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pertronix kit for a 60 coil question

K

Kemper

Member
My 60 is negative ground, I installed a pertronix ignition kit and followed their instructions, started right up and ran for 10 min then died, I discovered the coil was not working, I do have another coil on hand but thought I'd better do some checking before I fry another one or fry the module, the neg wire on the coil went to the ignition switch originaly but the pertronix kit shows the neg side going to the distributor so I switched the wires as their directions, I dont see a ballast resister in this tractor, has anyone had this problem?
 
For a negative ground system, the power from the ignition switch goes to the (+) terminal on the coil.

The original Pertonix Ignitor requires (IIRC), about a 3 to 3.5 Ohm coil, otherwise an external ballast resistor is needed.

Or, the $$$$ leaks out of the Ignitor.
 

Did you get the correct polarity kit? Are you sure your tractor has negative ground? If it originally had the wire on the positive terminal of the coil going to the distributor, then you should have a positive ground tractor. Or at least wired that way. The Pertronix kit is telling you to put the negative wire from the coil to the distributor for a negative ground system. Do you have an alternator on the tractor or a generator? If it's the original generator and regulator, it should be positive ground. You can sort of make them work negative ground, but it involves a different regulator and re wiring the coil. Alternators usually only work negative ground. Generators just make voltage, the regulator determines the polarity. Usually Pertronix tells you to ditch the ballast resistor, although I've run them both ways without issue. Hope this helps some.

Adrian
 
Adrian, he said it RAN for 10 minutes, so polarity is NOT an issue... if there was a polarity mis-match it would have not started at all.

He took the longer route to letting the smoke out... either the unit simply DIED (wouldn't be the first one to do that}, or coil current was too high.
 
"I discovered the coil was not working,"


How did you determine the coil not working was due to the coil itself or the elec switch crapped out????

Id check the coil (see my procedure below) to see if tis okay and if so maybe the switch is bad???

If you use a new coil Id suggest a full true 12 volt (3 + ohms LV primary resistance) and check with Pertronix to insure that's suitable for the switches current rating.

John T
Ignition Troubleshooting
 
"Generators just make voltage, the regulator determines the polarity."

NO. Regulators may be marked for use on positive ground, negative ground, or for either polarity. This is largely due to metal used in the contact points. The regulator does not determine the output polarity.

You polarize the generator to set the output polarity. This is done by sending a short burst of current through the field coils. The generator field coils are wound in opposite directions, so a burst of polarizing current through them makes one center core a north pole and the other a south pole. With positve and negative ground the current flows in opposite directions, so the direction of the polarizing current flow determines which field core is north pole and which is south pole and hence the polarity of the generator output.
 

I guess I've never seen a regulator that didn't state positive or negative. I know that you have to polarize the generator to determine polarity. I guess the point I was trying to make (poorly), was that a generator will put out either polarity.

Adrian
 
Yes, that's a problem with a written board. It offers a tremendous amount of help, but always has the problem "what you think you read is not what I think I wrote"

I usually try and explain my answer to a question but often fear that I come across too stern or cold, which I certainly do not intend to do. Thanks for your feedback.
 
I must have gotten confused in my original post, the coil was wired right, + went to the ignition,anyway I changed the coil and seems to run fine, thanks for the help!
 
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