Judson Electronic Magneto

meric42

meric42

Well-known member
I have two of these magnetos and would like to use one on a Flat-head, if practical.

Has anyone out there in barnland used one of these units and if so, how good are they?

Are they a 4V, 6V or 12V system and do I need to bypass the ballast resistor?

Does anyone have a set of installation instructions for flat-head use?

Thanks in advance,

Meric.
 
Here's a picture
 

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Whilst called a magneto, I dont think its a magneto in the true defintion of one.
isnt that just a CDI box and a coil?
 
Lowsquire said:
Whilst called a magneto, I dont think its a magneto in the true defintion of one.
isnt that just a CDI box and a coil?
Click to expand...

I know what it is, what I don't know is how to connect it and whether or not these "Magnetos" (their name, not mine) were/are any good or just a waste of time.
 
I remember my father having that on a car --after a few months it died, sent it back, they fixed it, but it never got put back on. --fuel mileage was the same with --or without despite the claims.

The next car got a "delta mark 10" --a multi spark cd box, a few months after installation I remember we were out in a thunderstorm and the car stopping at the same time as a close lightning strike --I was the one to get out and go under the hood and push the button on the box that put it back to "standard ignition" --it got sent back and fixed, but it never quite worked right again.
 
A lot of automotive accessories from the after market were like "Snake Oil". I would stick to proven components. If you haven't heard of it before there is probably a good reason for it. The old Echlin Bear brand coils (part of the original manufacturer evolved into Accel Ignition Products) looked really neat but didn't work any better than a stock coil.

Kerby
 
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Its a coil like someone said in a previous post.
The idea is to raise or amplify the coils primary voltage with a cdi capacitive ignition system. Was a good idea in the 40s-50s etc when we didnt have much else.
The voltage and current levels to the ignition contacts is reduced giving them a much longer life.
Most of the ones i have seen have been positive ground .
Assuming the unit is in working condition i can see a big advantage (especially on a six volt car ) starting would be better fr sure...
 
I had the transistorized ignition in my old 64 Thunderbird. It worked great until the transistor gave out. Those type of transistors are gertting harder to get now and you have cross reference many to different part numbers so the repair was a return to a standard type ignition. Even Ford didn't always have a better idea.

Kerby
 
Judson was the one of the first versions of electronic igmition and if I recall were made near Philadelphia, Pa. I have at least one but never used it. This was in the early days of electronics and even if it worked when new the transitors and diodes were not reliable and a lot failed in a short time. Companies like G.E. RCA and others would develope Diodes, SCRs triacs and other devices and send out info to companies on how great they were. I got involved with G.E. in the very early stages of SCR motor controls. After you build several hundred and get them out in use then the failures start and they blaimed transiant voltages. I had 90% failure rates with G.E. and went to a small company named Hudson and cut failures to 50%. Then went with Westinghouse and with no changes to the circuit or additonal transiant voltage protection the failures were less the a 1/2 of 1 percent. This was back about the time big diodes like 100 or 150 amp were getting popular but having the same failures. What the problem was the way they were manufactured, the envirment wasn't super clean and small specks of dirt and moisture was enclosed in them on critical surfaces. Westinghouse assembled theirs in a inert chamber and I don't know all the details but they also put a life time warrantee on these parts. I would bet if you changed all of the electronic parts on the Judson unit it would last a long time, with the original parts you wouldn't want to go to far from home. G.M.
 
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meric42 said:
I know what it is, what I don't know is how to connect it and whether or not these "Magnetos" (their name, not mine) were/are any good or just a waste of time.
Click to expand...

That response was not very nice (TEMPER TEMPER). I do not know what it is and I would like to know.
 
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