my new empi electronic ignition turned up today
its identical to my old magfire kit which is a direct copy of compufire but this one has a label saying
use of a coil without a ballast resistor will void warranty
wtf? No aircooled vws came with ballast resistor style coils
my mag fire has worked fine for 5 years without one
76 camper fitted the same empi kit and it died after 3 months
can anyone shed any light on this
thanks
Joel
76camper ·
mine didnt come with a caution sticker :-(
helterskelter400 ·
mine only had the use high resistance coil or whatever it was. no ticket like that
where's that instructions:
here.
Joel ·
thanks for that
thats almost identical printout to the instructions from my magfire
i dont know whether to just try it and keep a loaded dissy spare in the car
but if it frys in 3 months time like edwards he didnt get a warranty replacement either as aparantly there only covered when u first fit them if they dont work
Joel
Joel ·
i just had a thought on this
to avoid getting ballast resistor style coil (ive only just replaced my coil 2 months ago) does anyone know if i could i run the coil as normal but run the positive for the module through a ballast resistor??
Joel
toplessbug ·
they are trying to limit the current thru the coil driver so grab a meter and check the resistance of your coil ,if its greater than 4 ohms it should be ok ,this is what the instructions tell you ,generally a 12v coil should be 5-6 ohms i think, which is ok
a ballast coil is much lower resistance so it can use a ballast while running which will be 7 volts on the coil and at start up 12 volts so you get nice fat sparks while starting :beer
dont run the power for the module thru a ballast
68AutoBug ·
That seems strange to Me.... to have to use ballast resistor coil which works at a lower voltage when trying to start the engine... then the lower power comes thru the ballast resistor....
so what they seem to be saying is to use a low voltage coil and that it will burn out if You don't....
Its seems to be back to front to Me....
I would think a high voltage coil would last longer as its rated at a higher voltage... and the voltage put into these coils by an electronic ignition can be very high...
I would just use an ordinary coil....
I had a GT40 high energy coil in My beetle but I have made up from a jaycar kit an electronic ignition which still uses the points, but puts a very high voltage into the coil,
so they say NOT to use the GT40 coil only a standard coil
as the GT40s burn out....
so, If You used a ballast resistor coil rated at approx 7 volts
and the electronic ignition puts out say 50 volts...
Its much better to use a standard coil rated at 12-14V
IMHO.... thats how I see it.... I know My brain hasn't warmed up as yet....:P
Lee
Joel ·
cool, thanks for the help lee,
im just gonna try it and see how it goes
from all the reading ive done on the various vw forums it seems no matter what brand u get there is a failure rate with all of them
everywhere i seem to read though is ppl couldnt tell any difference btwn the cheap tiwanese versions and the better quality more expensive ones like compufire