Are all yellow top coils 12 volt

W

whiskeyding

Junior Member
Hello again,
I was on a job and a guy was going to junk a eac Mercury. I asked if I could save it and he said yes. I am now trying to determine if the coil and voltage regulator are 6 or 12 volts. The coil is a yellow top coil. And if all yellow top coils are 12 v I am going t assume the regulator is as well. They are probably both junk, but if not I can use them on a different project.
The regulator has a black top and I counted the coils on the inside if that helps.
 

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There are coils that are designed to work with 12-volt without an external ballast resistor. They will generally have 12V printed on the can somewhere. The ballast resistors are used to control the current draw but it also has the effect of dropping the voltage. Operating on 6-volts, the can type coils draw about the right amount of current normally so they don't need a ballast.

A coil is an inductor so it doesn't care as much about the voltage as it does the current when being used in a DC circuit. Since inductor coils are mostly used in AC circuits, they won't even work unless it has at least a half wave pulsating direct current. The breaker points provide that. In an AC circuit, they are used to step the voltage up or down depending on the needs of a circuit design.

If the parts are original Ford parts and they can be made funtional then they have some value.
 
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The yellow top coils that I use all measured 1.5 ohms primary resistance. That is what I'm using with a resistor on 12 volts. As for the regulator, there should be marked on 6 or 12 volts.
 
I think they make ~1.5 ohm coils specifically for 12v systems, however, a 6v 1.5 ohm coil will work in a 12v system with a 1.5 ohm ballast resistor.
 
Had a yellow top on a 57 292 yblock that was stock-ish condition. 12volt system with a ceramic resistor that cut it to 6 volt at the coil.


No markings on the underside of the regulator?



.
 
I don't recall ever seeing a voltage regulator that wasn't stamped either 6v or 12v on the underside.
The early yellow top coils were ok, but i would never run one with the better choices of today. Too failure prone.
 
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