At 12:09 PM 6/13/02 -0400, Kevin Rhodes wrote:
>I noticed a while back that one of the two wires leading into a little
>finned doohickey on my Spit was broken off. Didn't seem to affect
>anything... I realized while figuring out the ignition timing in the Haynes
>book last night that it must be what they call the ignition resistor. Is
>this the same as a ballast resistor? My car has a Crane ignition system
>with a Mallory Coil, do I even need to replace the resistor? Car ran fine
>without the one lead attached, at least until the engine broke! Not
>related, I hope! ;-)
Ignition/ballast resistors are the same thing. They limit the amount of
current supplied to the coil so you don't bake it at a full 12 volts. Most
ignition coils prefer 8 volts or so. When you start the car, a bypass
circuit (part of the starter solenoid and ignition switch setup) supplies a
full 12 volts for a hot start, and when you release the key, the current is
then shunted through the ballast resistor giving a nice 8 volts typically
to the coil.
Some coils do not require this and you can tell by looking at the coil
itself. It should be listed as 'non-ballasted' or 'internal ballast' or
somesuch. That will tell you if you need that resistor in the circuit or
not. Most aftermarket hp products will be internally ballasted and will
not require the resistor.
-Vegaman Dan
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