9 replies to this topic

[mk3cortina]

on my 84 city E 998cc i am fitting one of those electronic points setups (the little red box that replaces original points) now ive been checking up on fitting these and it seems that if i have a ballast system then it will damage the unit. for some reason on the bracket that the coil is on, there was a seperate bracket with a small canister thing on it with one wire coming out of it, however this wire has just been snipped off and the canister thing was left there.
is this the ballast? and with this being the way it was (i.e just wire cut and left there) does it mean a previous owner has bypasses the ballast and im safe to use my electronic points unit?

[L400RAS]

on my 84 city E 998cc i am fitting one of those electronic points setups (the little red box that replaces original points) now ive been checking up on fitting these and it seems that if i have a ballast system then it will damage the unit. for some reason on the bracket that the coil is on, there was a seperate bracket with a small canister thing on it with one wire coming out of it, however this wire has just been snipped off and the canister thing was left there.
is this the ballast? and with this being the way it was (i.e just wire cut and left there) does it mean a previous owner has bypasses the ballast and im safe to use my electronic points unit?

The "canister" is just a radio surpressor. If you have a radio and experiencing distorsion you shuold fit a new one of these - otherwise dont worry about it. This is not the definition of a ballasted ignition.

Have you got a white with pink wire going to the positive side of the coil? If you have, this means it is a ballasted ignition.

It is recommended that you use a standard 12V coil, and remove the white/pink wire and run a new 12V feed from the fusebox to run the new "pointless" ignition.

[lrostoke]

It is recommended that you use a standard 12V coil, and remove the white/pink wire and run a new 12V feed from the fusebox to run the new "pointless" ignition.

All of what the previous poster said is correct except the bit above.

You can use the exisiting coil with a ballasted system

If its ballasted as shown by the white/pink wire on the positive of the coil then leave the coil wiring as it is.

On the dizzy run the black wire from the module to the negatve on the coil, the red wire connect to the top fuse on the fuse box.

If its non ballasted ie no white/pink wire then even easier just connect the black wire to the coil negative and the red wire to the coil positive.

[mk3cortina]

just had a look at the coil, on the positive side of the coil there is, or rather was two spade connectors, one had been snipped off and the spade connector left there, however the other has the pink and white wire on it, that runs up to a connector thats on the brake fluid cap, then an inch or so of wire again coming off the cap and into a black plastic connector that runs into the loom i think, but also on the positive coil joined into the same spade connector as the pink/white wire is a white wire that runs up to the starter solenoid. this white wire fell off once and the car would not start.

so has this ballast been bypassed?

a new little fusebox has been added, it has a row of i think 5 new style fuses, and the wiring has been adapted to fit this fusebox with new blue female spade connectors.

[mk3cortina]

anyone got any info for me please?

[lrostoke]

The bit about the brake cap seems a bit odd.

But if I've understood you.

You have the white/pink wire on the positive of the coil this is the resistive wire for a ballast ignition system.
The other wire you say goes into the same spade if it goes to the solenoid thats a byepass wire that increases the voltage to the coil while the starter is turning. Ballast coil is designed to run at a lower voltage but gets a boost from that wire when the starter motor is turning.


So in a nutshell sounds like you have a ballast system.

[mk3cortina]

well the brake cap might be my doing, i plugged it onto the brake cap as it seemed like thats where it went as theres nothing else that it would reach. i thought it would bring up a warning light or something if the fluid level got low. but with it being on the same wire as the one to the coil it seemed strange, anyway it doesnt have any detrimental effect.

so, how do i turn this into non-ballast so i can run my electronic points kit? i understand removing the white/pink wire but where on the fusebox am i supposed to run a wire from to go to the electronic points kit? its had a new modern fusebox added at some point so im unsure where to run a wire from, just a live feed straight to the positive connection on the electronic points, and run the negative of the coil to the negative of the electronic points?

[lrostoke]

Don't touch the coil wiring leave that as it is. you can keep the ballast system

All you need to do is sort the wiring to the dizzy so the electronic ignition unit gets a 12volt feed

The black wire from the dizzy connect to the negative on the coil.

The red wire to the dizzy make a new connection upto you fuse box, look for a fuse with a white wire and a green wire, connect the red off the dizzy to the white wire, this will be an ignition switched 12volts.

Edited by lrostoke, 31 August 2010 - 09:15 PM.

[mk3cortina]

ah great, so if ive read that correctly, all i need to do is run a wire from the red connection on the electronic points, up to the fuse with a white wire and a green wire (i take it its two wires going into one fuse point) and connect it to the white wire.

in the instructions for the electronic points it stated that the unit will be damaged/burn out if its connected to the ballast system without the bypass, seems strange that it would do that if the ballast system has a lower voltage than the non-ballast.

[lrostoke]

Wouldn't worry to much about that, I accidently ran one for 12 month on a ballasted feed with no ill effects, That could have been luck though, but if you wire the red wire as described should be fine.