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MG TD TF 1500 - 6 volt battery life

Gentlemen, I toss out another newbie question knowing full well that I will get at least 10 worthy answers, and many minutes of chuckles, as the regulars here banter back and forth in good natured fun. I'm addicted already! I have recently purchased a TF and a 55 Thunderbird, both of which use 6 volt systems. The owner of the restoration shop I now work for has a garage full of 30's and 40's cars using 6 volt systems, and he says that I can expect to get only a year out a 6 volt battery anymore. Is this what you owners have been experiencing? My other sportscar, that I winter store, is 12 volt, which I charge up each month during the winter, and I usually get 5 to 6 years out one of its batteries.
Gene Burgess

MG TF, TD and TC all use a 12 volt battery.
Jim Merz

My error! I assumed that since my 55 TBird was 6 volt and almost all of the other cars I work on in the shop are from that era and before are six volt as well, that the TF followed suit. I've been under the TF's hood a dozen times, but I've never really looked at the battery to see. A look at The "T Series Handbook" confirms that you are correct. My ignorance strikes again. Thank you.
Gene Burgess

When you get your new battery, remember that the car came from the factory with + (Positive) ground. You need to buy one with the proper orientation of the posts if the cables are set up as original.
Jim Merz

With any 12V battery in a 'stored' vehicle, its best to connect it to a Float Charger that is plugged to the mains and maintains a trickle charge to the battery indefinitely. With this precaution, your battery should last a very long time.

That said, have yet to see a commercially-available float charger made for 6V batteries, usually only 12V. But I'm sure they must exist?
Will

Will

I understand that using a trickle charger may not ensure indefinate battery life but the battery should be allowed to cycle through a little discharge and recharge. Perhaps, when a battery is subjected to a healthy recharge, the rising hydrogen bubbles stir up the sulphuric acid and whatever other electrolite from the bottom, and this mixing prevents oxide building up on the plates. If the battery is kept fully charged this mixing may not occur. I give my battery a charge every few months as required.

Who agrees with me?

Peter Falconer

Hi guys, I have been meaning to start a post on this for some time and you have just reminded me.

What I have done for many years is to always keep a regular battery charger hooked up to the battery when the car is in the garage.

This charger is plugged into the power socket through a simple timer that cost $9.50 at K Mart. The timer is set to come on once a day for 30 minutes so that the battery is charged for that period only.

I always write the purchase date on the back of the battery with a felt pen so I can track battery life.

The last battery in the TD lasted 9 years and even then could have gone longer. It was never flat.

This works great for me and as I thought this one up myself I reckon it's one of the best ideas I have come up with. So now it's yours as well.

Charge on.

Paul.
Paul van Gool

Oh the irony - an American "muscle" car (Thunderbird) runs off a measly six volts whilst a British T series needs a macho twelve volts !

Just a wee addition to Jim Merz's message it's preferable to have the terminals facing the front. I believe they were originally to the rear but have noted corrosion in the rear of the battery box near the terminals on many cars. Don't know if this is due to acid splash, shorting out when unscrewing a terminal or most likely the "fur" that collects around the teminals attacking the steel box.

Happy christmas to all


Jan T

p.s. wonder how many MG related presents Santa has on his sleigh this year ? - I've asked him for a new "sports" coil.
J Targosz

The British were way ahead on voltage and cylinder heads (OHV's before WWII). The were just backwards on the grounding, and preceeded the Valdez in leakage by a few years. The battery in a local TC maintained on a charger such as above exploded when cranked a year or so ago. Possibly from the hydrogen build-up? Of course the TC bat. is sealed in a box.
George Butz

We have had good success using a solid state charger from VDC. Models are available for 6, 12, 24, and 36 volt batteries. The chargers automatically adjust to the battery condition to charge, float, and "de-sulphate." Our uses include a TD, MGA (12 volt charger across two 6 volt batteries), a modern sedan, and a John Deere backhoe/payloader.

Manufacturer website:
http://www.in2itiveweb.com/panther9/vdc/batteryminder.htm

Posted on manufacturer's website:
"Battery Charger-Maintainer. Which is the best?"
http://www.in2itiveweb.com/panther9/vdc/which_is_the_best_battery.htm

We purchased our units from:
BatteryMart
Go to:
http://www.batterymart.com
and search for "batteryminder"

Larry
Larry Shoer

George - "The(y) were just backwards on the grounding." Consider this, all the prewar British vehicles were negative ground! Now all we have to figure out is why they switched to Positive ground after the war until sometime in 1966 or 67. Cheers - Dave
David DuBois

I save all my old "wall wart" chargers from all the broken unused things I throw away. That provides a supply of various chargers to trickle a battery. Just pick one with the right voltage and milliamps and leave it hooked up when not driving. A 500 or less milliamp at 12 volts (1/2 amp) should be good unregulated on a car battery and a 250 milliamp should be enough to keep it charged.
D Clark

The group 27, mostly marine size now, battery completely fills the battery pocket on the TD. It's sometimes hard to find and costs quite a bit more.

The group 24 battery fitted to 60-70s cars (1965 Rambler, 1972 Datsun 240Z, 1981 Datsun pickup) isn't as long but fits well. It be found for $29.99 at WalMart. It's one year guarentee with an additional 4 years prorated replacement. That's as good as the first DieHards I bought back in the 70s and cheaper than the 1970s price! The you can sometimes remove the stick on labels leaving just a black box. The battery I have right now is mounted with the label to the back as the terminals were in the middle of the edges rather than in a corner.

Blake
Bullwinkle

btw, no one has mentioned this yet...


If you want your battery to last long, do NOT buy the "Ultra Heavy Duty" ones with high cranking Amps (lots & lots of plates). The thin plates are fragile and won't last as long as a "Std duty" battery with fewer but chunkier plates.

Also... Deep Discharging destroys lead acids (unless its specially built for "deep cycle"). The deeper your cycles, the shorter the battery's life is.

Ergo, buy the BIGGEST battery that will fit in the hole; thus your usual usage will be 'less' as a % of its full capacity.

For modern cars, the larger battery is usually only a few bucks more than the tiny "OEM" one. At the very least, I'd always get the battery that's spec'd for the top-spec "luxury" model of that particular car with all the electronic fruit.
Will

This thread was discussed between 12/12/2003 and 15/12/2003

MG TD TF 1500 index

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