On my 54 F-100. It was 6volt but I had a guy redo it to 12v. Now I don't know if he put in a proper switch or not. Is there a way that I can tell? Or can I just use it? What is a major drawback from doing so?

 

Hi I dought if the switch knows the difference between 6 and 12 volts. I would use the original Ozzie

 

Well in the midfifty catalog, they have both. 12volt is half price of the 6 volt...

 

The difference is the rheostat within the switch for dimming the dash lights- use a 6 volt switch on 12 and it will melt. You can bypass this feature & use the 6 volt switch by wiring the dash lights directly to another hot post on the switch. - you will have no control over brightness that's all.



Jeff

52 F3

 

is there any way of looking at it to see if maybe it is 12v?

can you just change the rheostat?

 

Very difficult to do by visually looking at it. You best bet is to ask the person who is bought the switch from and ask them.

What kind of problem are you having with the switch? Does the reostat work correctly? He may not have wired it correctly.

 

No no, I'm redoing the truck, Everything has been pulled off, and I think he just put a voltage reducer for the dash and for the switch...I didnt buy another one. But I just ordered a new 12V one from Midfifty.

 

Got you...I just went through this with my '49 flathead.

three different types of voltage reducers are needed in the converson:

1) you need a ballast resistor for the ignition
2) you need a voltage reducer for the accessories (heater, radio, etc)
3) you need a voltage reducer for the gauges (runtz is the most popular.

All three are different, especially the vr's for the guages and the accessories. It took me a while to get it all squared away andwish I would have had someone else do it, but then I would hae never learned.

being that yours has a reostat, getting a 12vdc headlight switch is the right move. You should be home free...

 

Yup, everything will be 12v. I think the horns are the original 6v ones and the guy just had 12v going to them. Because when I got them back they were twice as loud. But still sound fine. So I guess I'll use em till them blow, if they do.

 

The concesus appears to be 50/50 on the horn...half feel it is ok to run 12v and the other recommend running 6v.

Personally, I would pick up another voltage reducer rather then chance burining up the relay and horn.

you can get a tranistorized voltage reducer from Radio Shack (7806 or 7805) for $1.50. It has great performance and auto-shutdown.

 

hmm, if it's that cheap i may as well eh?

 

For the money you cant beat them, there a piece of cake to install. The have three terminals (input, ground & output). you can skip the ground and I frget to mention that you shouldget a heatsink also (another $1.50).

All you need is a soldering gun to solder wire to the terminals and you on the way.

 

I searched Radio Shack's site, and nothing came up.

 

Apparantly they have their own part number fo an otherwisw worldwide standard part number...its Catalog Number: 276-1770 and located at:

http://www.radioshack.com/product.as...Fid=276%2D1770

 

That's only good for 1 amp. Don't horns draw way more than that?