DIY: How to make your own Electronic Ignition for contact point engines

**adasma** · July 21st, 2011 02:33 PM

Expert ka sir, kase alam mo ang pasikot-sikot re: Alexan IS and nakakatulong ka sa tulad namin na bagohan lang... :-)
May ballast resistor ngayon ang OIL-less ko na ignition coil. Sisigurohin ko lang ulit sir..if u won't mind..ibig mo bang sabihin is that tatanggalin ko ang condenser ko and then yung isang output wire na galing sa Electronic Ignition System ng Alexan ay papuntang contact point?
Xenxa na po sa pagkukulit..Gusto ko kasing iinstall ulit ang ignition system ko sa beetle ko.
Salamat po ulit...

**Chef Noob** · July 21st, 2011 10:21 PM

No problem sir...
Kaya niyo ba buksan yung kit sir? If you can, then mas maganda kasi you can trace which wires goes to where.(ingat lang sa pag bukas kasi baka matangal yung wiring going to the transistor.

Once opened, you will see markings on the board. If your PCB is the same as mine, then the markings are as follows.

- Wire coming from the top of the board( labeled 13.8v) goes to a power supply which activates upon ignition. Yung sa akin, kinabit ko siya sa POSITIVE terminal ng Ballast resistor ko...

- Wire coming from the bottom goes to GROUND (also labeled as GROUND). Any grounded bolt will do, as long as maayos pagka ground.

- Wire coming from the RIGHT side of the board goes to CONTACT POINT (labeled POINTS). This goes DIRECTLY to the contact point and DOES NOT connect through the CONDENSOR.

- Wire from the LEFT side of the BOARD (labeled OUT) goes to the NEGATIVE side of the COIL.

After that, okay ka na...dapat gagana na yun.
Make sure that the BALLAST RESISTOR is connected sa POSITIVE ng coil to prevent it from over heating.
If okay lahat ng parts mo at tama ang installation, then you're good to go!

**adasma** · July 22nd, 2011 05:36 PM

"Chief" Noob.,, :-)
Maraming maraming salamat po for the very clear explanations/instructions.
Kuha ko na sir re: condenser...
Will feedback u as soon as I get my beetle and reinstall my system, kse nasa kasa pa, masyadong maingay..butas ang muffler...hehehe
God bless and more power to this site...!
Keep helping sir....

adasma

**mr,niceguyy** · July 27th, 2011 03:54 PM

Originally Posted by Chef Noob

*Meledson - Try building one for it na!...Its not as hard as it looks.

*Kinyo - Where did you get the CDI layout sir? Does it have the multi-spark feature?

*Sirkosero - Thanks for the heads-up sir. Actually, I did notice the coil heating up more than usual.
Also, I do see a slight flaw in the design layout. It indicated there to bypass the ballast resistor(rated at 1.5ohms) found on the positive side of the coil. Although they added a resistor in the circuit, it only had 0.5ohms resistance & 5 watts output. This in effect, increases the current & voltage passing through the coil - giving you a bad ass spark, but pushes your coil to its limits.

The thing about ignition coils; even though it is installed in a 12volt system...it is meant to run on only 6 volts of power.(If it was made to run at 12 volts, then you wont be able to start your car since the starter eats up half of the current)...

Based on my observations, there are three ways to remedy this.
1. change the resistor in the module with one that has 1.5ohms rating.
2. Replace it with a heavy duty ignition coil.(the red Bosch coil will work just fine)
3. DO NOT bypass the ballast resistor.

For me, after noticing the heat being produced by my stock coil, I did the 3rd option. It did decrease the power output of my engine just a little bit, but made my coil cooler. I do plan to install a Bosch unit though, so I can take advantage of the added power given by the module.

How to tell if your coil is running more current than it should?
Step 1. Get a multitester or Volt meter and set it to DC. If using digital, set the max voltage to 20V.
Step 2. Hook up the positive needle to the + of the coil. Hook up the neg needle to the (-) of the coil.
Step 3. Turn ignition to ON position. It SHOULD read more or less 6V.
Step 4. Start the engine. Slowly rev the engine and watch the meter. It should rise up to 9V while your revving up the engine. If it reads more than that, your coil is biting off more than it could chew.
Do keep in mind, ignition coils are able to withstand harsh currents. They are made that way. However, it still comes down to how well each coil is made. Meaning, quality coils will be more durable while cheap ones will burn easily.

NOTE:
When acquiring Bosch coils, try to get the red one since the blue one has a resistor already built in the unit.

sir chef noob tumawag ako sa warren automative nag tanong alp tungkol sa coil e ang sabi nila un red na bosch e un ang may resistor at ung blue ang wala.. gusto ko din kasi mag palit ng coil ng fx ko kasi naka electronic ignition din po ako at ung nga nagiinit ung coil ko kaya balak ko magpalit nag coil ano po ba dapat ipalit ung red o blue na bosch?

**Chef Noob** · July 28th, 2011 06:00 PM

I'd go with the RED...the Blue bosch coils does NOT have an external resistor packaged with it since it ALREADY has one built in...
Yung RED, it is sold together with an external resistor to give the user the option whether to use it with the Ballast resistor or not.

Actually sir, gagana yan kahit alin dun sa blue or red...yun nga lang, you will get full performance when using the red without the resistor...pero mas iiksi buhay ng coil mo...Yan ang Pro's & cons dito.

**mr,niceguyy** · July 28th, 2011 07:23 PM

Originally Posted by Chef Noob

I'd go with the RED...the Blue bosch coils does NOT have an external resistor packaged with it since it ALREADY has one built in...
Yung RED, it is sold together with an external resistor to give the user the option whether to use it with the Ballast resistor or not.

Actually sir, gagana yan kahit alin dun sa blue or red...yun nga lang, you will get full performance when using the red without the resistor...pero mas iiksi buhay ng coil mo...Yan ang Pro's & cons dito.

sir hindi ko po magets tong linyang eto?ang ibig nyo po ba sabihin dyan eh iiksi talga buhay ng coil ko dahil sa E.I. kit?o mas maiksi ang buhay ng blue coil kesa sa red coil?pasensya na na po kung slow?hhehe

**duskylim** · July 28th, 2011 08:40 PM

Originally Posted by adasma

Expert ka sir, kase alam mo ang pasikot-sikot re: Alexan IS and nakakatulong ka sa tulad namin na bagohan lang... :-)
May ballast resistor ngayon ang OIL-less ko na ignition coil. Sisigurohin ko lang ulit sir..if u won't mind..ibig mo bang sabihin is that tatanggalin ko ang condenser ko and then yung isang output wire na galing sa Electronic Ignition System ng Alexan ay papuntang contact point?
Xenxa na po sa pagkukulit..Gusto ko kasing iinstall ulit ang ignition system ko sa beetle ko.
Salamat po ulit...

Dear Sir:

You should remove the capacitor/condenser from contact point-triggered transistorized ignition systems.

This is because these designs reduce the current in the contact point circuit to mere milli-amperes, and the standard capacitor/condenser installed will cause false triggering - that is, make them misfire.

Essentially the small currents will be absorbed by the capacitor and cause a delay in the timing of the ignition.

Also, you should keep the ballast resistor (a thermal resistor) that came with the coil (like that of the Bosch Red coil) in place.

The resistor is there to keep the coil from burning out.

Hope this helps.

Best Regards,

Dusky Lim

**Chef Noob** · July 30th, 2011 04:16 PM

Okay lang sir, no problem...
Try ko po sagutin.

Pag bumili po kayo ng Bosch RED coil, may kasama na yan na ballast resistor (yung white na ceramic).
Pag iinstall niyo po sa ordinary CONTACT POINTS IGNITION without the resistor, siguradong sunog yang RED coil at contact points niyo. Kaya nila sinama yan para dun sa mga naka contact points pa...Yung problem netong resistor, pinapahaba niya nga ang buhay, pinapa hina niya naman ang OUTPUT...so pag ang OUTPUT ng coil niyo eh 50,000 volts, magiging 38,000 volts nalang.

Now sa E.I. niyo, pwede ninyo huwag na gamitin ang resistor since wala nang points na masusunog. So THEORETICALLY, dapat lahat ng 50,000v derecho na sa spark plug...making your coil perform at 100% ALL THE TIME. Now alam naman natin na lahat ng bagay pag piniga mo sa maximum, mabilis ma sira diba.

Pero yung sa akin, hindi ko tinanggal ang ballast resistor...so ang output ng coil ko is only 38,000v(example figure lang to)...roughly 75% of the coil OUTPUT. Making my coil last longer (possible 10 years or more) and not prone to overheating.
Since hindi naman ako nagkakarera at parati malayo biyahe ko, masaya nako sa setup ko na to. Yun nga lang, paglagpas ng 3000 RPM, medyo makupad na siya. Okay lang sakin, since the main reason na kinabit ko to is sobrang sawa nako magpalit ng points.
Kung gusto mo pang racing setup, huwag mo na gamitin ang ballast resistor...yun ngalang, asahan mo hindi aabot ng 3 taon ang coil mo...not to mention prone kapa sa tirik pag malayu-an ang biyahe.

Regarding the RED & BLUE bosch coil...
The reason I suggested the RED, since ang BLUE nila is the low-end model. Hindi ganun ka matibay ang ginamit na materials...kaya siya may built-in na resistor sa loob...para limited ang output. If Im not mistaken, max output niya ata is only 25,000v.
Uubra na to, yun ngalang...huwag ka na umasa sa magandang performance & lifespan.\

Ang RED naman, max rating niya is 50,000v(or is it 75,000v? please correct me on this)...so it means na kahit ang output ng coil mo is 45,000v...kayang kaya niya parin. Only downside is, MAS MAHAL... Also, I read a few feedbacks na mataas daw ang tolerance neto sa PRIMARY voltage. Ibig sabihin, kaya niya ang EI mo at max output(without the ballast resistor).

My advice, if your car is for keeps, then get a RED...

**adasma** · August 15th, 2011 02:08 PM

Sir Dusky,

Thank u very much po for the info.
Ang gamit ko kseng ignition coil ngayon is yong hindi OIL type..OIL-LESS type ang gamit ko...yung itim ang kulay...kaya ba nya ang Electronic Ignition? (Umiinit din ng masyado sa ngayong) kse yong mga previous ignition coils ko sinira lahat..i've tried silver and blue ones...haven't tried the red one yet...
Tnx again.

adasma

**duskylim** · August 16th, 2011 01:39 PM

Dear Adasma:

the way to determine whether your coil is a high-performance model or not is to test 2 things:

1) Primary winding resistance - use a sensitive Ohmmeter to test the coils (+) and (-) terminals.

Switch the Ohmmeter to 0 - 10 Ohms scale (1X).

If it is a high-performance coil (which needs a ballast resistor) the reading will be LESS THAN 5 Ohms.

If it is a low-performance coil (standard doesn't need a ballast resistor) the reading will be Greater Than 5 Ohms.

2) Secondary winding resistance - use the Ohmmeter to test the resistance between the Center terminal - where the spark plug cable comes from the distributor to any one of the primary terminals.

Switch the Ohmmeter to the 10,000 scale.

A high-performance coil will have > 10,000 Ohms

A standard coil will have < 10,000 ohms.

The color of the coil doesn't matter - it gives NO indication of the quality of the coil.

The way to test for a high-quality coil is to perform the test above.

The seller should let you do this - if NOT then assume he's selling a low-quality coil.

Most high-performance coils use a ballast resistor.

Hope this helps,

Dusky Lim