Ballast resistor and resistor wire

[Rubce]

Hi Guys

Julian contacted me and asked if he could have a section of the ballast resistance wire off my old loom. I was slightly puzzled at first as I did not recall seeing such a thing on the wiring diagram.

Upon studying the Mark 1 and Mark 2 diagrams I see that the Mark 1 has a ballast resistor and the Mark2 has a Ballast Resistance Wire. Whats the difference in function?

My Mark 2 resto is having the ignition system out of my Mark 1 donor. That includes aIllumintion unit. The attached photo is of the donor car before I dismantled it. At the bottom of the photo below the coil there is a rectangular box. Am I correct in thinking that is a ballast resistor? If that is the case am I correct in thinking I do not need to fit a ballast resistance wire?

TIA

Bruce

[Guest]

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Bruce. MK2 have a wire, white/pink stripe (i think) It drops the voltage from 12v to 6v. You could do what i have done and fit a 12v flame thrower coil with the wire diconnected!

I would assume that small box is the ballast resistor.

Cheers

Jason

[Rubce]

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Jason

So the purpose of the ballast resistor or resistance wire is to drop the voltage down to 6Volts? I have almost finishedbuilding my completely new wiring loom so my car currently has neither of the above fitted.

If and when the coil packs up I will go with your suggestion of a 12volt coil.

Cheers

Bruce

[Johnboy]

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Rubce wrote:

Upon studying the Mark 1 and Mark 2 diagrams I see that the Mark 1 has a ballast resistor and the Mark2 has a Ballast Resistance Wire. Whats the difference in function?

Hi Bruce, The ballast resistor, correctly identified in the photo, does exactly the same job as the ballast wire in the Mk2. Just a different way of doing it. What you don't want is to have them both. The Mk2 has the ballast wire built in to the wiring loom so all you need to do is leave off the white ballast resistor. John

[Rubce]

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Hi John

Thanks for the clarification. I will fit the ballast resistor as I have not purchased any resistor wire for my homemade loom.

Thanks

Bruce

[singapore stag]

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Hi, I have a flame thrower (1.5 ohms) coil fitted, Just wanted to know whether having the ballast wire fitted to it is ok or do I need to remove the ballast wirefrom it (coil) to perform at its best.:?

Many Thanks,


P.s. Lumenition Elec Ign.

[BlueMK2]

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The idea behind the ballast resistor and a12v ballasted (runs at 6v)coil is for cold starting, when the engine is cranked over on the starter motor the coil receives 12v to boost the spark. If you have an un ballasted 12v coil the spark produced will not be as good and could cost you loss of performance and higher fuel bills.

[V Mad]

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singapore stag wrote:

Hi, I have a flame thrower (1.5 ohms) coil fitted, Just wanted to know whether having the ballast wire fitted to it is ok or do I need to remove the ballast wirefrom it (coil) to perform at its best.:?

Many Thanks,


P.s. Lumenition Elec Ign.

Dont remove the ballast. If you do, and feed it with 12 volts, it could be using over 100 watts of electricity (over 8 amps)when static (ign on and not running)and will get very hot!!

(P=V^2/R)

[Guest]

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Sukh, depends on if your coil is 12v or 6v! Mine is a 12v coil bought with my pertronix ignitior!

( more volts, less current)

Jason

[dasadrew]

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BlueMK2 wrote:

The idea behind the ballast resistor and a12v ballasted (runs at 6v)coil is for cold starting, when the engine is cranked over on the starter motor the coil receives 12v to boost the spark. If you have an un ballasted 12v coil the spark produced will not be as good and could cost you loss of performance and higher fuel bills.

???

I thought if you have a 12V coil without ballast, it would continue to deliver a spark based on 12V even when normal running. So you would get the better "starting" spark all the time which should be good, except that the coil life would be drastically reduced.

With the ballast, isn't it shunted out for starting to give you 12V and then shunted back in for normal running at 6V?

Since the ballast is out of circuit when starting anyway, I can't see why removing it permanently would affect the starting spark performance :?

[dasadrew]

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V Mad wrote:

singapore stag wrote:

Hi, I have a flame thrower (1.5 ohms) coil fitted, Just wanted to know whether having the ballast wire fitted to it is ok or do I need to remove the ballast wirefrom it (coil) to perform at its best.:?

Many Thanks,


P.s. Lumenition Elec Ign.

Dont remove the ballast. If you do, and feed it with 12 volts, it could be using over 100 watts of electricity (over 8 amps)when static (ign on and not running)and will get very hot!!

(P=V^2/R)

I have a sneaking suspicion that those flame throwers are designed to be able to run continuously at 12V? :?:?

[singapore stag]

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dasadrew wrote:

V Mad wrote:

singapore stag wrote:

Hi, I have a flame thrower (1.5 ohms) coil fitted, Just wanted to know whether having the ballast wire fitted to it is ok or do I need to remove the ballast wirefrom it (coil) to perform at its best.:?

Many Thanks,


P.s. Lumenition Elec Ign.

Dont remove the ballast. If you do, and feed it with 12 volts, it could be using over 100 watts of electricity (over 8 amps)when static (ign on and not running)and will get very hot!!

(P=V^2/R)

I have a sneaking suspicion that those flame throwers are designed to be able to run continuously at 12V?

I have scoured their website butcannot find 6V and 12V associated ( written) with the 40001 which is the 1.5 ohm chrome coil

[dasadrew]

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just remembered also that running continuously with 12V will cause the points to pit and burn rapidly. However, if you've got electronic ignition that shouldn't be a problem.

Being the men that we are, I suppose the last thing anyone is going to do is to contact one of the manufacturers like Lumenition or Pertronics and.........

"ASK THEM FOR DIRECTIONS" !!!

[KOY 23]

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I think the Pertronics instructions say that you should bypass the ballast on a V8.

[Rubce]

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Blimey, what have I started:shock: