Coil replacement

LEM

LEM

Senior Member
My old coil does not have plus or minus marked on the terminals just indicates distributor terminal. My question is this the positive or negative terminal?
 
It would depend on the coil. But my money is on it being - .


You can use the lead pencil trick to determine the polarity, or, the 'A' vendors have a little gizmo for doing that.
 
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Positive ground and 6-volt systems went away about the same time back in the mid 1950's. Was Ford the only positive ground system at that point in time?
 
ursus said:
Positive ground and 6-volt systems went away about the same time back in the mid 1950's. Was Ford the only positive ground system at that point in time?
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Other users of positive ground were: Chrysler products, Hudson, Jaguar, MG, Nash, Packard, and Studebaker, maybe more.
 
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help me. i need a tech lesson here.

why does it matter which direction the current flows through the ignition coil?
 
Patrick L. said:
Its how the coil/transformer is wired internally. There is about a 30% difference in voltage.
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This isn't quite true, the voltage output from the coil will be the same magnitude either way, but its direction will be different.

The secondary winding in the coil has one end leading to the high-tension terminal that goes to the plugs. The other end connects to one of the low-voltage terminals. That's how it makes a circuit. If the coil is wired up in such a way that the reversal of the magnetic field (caused by the opening of the points) creates a voltage in the secondary winding that pushes electrons toward the spark plugs, so that the current in the plug flows from the center electrode to the side electrode, the resistance of that air gap is relatively lower.

If the coil is wired up the other way, so that the voltage in the secondary winding pushes electrons back toward the battery, thus in effect "pulling" electrons from the ground electrode across the gap to the center electrode, the resistance of the air gap is relatively higher.

If the resistance in a circuit goes up, and the voltage stays the same, the current goes down. Since the coil is a transformer that always generates the same voltage (assuming constant performance of the points, condenser, battery, etc.) if the resistance of the spark plug air gap goes up, the current crossing that gap, i.e. the strength of the spark, goes down.

As the engine runs faster and hotter, the resistance of the air gap goes up independently of the coil, because the air between the electrodes is being dispersed by turbulence as the plasma arc tries to form. So the practical effect of the coil wiring not matching the plug is that, at any given rpm and load, the strength of the spark will be weaker, and at some point the spark will simply stop.

So it would be more accurate to say that, if the polarity of current in the secondary winding doesn't align with the spark plug, the spark is 30% (or some number around there) weaker. It may also be shorter-duration; I'm not sure, this is roughly where my electrical understanding runs out.
 
With a coil of unknown provenance, I always recommend just installing it and testing with an analog voltmeter to see. You're never going to get 100% certainty trying to deduce its polarity from external indicators.
 
alexiskai said:
This isn't quite true, the voltage output from the coil will be the same magnitude either way, but its direction will be different.

The secondary winding in the coil has one end leading to the high-tension terminal that goes to the plugs. The other end connects to one of the low-voltage terminals. That's how it makes a circuit. If the coil is wired up in such a way that the reversal of the magnetic field (caused by the opening of the points) creates a voltage in the secondary winding that pushes electrons toward the spark plugs, so that the current in the plug flows from the center electrode to the side electrode, the resistance of that air gap is relatively lower.

If the coil is wired up the other way, so that the voltage in the secondary winding pushes electrons back toward the battery, thus in effect "pulling" electrons from the ground electrode across the gap to the center electrode, the resistance of the air gap is relatively higher.

If the resistance in a circuit goes up, and the voltage stays the same, the current goes down. Since the coil is a transformer that always generates the same voltage (assuming constant performance of the points, condenser, battery, etc.) if the resistance of the spark plug air gap goes up, the current crossing that gap, i.e. the strength of the spark, goes down.

As the engine runs faster and hotter, the resistance of the air gap goes up independently of the coil, because the air between the electrodes is being dispersed by turbulence as the plasma arc tries to form. So the practical effect of the coil wiring not matching the plug is that, at any given rpm and load, the strength of the spark will be weaker, and at some point the spark will simply stop.

So it would be more accurate to say that, if the polarity of current in the secondary winding doesn't align with the spark plug, the spark is 30% (or some number around there) weaker. It may also be shorter-duration; I'm not sure, this is roughly where my electrical understanding runs out.
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So, how does some of the modern systems work, where they use one coil to fire 2 different cylinders?

I kinda like the modern systems where they use one coil for each cylinder, mounded on top of the spark plug.
 
so when the primary coil collapses around the secondary coil, and when the coil is hooked up backwards, the electrons are traveling the wrong direction which pulls the spark at the plug backwards from the block to the electrode. effectively reducing the efficiency of the spark.
did i get that rite? lol
i don't think that MGA picture is accurate.
 
katy said:
So, how does some of the modern systems work, where they use one coil to fire 2 different cylinders?
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They work like you'd expect, one of the plugs has a spark that goes the "correct" way and the other has a spark that flows "backwards." If the coil produces sufficient voltage to overcome the resistance either way, the engine will still run fine. The only catch is that the wear on the plugs will be uneven – half will erode at the ground terminal and half at the center. So waste-spark systems often use plugs where both terminals are specially treated or use a special alloy to control erosion.
 
Also a waste-spark fires on compression as well as exhaust stroke.


Thats how to fire 2 cylinders with one coil.
 
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a few perplexing questions.

a coil that has a + and -

is this coil hooked up the same on a positive ground car as it is on a negative ground car?

is the coil wired different inside so that when i hook it up to a negative ground car the electrons don't travel backwards ?

if i use a coil with a + and - that came off of a 6 volt negative ground car on my positive ground model A will it have 30%less efficiency?

last question for now. how do we know these coils are wired different or how do we know what application they are for?
 
old ugly said:
a few perplexing questions.

a coil that has a + and -

is this coil hooked up the same on a positive ground car as it is on a negative ground car?

is the coil wired different inside so that when i hook it up to a negative ground car the electrons don't travel backwards ?

if i use a coil with a + and - that came off of a 6 volt negative ground car on my positive ground model A will it have 30%less efficiency?

last question for now. how do we know these coils are wired different or how do we know what application they are for?
Click to expand...




A coil is connected same abattery s the battery. If pos battery grd then pos coil terminal goes to grd [points].
 
Good explanation, Thanks Alex. While on the subject of electron travel direction, can someone share the "pencil lead/ spark" trick to tell which way the little critters are traveling.

Joe B
 
Wow that’s a lot of information for a simple question that I asked but it’s all good knowledge. I hooked up my black wire to the negative side of the new coil. I then use the lead pencil test and according to what I saw the coil is wired correctly.
 
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