[Spridgets] External coil ballast?

[Jon Paschke]

#2 think of it like your garden hose, if you just open the valve it builds 
presure but when you open the hose nozzel only a little actually flows after 
the burst. The resistor controls the flow of electricy the same way, 12 v at 
non use but drops on demand.

Jon

> Sounds just like an external ballast reisistor.  Check the resistance
> between the coil terminals.  If its very low, then that doohicky is just
> what you think.  As for question 2,  no idea at all.
>
>> So, while plowing out of the most recent Michigan snow with my '53 Ford
>> NAA "red belly," the thing conks out (very unusual).  While trying to
>> track down the problem (turned out to be a bad condenser), I noticed the
>> coil + terminal was wired to a ceramic doo-hickey behind the dash.  The
>> doohickey was getting battery voltage in, and it was showing the
>> expected 12.6 volts at its other terminal.  BUT as soon as I
>> re-connected the wire to the coil, that terminal read just over 6 volts.
>> Ahhh, says I with a smug smile.  Not to worry.  This must be an external
>> ballast for the coil.
>>
>> Question #1:  Is it?
>>
>> Question #2: How come I only saw voltage drop when I connected the coil?
>>
>> Teach me.
>>
>> -JohnD
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