Pertronix Ignitor

[Zedrally]

Carl,

Wonderful article on the Ignitor.

After seeing the photos, one cannot make the assumption that the Pertronix is mearly a reed switch activated by a magnet.

Am I correct on this?

Are there any Aussie Guys using this system?

Keep those fingers hitting the keyboard and look forward to more in depth how to's!

[Bambikiller240]

Originally posted by Zedrally

Carl,

Wonderful article on the Ignitor.

After seeing the photos, one cannot make the assumption that the Pertronix is mearly a reed switch activated by a magnet.

Am I correct on this?

Are there any Aussie Guys using this system?

Keep those fingers hitting the keyboard and look forward to more in depth how to's!

Hi Mike:

Thanks for the good review!

The Pertronix unit is not a reed switch. It's not mechanical at all. It's a solid state switching device that senses the electro-magnetic fields of each of six magnets that rotate around the distributor shaft, and fires the coil at the appropriate times. It's a simple system and is pretty neat. It's not a "Racing" Ingition system, but it works great for a street car, from bone stock to a car with mild modifications. Once you start looking for Major modifications, it's time to step up to fancy Unilite distributors and powerful racing igniton systems.

[jelrod]

I have blown two of these things now installing by your instructions, Got any ideas what might be wrong Carl?

[Bambikiller240]

What year car are you installing in? Has the wiring been butchered before you got the car? Are you following the steps EXACTLY (Color codes of wires)?

There really isn't much to the install (2 wires) so it's hard to imagine it being done wrong.

[jelrod]

Year is 72, Looks like original Wiring according to colors. The first one fried and I replaced the points and everything was OK. The second fried and now the points won't work either. I have tested both units with the battery and ohm meter scheme of rotating the magnet in the unit but the both stayed closed whitch I was told means they are bad.

[Bambikiller240]

Originally posted by jelrod

The first one fried and I replaced the points and everything was OK. The second fried and now the points won't work either. I have tested both units with the battery and ohm meter scheme of rotating the magnet in the unit but the both stayed closed whitch I was told means they are bad.

When saying "fried", do you mean that actual smoke came from the unit, or it caught fire, or ?

Not sure what you mean about "I have tested both units with the battery and ohm meter scheme of rotating the magnet in the unit but the both stayed closed..." Can you elaborate?

I haven't done any "testing" other that doing the install and starting the car and driving the hell out of it.

You have disconnected the original black wire from the coil? and also at the distributor?

Removed the points and the condenser?

Connected Pertronix RED to the 12V side of the ballast resistor?

Connected Pertronix solid BLK to the coil where you removed the stock solid BLK wire (NEG terminal)?

That is really all there is to it in terms of wiring.

Without doing any testing, have you actually tried to start the car?

[jelrod]

no smoke, but the unit is always passing 12 volt through instead of on off ect. Pertronix informed me of a way to test the unit (pictured). Yes, I disconnected everything from the negative side of coil and the condenser and points. The only wire going to negative coil is the black wire from pertronix./?????

[jelrod]

better picture

[Bambikiller240]

It sounds like you had the unit installed correctly. Were you able to measure battery voltage at the end of the ballast resistor that you connected the RED wire to? Have you tried to start the car with the unit installed? I never tried the static test that you have been doing, but I've been told that he pertronix should fire without regard to RPM so it would make sense for the fluctuation you mention to occur when rotating the magnets by hand.

I'm just not sure about the diagram showing the black wire connected ONLY to the volt/ohm meter (in other words it NOT being connected to the NEG of the battery. I dunno. I'm no electrical whiz, I just followed the directions and it works great for me.

Have you tried to start the car? or are you just relying on the test to confirm if it works or not?

[jelrod]

It will not start.

[Bambikiller240]

Originally posted by jelrod

It will not start.

Hmm, I don't know what could be wrong. It is s simple system and a simple (2 wire) install, as you can see from the instructions with the Ignitor and the diagrams provided by Pertronix and on the site here. I would think that it has to be something simple that is being overlooked, or something in the OEM wiring on your car not being the same as mine. It would be really unusual for a person to get two Ignitor units that were bad from the factory, so at this point I'm at a loss to explain why you are having theses problems.

Do you have a digicam to take and post pictures of the install?