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8n Ballast Resistor

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Ramrod

06-05-2007 05:23:45




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Does GT need a ballast resistor? It's a '49 8N 6v Front Mount. Why would it need one, what is it's purpose, where would it go? It's wired with a new wiring harness and running, but won't charge (another story). I'm thinking it would only need a resistor for running 6v ign on 12v conversion, which this is not. It is a 6v pos ground system.




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Ramrod

06-05-2007 16:08:06




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 Re: 8n Ballast Resistor in reply to Ramrod, 06-05-2007 05:23:45  
OK guys I got it together with a little help from my friends. The piece I was missing was the square can is a 3 volt coil. LIB! Learned something today, guess I didn't know everything after all! I got the OEM part from CNH, plus a water temp gauge, plus a new VR labeled 6v pos gnd. It is all installed, but my genny won't be back until tomorrow. Winfred said it was dead meat, and I saw with my own eyes that which was once a front bearing. We have 4.8 volts at the coil side of the ballast resistor, and a good strong blue spark plainly visible in bright hot N TX sunshine. We broke 90 today, got plenty hot out there.

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manual

06-05-2007 12:14:42




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 Re: 8n Ballast Resistor in reply to Ramrod, 06-05-2007 05:23:45  
stick with dan.



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Dan

06-05-2007 08:19:46




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 Re: 8n Ballast Resistor in reply to Ramrod, 06-05-2007 05:23:45  
Keith - keep it 6v, no since in adding possible additional frustration. You can get replacement ballast resistors in two flavors - expensive Just Like Original and cheap aftermarket replacements. Also, you can replace the entire assembly if you want to or if it is missing. However, you DO need this resistor to save yourself some heart ache down the line replacing ignition parts all the time.

Give me a shout if you need more details.

Dan

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souNdguy

06-05-2007 05:34:26




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 Re: 8n Ballast Resistor in reply to Ramrod, 06-05-2007 05:23:45  
ALL the ford front mounts from the 9n, 2n, and early 8n used a square coil AND an OEM ballast resistor. the square coil isn't really a 6v coil.. it's mor like a ~3v coil or so. The ballast resistor, has a temperature and resistive coeficient. When the temp is low, the resistor is lower ohms.. thus letting more power tot he ignition during starting.. and thent he ressitor warms up, raisine primary resistance, and lowering points/coil current as it stabilizes. This ensures long point and coil life.

If you go to 12v you would need to add an additional dropping resistor inline to the coil.. something like an 8NE10306 or similar.. etc.

Soundguy

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Ramrod

06-05-2007 05:39:33




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 Re: 8n Ballast Resistor in reply to souNdguy, 06-05-2007 05:34:26  
OK, so we put a ballast between the coil wire and the ign switch to drop the coil voltage then? Can I get it at CNH? I'm considering making the 12v switch on this rig, but fighting the urge, just to get familiar with a 6v Pos gnd system. I did get it running first try, that was a good thing. So I have high voltage going to my coil now huh, gonna need another coil if I keep that up...



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souNdguy

06-05-2007 06:05:10




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 Re: 8n Ballast Resistor in reply to Ramrod, 06-05-2007 05:39:33  
Forgot to add. i suggest yo get familiar with how it should operate on 6v before jumping into 12v and being doubly lost.

There is a good article on how/why for 12v conversions wrote by fellow listmember Bruceva and myself posted on the N-news site.. and eventually will be posted here AFAIK. Read them.. I have schematics and everthing thing broken down to do point to point wireing.. etc..

Soundguy

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souNdguy

06-05-2007 06:02:07




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 Re: 8n Ballast Resistor in reply to Ramrod, 06-05-2007 05:39:33  
Uh... do you have a manual on this thing.

The OEM ballast resistor is mounted to a 3 terminal tab that is bolted to the back of the dash. Power comes in on the bottom terminal, jumps over to the key switch, back fromt he key to one of the top terminals, and then from the other top terminal out to your coil.
That's all you need for 6v.. if you go to 12v, you then need to add the additional resistor..

Soundguy

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