Wiring 8N

This morning I finished tracing wiring. I have been doing this sort of thing since I was fifteen so it is not a new adventure entirely. I will draw a schematic and send it to you. Meantime….. the alternator is connected to the ammeter by two wires, one from the primary (I guess) and one from a position numbered 1. When the ignition switch is off, I read 12 volts going to the coil. That seems to me a mistake. When the ignition switch is on, the big resistor wired in series with the coil begins to warm up and the voltage rises from 4.something to 6.24 volts. It seemed as though it took about 30 seconds, maybe a bit less, for the voltage to get to six volts. That would be consistent with the resistor heating up and allowing more current to pass through. At this point it tells me to wait 20-30 seconds before actually pushing the starter button so I get enough voltage to the coil to put out a decent spark.

I am pretty sure the alternator should be going to the battery by itself and not to the ammeter and the ammeter should be reading from the battery alone. That way the ammeter reads the status of the current flow into and out of the battery which is what I believe it is supposed to do.

So now I have a 12 volt coil and a system set for six volts. I can either go back and get the six volt ignition coil, either trading in the 12 volt coil or keeping it, or I can remove the resister from the circuit easily enough and run 12-14 volts to the coil. It would be 14.7 volts approximately when the alternator is charging. J At any rate, getting the coil out of its location is going to be a challenge since one bolt is on the front of the engine and I might have to remove the hood and fuel tank assembly to get to the bolt. Since I learned the resistor must have time to heat up, I can repeat the test of the spark from the coil after allowing the ignition switch to be on for 30 seconds. I think I did not do that initially so was getting 4-5 volts to the coil instead of 6.24 volts or a bit more.

That is all for now. J I will be sure to send you the diagram which I am going to send to YT also.

Tractor Boy