What is the material surrounding the coiled wire in the ballast resistor body?
Could epoxy be used to imbed the coiled wire?
Thanks,
Joe
Could epoxy be used to imbed the coiled wire?
Thanks,
Joe
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Re: ballast resistor
Joe -- Seems like a ceramic-like potting material [dang hard to get a good pic]. Believe it was used sparingly, just enough to anchor the coil against vibration without imbedding too much wire (so it would not overheat). Notice there's a bit of same material that touched the top of the coil.
If you use epoxy, get one that's high temp resistant. -
Re: ballast resistor
That's also why the resistor was mounted vertically on the rib on the firewall, with the back side of the resistor out in the open in the recess for the wiper motor so it's exposed to the air for cooling.
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Re: ballast resistor
John,
Do you know what the material is that the spring is imbedded in ?
I have a couple of functional BRs that have some of the white material missing and wondered if I used the same material or epoxy to refill the cavity. Alternately I figured to try epoxy.
JoeComment
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Re: ballast resistor
Joe -
My original has a hard grayish material that only half-fills the coil cavity - the top half of the wire coil is exposed to the air, and the bottom half is embedded in the grayish material.Comment
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Re: ballast resistor
Since the body of the ballast is porous ceramic, I'd suspect something like ordinary mortor used in laying bricks would get the job done nicely...Comment
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Re: ballast resistor
I'm guessing that the gray material is there to keep the coil from vibrating and breaking as the car is driven. If you can't see the stuff when the part is installed, and the material still there will keep the coil from vibrating, I'd follow the guideline "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."Comment
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Re: ballast resistor
Good info, thanks,
So when a ballast resistor goes bad I assume it is because the strand of coil wire broke?
What else could go wrong?Comment
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Re: ballast resistor
Just as a side to this thread, as it seems the main concern should be the preservation of the resistance coil, I use a jumper wire around mine that is a black wire wrapped around the back so as to be not apparent. I do this because I am using a Pertronix II electronic ignition which requires a 12v input. It is part of my effort to "cover up" any of my deviations from standard to the casual observer. My question or concern is whether or not that resistance coil would still get hot. I think not because it is a probably a non-player when it is bypassed in this manner. Needless to say, I want to preserve this original B.R. as it is so it can be converted back when my heirs sell the car some day.
Stu FoxComment
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Re: ballast resistor
In rare cases, the contact ring from the resistor's winding can be BADLY oxidized and not making a clean contact with the binding post insert(s) what protrude through the ceramic...Comment
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Re: ballast resistor
There are two issues with this kind of ignition setup (12V Pertronix). One is the power supply to the solid state ignition module and the other is how much current flows through the coil's primary windings that the module switches to fire the spark plugs.
By jumpering around the ballast resistor, you ARE getting a fully 12V for the ignition module. BUT, you've also raised the coil's primary circuit current profile at the same time. So, you're adding stress (internal heating) to the ignition coil that you're trying to protect and life extend!
That's why ignition modules like this have a separate wire to supply power! With the extra wire connected properly (top side of the ballast), you wind up with the best of both worlds: full 12V power to the ignition module and high coil current only when the engine cranks + low coil current when the engine fires and runs...Comment
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Re: ballast resistor
Jack;
I am using the Pertronix "Flame-Thrower II" coil along with their Electronic Ignition Module. Their instructions recommend eliminating the Ballast Resistor by removing it from the vehicle and splicing the wires together, or to bypass a resistance wire with a 12 gauge stranded copper wire. As an alternative, they state their system may be used with a ballast resistor or resistance wire by connecting the module input wire (red) to any 12 volt ignition power source.
As such, I went with their recommended method instead of their alternative method. They do not explain the pros and cons of using one method or the other, nor do they make any claims or warnings - perhaps wisely so. Nothing on the coil box says anything about what input voltage to use with it, other than that it is a 0.6 ohm coil.
So, are you saying I would be better off using the alternative method in order to perhaps prolong the life of this coil (I'm not risking my original coil)?
Stu FoxComment
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Re: ballast resistor
Stu -
The Pertronix tech guys have stated that their "Flamethrower II" coil is designed to run on a full 12 volts (vs. the resistor-reduced power required for stock-type coils). Their instructions are very poorly written, and don't make the distinction clear between whether the resistor should be bypassed for their module, or for the coil, or both.
After I explained what is required countless times on CF for folks who couldn't understand the (poorly-written) Pertronix instructions, another CF member made up a diagram from MY instructions that shows how to properly wire it up with either a stock-type coil or with the "Flamethrower" coil - see below.
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