470 ignition voltage

Matt thompson

Recruit
Joined
Jun 5, 2017
Messages
2
Hello
I have a 1979 Four Winn's with a 470 Mercruiser engine. I have the GM 1 wire conversion kit for the charging system. At idle it charges at 14.2 V. I checked the voltage at different points on the engine and I get very different readings. The electric choke has 13.5 while the wire to the coil is only 11.5. I know that the purple wire is a resistance wire , however I don't know what the voltage to the coil should be. Im not having any trouble currently and would like to keep it that way. Is this normal voltage or do I have a gremlin lurking somewhere...any thoughts?
 

Bondo

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Apr 17, 2002
Messages
71,306
Ayuh,.... Welcome Aboard,.... Alternators can run up into the 14v range on a discharged battery,...

Usually 'bout 13.6v normally,....

If anything yer coil voltage is on the high side of normal, because of the points downstream,....
 

Matt thompson

Recruit
Joined
Jun 5, 2017
Messages
2
Thanks for the reply. High side of normal. So the coil needs to be less than 12 volts? Is there somewhere that you can point me to where I can find acceptable ranges for the electrical system. I am happy to hear that im not chasing a non existent problem and it would be good to have numbers for this type of issue.
Thanks
 
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