Re: flaky pertronics?

[Eric Hegstrom <ehegstrom@domain.elided>]

No problem. The coil is low resistance (2.0 ohms), but the ignitor has
never been hooked up without the resistance wire. I feel like Reagan
regarding reading the instructions. I may have once been privy that
information, but... um.... right now I don't recall. But now with a
little inductive (no pun intended -- well maybe) reasoning I do remember
checking the voltage on the hot ignition wire that runs to the +
terminal of the coil (with it removed from the coil to make sure the
reading was true). That must have been to make sure there was some sort
of load on it as per the warnings in the manual. I figure that little
black whats-er-doodle is just a hall-effect sensor wired to an op-amp
that drives some sort of solid state switching device so I was being
kind of cautious (I starting to worry that I was too cautious). I am
going to do a quick pressure test on the vacuum side of my (less than 3
year old) fuel lines to make sure I am not mistaking some sort of fuel
starvation with lack of spark (I've already done pressure/volume testing
on the pump). Then the points go back in. Then the old carb goes back
on. Then the scope goes on. Then the 20 pound sledge comes out ;). If
the points work, I may apply the sledge to the Pertronics and then swap
in one of the Crane Cam Fireballs I've got sitting around. They're a
little harder to set up, but we'll see.

I know I'll get this beast humming again. I've been very sucessful
hunting down some nasty hardware problems at work lately (confounded the
EEs -- tee hee) so I have the some recent victories to keep me up.

I wish to thank everyone for their suggestions. Most of all it has been
a great diversion from real work (I consider this play).

Peace,
Eric



"John A. Landry" wrote:
> 
> The aliens commander decided Eric Hegstrom <ehegstrom@domain.elided>
> would make a perfect specimen for dissection, and he yelled...
> 
> >Well I have the resistance wire without the extra resistor. I just
> >wanted to confirm. You're saying you're running the coil that says "USE
> >BALLAST RESISTOR" on it hooked directly to the 12v (through the ign
> >switch obviously) with the pertronics. I haven't let the smoke out of an
> >electrical device lately so I will give it a try. Where's Tesla when I
> >need him.
> 
> Eric,
> 
> Dan's experience and practices aside, I'd strongly urge you to take the
> time to actually measure the coil resistance and connect the Pertronix
> appropriately.  Keep in mind that the Pertronix will work with a low
> resistance coil... for awhile... until it suffers a melt down.  Maybe you'd
> be lucky and it will last a year.  Or maybe it might only last a month.
> 
> In my conversations with Pertronix some time back, their engineer told me
> the number one reason they get returned units is owners who hook them up
> directly to a low resistance coil and eventually burn them out.  He
> indicated they can easily tel this type of failure when they examine the
> units.  He said Pertronix has an unspoken policy of replacing any failed
> unit no matter what the age (a de facto lifetime warrantee) *unless* they
> suspect the owner fried it by hooking it up wrong.  I'm telling you this to
> stress the importance of proper installation.
> 
> Like many others, I also didn't read the fine print carefully enough and
> initially connected my Pertronix directly to an MSD Blaster III coil with
> no resistor.  Someone here on the Digest pointed out to me the Blaster is a
> low resistance coil and warned me about the danger to the Pertronix.
> Luckily I was warned in time and I rectified the problem with a ballast
> resister before I apparently did any permanent damage to the module.  I
> later complained to Pertronix that the supplied instructions should make
> the warnings of positively checking coil resistance more prominent... to
> catch the readers attention during the usual quick installation.
> 
> The funny thing is, when I had the Pertronix connected directly to the
> Blaster coil without a resistor, I had a terrible time trying to get a
> dwell or rpm reading with any of my engine analysers.  I just got freaky
> readings that made no sense.  When I added the ballast resistor, all the
> strange problems disappeared and the engine idled and ran smoother.  My
> assumption is that the Pertronix was somehow being overwhelmed by the
> excess current and could establish a clean, proper voltage curve and
> cutoff.
> 
> So don't take this lightly or you may eventually find yourself with a
> worthless Pertronix and a voided warrantee.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> John L.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
> jlandry AT halcyon DOT com      |
> Conservative Libertarian        |  "The road to  tyranny, we must never
> Life Member of the NRA          |   forget, begins with the destruction
> WA Arms Collectors              |   of the truth."
> Commercial Helicopter - Inst.   |                     William J. Clinton
> http://www.halcyon.com/jlandry/ |    10-15-95, speech at the Univ. of CT

-- 
Eric Hegstrom                          .~.
Senior Software Engineer               /V\  
Sonoran Scanners, Inc.                // \\          L I N U X
ehegstrom@domain.elided        /(   )\  >don't fear the penguin<
520-617-0072 x402                     ^^-^^