click on attachment.

 

[Dick Rupp]

Disconnect the cables. Charge red to positive black to negative

 

[dmsfrr]

Question: When charging a 6 volt positive ground battery, do I reverse the leads IE red to negative terminal and black to positive terminal?

No, you may get lots of sparks and could burn up the battery charger and/or ruin the battery.
Positive to positive and negative to negative.

If the battery has removable caps on top make sure there is enough water inside to cover the tops of the plates. If not carefully use a medium sized dropper to add distilled water.
If the battery was dry for too long it may not recover.

 

[zeroroadkill]

Have you checked for any current draw on the battery? Disconnect one terminal and lightly touch the battery terminal and check for a spark. If it sparks ⚡️ big you have a short somewhere. Check the starter solenoid and start disconnecting leads to find the short. I f the spark is small put a amp multimeter in series with the battery terminal and battery cable. Set multimeter on the highest amp setting to start. Your clock may draw milliamps but a short will draw a lot. Tap quickly so as not to smoke your meter! With the battery terminals disconnect off the battery it should charge up. If not, then your battery is kaput (as long as your charger is working). Good luck ?

 

[Hilde]

Question: When charging a 6 volt positive ground battery, do I reverse the leads IE red to negative terminal and black to positive terminal?

No! Definitely not! Reversing the leads could cause your battery to blow up. Always put the red lead from any charger to the positive terminal on the battery, and, of course, the black lead to the negative terminal.

 

[DiIanni]

No! Definitely not! Reversing the leads could cause your battery to blow up. Always put the red lead from any charger to the positive terminal on the battery, and, of course, the black lead to the negative terminal.

Makes all the sense in the world to me. Thank You.

Does anyone know where to buy a 6Volt battery that fits into the tray of a 55 Tbird

 

[Ward 57]

Does anyone know where to buy a 6Volt battery that fits into the tray of a 55 Tbird

I would check with NAPA. They have a wide range of parts for T-Birds. Got my battery for my '57 from them.

 

[zeroroadkill]

If you’re not set on the traditional lead acid type and original look, I have had a 6v Optima in my ‘55 for about 8years (on a Deltran Battery Tender). It’s smaller than the original lead acid battery. I made a black plastic cover which bolts down to the battery cage so as to hide the non-stock battery. It actually has more CCA than lead acid and won’t require any maintenance. I was even toying with the idea of getting three red battery caps and inserting them in the plastic covers just for giggles.?