So I just acquired a 62 f100 with a 292. Ive never had a positive ground vehicle before. I slapped a battery into it, and got it started, but it drained the battery within 30 min. I charged the battery again, used it to start the engine for a few seconds, then shut it off and disconnected the negative cable. This morning it was dead again.

Will leaving the positive ground attached to a battery drain it even if the negative cable is unhooked? Thanks, Tony

 

Pursual,
WELCOME TO FTE!

Whoever told you a '62 F100 with a 292 should have a positive ground is WRONG!
That truck has a NEGATIVE GROUND electrical system!

BarnieTrk

 

I put a battery in it, and started it. The red cable goes to the chassis....

If anything maybe they have the year wrong? I'm pretty sure its a positive ground unless hooking it up backwards would allow it to start and run.

 

My 50 Studebaker has a positive ground, but I don't think your 62 has.


Jeff

 

Hmm, ok, well to be honest I just assumed it was due to the red chassis wire, but Ill be happy to find out it isn't. It did indeed crank and start, but this might explain it killing the battery. I guess Ill just have to hook it up negative ground and give it a shot. Thanks all.

 

That works, but I'm afraid I fried the battery. It wont take a charge now.

That's what I get for not assuming some redneck would have better sense than to install red and black battery wires backwards.

Anyone care to guess if I fried the alternator? The truck is currently not drivable but I guess Ill gave to go have the alt tested when it is.

 

Perusal, if your truck has original equipment, it will have a generator, not an alternator.

 

Yeah normally I would know better, but Ive never dealt with something this old. At first I was thinking it might even be 6v, but looked up the alternator at autozone.com to find it was 12v. A stupid mistake it was, but to my credit I did do some googling and was unable to find a sure answer. I'm really upset that my battery is damaged, it charges up but then discharges immediately when loaded.

 

Does an alternator this old have Diodes? Are there any methods to testing the alternator, or voltage regualtor before putting in an new battery? I dont want to destroy another.

 

My first F100 was a '62. I would proceed with caution You MAY NEED to "flash the field" (correctly Polarize your electrical system) If you don't what happened to me could happen to you. I let ALL the smoke out of my generator, meaning it burned up. So believe me this is serious business.
Vern

 

I see...so I may have reversed the polarity on the generator? I would say it was running for about 15 seconds, but the battery was hooked up wrong on two occasions totaling about 15 minutes. If I did fry the generator it would simply not generate? Or could it destroy a new battery?

 

Yes I believe that you may have reversed the polarity when you installed the battery. My generator was obviously not working as I literally had smoke coming out of it. If you or a buddy have a fluke meter you can do some trouble shooting to see where you are at with your system.

My battery survived, the only way to know if yours did is to check/test it (obviously)
I sure hope it isn't toast.

Vern

 

I was talking about the generator. Hopefully I didnt damage that.

 

Ah,that brings back memories.But if I remember right,all we used to do was polarize the voltage regulator.It's been awhile.

 

Do not pay any attention to the colors of battery cables to determine if a vehicle is negative or positive ground!

ALL 1956 thru today FoMoCo vehicles are 12V negative ground.

1955 and earlier vehicles were 6V positive ground.

12V: At one time, there was a woven steel battery cable and a short red battery cable. The woven cable fit to the negative terminal of the battery.

In the 1960's, Ford replaced the woven cable with a black cable.

In the 1970's, Ford replaced both cables with blue cables.

People installed both colors, or just one color of cable.

There are two different types of batteries.

The batteries used in GM & ChryCo vehicles are the same sizes (groups) as used in FoMoCo vehicles, but, the terminals are reversed.

The FoMoCo batteries group letter is an F as in: 22F, 24F, 27F, 27F-NA and 29F.

The GM/ChryCo batteries group letter is a G. If you have a G battery in your Ford vehicle, it's the wrong one.

This is the usual reason why ppl hook batteries up backwards. They don't pay close attention to their old battery to see how the cables attach before buying a new battery.

They buy the wrong battery, and (this is an old old story) they (unknowingly) hook the cables up backwards.

A 6V battery has three caps, the 12V has six.

If you hook the battery up backwards, the battery will drain in a short time. If you have an AMP or GEN dash gauge, and you hook the battery up backwards, it will show a negative charge.