specific electrical Q's and diagnosis help.

Makes me wonder Tim, if you know all that then why ask for my explanation? I assumed you were a layman with little electrical knowledge.. I purposely kept it simple.. I guess next time I'll listen to my inner self..

I didn't go to college so I don't know any sophmore theory. I spend my days trying to explain to engineers why what looks good in theory doesn't work in the field.

 

Zila, I've been an electrician for the Navy first (enlisted), and later a college boy (ENGR PHSX I, II), and I'm afraid I gotta agree with Tim here. Two or three years ago I would've argued with Tim the same way you did about the resistor being a voltage limiter, not a current limiter.

 

did anyone actually read the title of the post? R)
I wanted to know if the red wire was a resistor wire.
When the PO installed the 360, he/she/it didn't leave a ballast resistor on the Jeep. And its been running fine for me for months.
Every wiring diagram we saw said nothing about a Ballast Resistor (BR) or a Resistor Wire (RW). There is a wire on the firewall as described by Zila, but it doesn't seem to go to the circuit in question. (not saying it doesn't, tho)
I have (well, had) a POINTS ELIMINATOR kit installed (again, by the PO). I don't know if it needed a BR or RW or not.
I know what we did, and what happened when we did it. Actually I know how to fix it, also, as I explained.
I just wanted to know if the red wire was a resistor wire....

And Jayhawkclint, I happen to own 3 multi-meters of various quality and know how to read them quite well. Doesn't answer my question, tho.

 

:iagree:
Talk about a thread getting off track...R) But I really did learn something from Tim, Zila & Howard! I'm not an electrician or electrical engineer by any stretch, but I do understand the theory, and I learned more just now. Thank you gentlemen. (No, I am not being sarcastic!)
I have access to a prestolite (shudder) dizzy. Would it be worthwhile to install it for testing/verification purposes? Is it possible the existing dizzy is still good, or do you all feel it's toast.

Hey Mike, maybe we need to take pictures... you know, the 'worth a thousand words' thing?R)

 

Wow, off track is right and I think I hurt my brain about the middle of page two. You mention a points eliminator kit. The Pertronix kit (I believe) calls for removal of the ballast resistor (as well as any HEI setup). If this is true for your particular setup, we may be looking at this bass ackwards. The red wire may be a resistive wire (esp if it's not trimmed). A reduction in voltage necessitates an increase in current to produce the same power output (P=IV, so if volts drop current will increase to compensate). Increased current as stated before will cause an overheating condition in the x-frmr (coil).
The best example I have is what I do. High kVp (kilovolts peak) w/ low mAs (milliamp seconds) exposures can be done all day. Low kVp/High mAs exposures heat up the x-frmrs and will reach the duty cycle w/in a short period of time.
That red wire is kinda the key here. I'd do a resistance check on it, ensure the correct voltage (either 9V or 12V referring to the points eliminator kit inst.)is getting to the coil and go from there. You gotta be sure you're right before you attempt to start it. Wrong either way will cause failures.:v6:

 

I agree with Tim because his avitar wears a white lab coat and thick eyeglasses. The combination oozes authority and intellect. Who can argue with such a figure?

Pretty sure the capacitor delays the transient voltage growth at the points until they move far apart. Otherwise a spark happens at the points instead of the plug. If there is some filtering effect of high freq components I think it's a secondary effect but I'm not married to that theory.

 

why do you have a wire going from the alt to the coil? Is that off the BAT term on alt?

 

Yeah, that's correct. The capacitor is like a short in parallel to the points at very short time scales. There's a page about it here: http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_4/chpt_4/2.html Doesn't involve the ballast resistor though. High frequency (low pass) filtering is another way of describing the effect.