well the worst of the winter i over..

[trog100]

least i hope it is.. went down to the boat for the first time in about two months.. it was still floating.. and looked vaguely in one piece.. he he<br /><br />it wouldnt fire up thow.. i poked and fiddled about and in the end went for the points.. a few manual opens and closes with a screw driver and up it fired..<br /><br />after about ten minutes the rev counter started flicking about all over the place and the engine started misfiring..<br /><br />another half an hour of checking for loose wire connections both on the engine and behind the dash plus a refix of a possible dodgy connection got me nowhere.. the misfire and flicky rev counter is still there..<br /><br />back to the points.. he he.. disconnected my electronic booster kit connected the points back up on there own and whoosh it runs perfectly.. hmmm.. <br /><br />ran it for ten minutes then reconnected my electronic booster kit.. it runs perfectly..<br /><br />these electronic booster things that use the points as a trigger dont pass any current worth mentioning thru the points so they dont wear out but it seems they can kinda rust or film over which is why the engines wouldnt start in the first place after being stood for a couple of months.. with no flashy sparks it dosnt clean off..<br /><br />passing some real power thru em soon cleaned em up thow..<br /><br />i dont spose anybody else uses such a system now but they were very common a few years ago when a lot of cars came with points.. i found some cheap so i used them.. <br /><br />the summer will soon be here.. he he<br /><br />trog

 

[ziggy]

Re: well the worst of the winter i over..

is the electronic booster thing called a capacitor? to reduce wear on the points. i bet w/o it it really does clean up the points, , surely i misunderstand????<br /><br />i'm hip to summer will soon be here though, man, i've been ready. i've been out to the lake a few times just to see if it was still there. it is.....

 

[Don S]

Re: well the worst of the winter i over..

If you still have points, you still have the problems that points give you. When not being used, used points tend to glaze over. Then when you try to use them, the higher resistance causes the points not to fire. With low current flow due to your "Booster" it makes the problem even worse. Just a small amount of glazing now causes even earlier problems. <br />Do yourself a favor and get rid of the points completely. Your engine will thank you.

 

[HT32BSX115]

Re: well the worst of the winter i over..

<I do not know what a "booster" is. I do know that a "Condenser" IS a capacitor. It's a simple device that is represented in a schematic diagram by 2 plates. It simply stores electrical charge.<br /><br />In a points type ignition system the condenser simply discharges thru the primary of the coil and produces thousands of volts in the secondary. If a bspark plug is connected to the secondary winding a spark will be produc6.-ed.

 

[SwampNut]

Re: well the worst of the winter i over..

Winter hit us hard this weekend. It was 69 yesterday and only 70 today. I'm staying indoors 'till it blow over.

 

[rodbolt]

Re: well the worst of the winter i over..

HT32<br /> ya got an F.<br /> go back to ign system basics.<br /> the condenser on a point type ign system like used in an older auto or 2.5L mercruiser has nothing to do with secondary coil voltages. the seconday windings and the current passed through the primaries controls it. some systems will run without a condenser but suffer shortened point life.<br /><br /> Trog100<br /> is this one of the antique systems that used an amplifier type set up to switch the current on/off in the coil primaries and was triggered by a low voltage signal on the points?<br /> some of the jap cars used a similar system, point voltage was something like 2 volts and the actual current switching was done in the amplifier or "ignitor" as they called it.<br />with low voltage it was not uncommon for the points,with periodic adjustments for rubbing block wear, to run 60K miles and look new on the contacts.<br />most the rubbing block would finally wear off.

 

[trog100]

Re: well the worst of the winter i over..

yes its one of those rodbolt.. they were quite a common universal electronic ignition conversion idea a few years back.. the only thing that really wears is the rubbing block.. the transistor part provides the power thru the coil the points just set the timing and trigger the transistor part which puts the amperage thru the coil..<br /><br />cos the points pass very little current they dont wear out..in fact looking at a set that has been running many thousands of miles u just see this perfectly flat highly polished surface on the points just the same as new.. <br /><br />but as don says the fact they dont pass much current can cause other problems.. they can get a fine oil film on them or i asume go slightly rusty when not in regular use.. as i just found out. he he<br /><br />its a simple enough idea and the main advantage was the one unit could be fitted to any engine.. very popular during the "change over" period when some cars had points and some had elecronic ignition.. many thousand where sold and never known to give problems.. i just had some so i used em..<br /><br />running an american made boat in the UK costs about three times as much as it would in the US.. just in case i sound a little too miserly in my choice of parts.. he he<br /><br />trog

 

[Don S]

Re: well the worst of the winter i over..

running an american made boat in the UK costs about three times as much as it would in the US.. just in case i sound a little too miserly in my choice of parts.. he he

Why didn't you just buy a UK built boat instead of a US built boat. Wouldn't that have been cheaper

 

[KaGee]

Re: well the worst of the winter i over..

Hmmmmm 5* chill factor at the moment.

 

[cobra 3.0]

Re: well the worst of the winter i over..

-19 C yesterday north of Montreal( Laurentian mountains) and -10 C now. Lake has about 3 feet of ice on it...Winter's over? Could someone let old man winter know? Around our parts that old bugger must be deaf, sleeping, and snoring away in front of a warm fire around here!!!

 

[jamesr1]

Re: well the worst of the winter i over..

Kagee, I was in North Central Ohio last week visiting family. It was around 12 degrees. Came home to 50's. Louisville, KY. This weekend it was down to 0 here in KY.

 

[swansont]

Re: well the worst of the winter i over..

Was getting down to -10 to -15 F this past weekend, with chill factors in the -25 F range. We were getting 55-60 days in January. I think old man winter is getting senile, can't remember the order of the seasons.

 

[HT32BSX115]

Re: well the worst of the winter i over..

Yup. <br /><br />I went back to IGN system basics. The Condenser(capacitor) does not discharge thru the coil primary.....since it's not charged (until the points open that is). I screwed that up! "#*&^#$" I hate when I do that....sometimes I need to be told to go back to basics!<br /><br />I'll take the F! (you're mercifully blunt!.....sometimes one has to be I guess! No offense taken by the way....<br /><br /><br />Give yourself a "C" though....The capacitor(condenser) VALUE has EVERYTHING to do with coil secondary voltage since it controls how rapidly the primary current collapses or more correctly, how slowly the current collapses when the points do open. <br /><br />A large value capacitor (most are about 0.25uf @ several hundred volts) would slow the current collapse thru the primary so much so that the secondary (INDUCED) voltage wouldn't be enough to produce a spark.<br /><br />(Besides being an LC(inductance-capacitance) circuit it's also an RC(resistance-capacitance) circuit because the coil primary has resistance....not much but *some*.....less than 5 ohms for points type coils)<br /><br /> The automotive engineers selected the condenser value to reduce points arc. Selecting too large a value "C" would protect the points forever...but the spark would be reduced or non-existent since the primary current would fall slowly when the points opened. <br /><br /><br />Sorry, I'm not trying to hyjack this post....I'll shut up! <br /><br /><br /><<

Originally posted by rodbolt:<br />[QB] HT32<br /> ya got an F.<br /> go back to ign system basics.<br /> the condenser on a point type ign system like used in an older auto or 2.5L mercruiser has nothing to do with secondary coil voltages. >>