i figured it was coming, just didn't know when

HFJ

Well-known Member
well, it would appear that my bold electrical experiment has reached its conclusion. subject to further confirmation this afternoon, i seem to have finally burned up the 6 volt coil on my 12 volt 2N by running it without a ceramic blob inline.

i only got about five and a half years out of it - i figure 125 to 150 hours :D
 

well, tom, i can't tell u why anybody would do it. but i can tell u why *I* did it.

when i converted it to 12 volts, i did not know many things that i know now. with the supplied ceramic blob in the conversion kit, the tractor would not start. i pulled it out and lo and behold, the tractor fired right up.

as time went on, i learned more about the tractor in general and this issue in particular. turns out that ceramic blob is 3.5 ohms. no wonder it wouldn't start. by the time i clearly understood the processes involved, i had already gotten far more time out of the 6 volt coil than the dire warnings about this led me to believe was even possible. at that point, i priced a 12 volt coil - which, in my opinion now, should have been in the conversion kit instead of a ceramic resistor, especially one with as much resistance as the one i got has. when i saw how cheap the 12 volt coil was, and how available it was, i decided i was gonna let it play out, for no reason more than curiosity.

remember i'm not a farmer, and the potential of a bit of downtime is not a backbreaker for me. i got about half of my lawn mowed yesterday, and hopefully i'll finish the other half before it cuts out again. if not, i'll let it cool off and get back at it. by the time i need to mow again next week, it should have a 12 volt coil on it.

over the years, i've come to many conclusions. one of them is: conventional wisdom is nearly always conventional, but not as often wise ;)
 
The 12 v conversion kit I purchased also came with the ceramic resister, so I installed it; but it would not fire the spark plug tester with it wired in series with the spiral wire, 3 terminal block. So out it came and the spark was just fine. I did have a 12 v coil to use. On another 8N, I have both resistors in series with an unknown coil (no info on it), and it has run for many years.
 
(quoted from post at 16:03:55 06/27/17) The 12 v conversion kit I purchased also came with the ceramic resister, so I installed it; but it would not fire the spark plug tester with it wired in series with the spiral wire, 3 terminal block. So out it came and the spark was just fine. I did have a 12 v coil to use. On another 8N, I have both resistors in series with an unknown coil (no info on it), and it has run for many years.
he ceramic blobs are the problem. The sellers apparently think a blob is a blob, and sell crap that ranges in value from a fraction of an Ohm up to 5 or 6 Ohms!!! You can make them work with about 1.6 to 2 Ohms, but beyond that you are rolling dice.
 
well.....now is the time.....
do some studying about converting to a true 12v round coil, and never think about your coil again.....

ps, Don't feel bad, in hard winter I routinely jump across the 'blob' resistor on tractors that use them on first start...gotta a little loop wire with clips attached for it.(do I need to? probably not, but I want all the stars aligned when I'm freezing...)
And, yes, sometimes I forget to unhook it when it starts...no casualties yet but...someday.
 
(quoted from post at 20:57:59 06/27/17)
(quoted from post at 22:26:27 06/27/17)
do some studying about converting to a true 12v round coil, and never think about your coil again.....

AMEN

are the square 12 volt coils that unreliable?

They are Ok but most new parts today are not reliable . If your power is too hot they tend to go bad . The design does not allow heat transfer very well .

A 3.25 ohm round can coil is pretty much bullet proof though .
 

A few months ago my 6v 2n would not start. There was no voltage to the coil. I found the resistor open and jumped it out.

Yesterday it died, I found the points trashed. New plugs, points and condenser (plus a new resistor) it fires right up, ran fine till lunch today when I shut it down.

Did the lack of a resistor burn the points up? I dunno, conventional wisdom probably says so.. but as far as I know the points were at least 10 years old, might have already been on their last leg for a long time.
 
Did the lack of a resistor burn the points up? I dunno, conventional wisdom probably says so.. but as far as I know the points were at least 10 years old, might have already been on their last leg for a long time.

More than likely as you have said . You could run a round coil with 2 ohms resistance and probably never have a coil problem , even after ten sets of points since they would be the weakest link .
 
I like to go to the local auctions and watch the N tractors sell.
It is rare to find a front mount that still has the resister. The
resister is either missing or been bypassed.
 
I like to keep my '49 8N all-original with 6 volts, a generator, the square bakelite coil on top of the pancake distributor and the stock resistor. It makes me feel good to keep it original; I don't know why.
 
(quoted from post at 22:35:24 06/28/17) I like to keep my '49 8N all-original with 6 volts, a generator, the square bakelite coil on top of the pancake distributor and the stock resistor. It makes me feel good to keep it original; I don't know why.

If you were paying someone to work on it $100 a hour I am sure the feel good would vanish...
 

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