|
Title: What is a Ballast Resistor? Post by: zagatoman on 20 June, 2010, 08:41:42 PM Hi
Want to buy a new coil for my 1968 1298cc Fulvia Sport Zagato, just need some advice. What is a Ballast Resistor? is it the thing straped to the side of the coil? This is a picture of my coil at the moment, is it fitted with the resister? and is it 1.6 Ohms? Sorry to be stupid, I just don’t know much about the ignition. Paul (http://i49.tinypic.com/fdeq87.jpg) Title: Re: What is a Ballast Resistor? Post by: thecolonel on 21 June, 2010, 09:12:01 AM Ballast resistor reduces current to the coil.
You use a 9 volt coil with a resistor or 12 volt without. Most accessory shops will keep them. Original idea was that on starting a feed from the starter would bypass the resistor and send 12 volts to the coil to give an extra boost, once started the coil would then be fed 9 volts via the resistor. On a lot of Lancias they didn't bother with the boost circuit and simply ran 9 volt coils with the resistor. Bit pointless really, it's possible that's what was available at the time. Geoff |