I'm resending this to the list in pieces - some part of it is causing the
mailing list to eat it.
Steve and Steve:
For the problem you're trying to resolve, the DC behaviour is what you're
trying to determine. I'm going to assume that you have the coil and
Pertronix wired according to the instructions: The coil (+) and the
Pertronix red wire are connected to the ignition switch, the coil (-) is
wired to the Pertronix black wire, and the Pertronix unit itself is properly
grounded inside the distributor (i.e, it is snugly bolted down onto a clean
breaker plate). The Pertronix acts as a replacement for the stock points,
which is to say that it functions like a switch that connects the coil (-)
to ground periodically. When that ground connection is broken, a high
voltage is generated at the secondary coil terminal, and the high voltage
pulse is conducted via the coil wire, distributor, rotor, and spark wires,
to the appropriate spark plug. The distributor rotor has to be properly
timed relative to the magnetic sensor in the Pertronix unit, otherwise the
high voltage pulse has nowhere to go, and it will discharge through the
insides of the coil, or through the side of the distributor cap, and that's
bad. Steve, note that this is NOT the same as your description of the coil
operation. When the primary current is interrupted is when the voltage pulse
is generated on the secondary - not whenever the rotor happens to come by.
The coil acts as an energy converter, not an energy storage device.
To be continued...
Theo
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