Better Ballast Resistor for electronic ignitions

[Ross Wooldridge]

@FURYGT - hey Bill, I saw in one of your posts recently where you talked about using a ballast resister that is better for electronic ignition systems.

Please clarify, as I'm interested in seeing if using the original ballast resistant in my charging circuit yes circuit is part of the issue that I'm currently dealing with.

I am sure others here will be interested about this as well.

Cheers,

Ross.

 

[MrMoparCHP]

The ballast resister has absolutely nothing to do with the charging circuit.


Alan

 

[Ross Wooldridge]

I know, but if it's affecting things in the ignition circuit too, I'm interested.

On a 66 the ballast gets its feed from the same source on the Ignition Switch that the Vreg gets its from.

 

[MrMoparCHP]

I know, but if it's affecting things in the ignition circuit too, I'm interested.

On a 66 the ballast gets its feed from the same source on the Ignition Switch that the Vreg gets its from.

Keep in mind the power is going TO the ballast not from.


Alan

 

[FURYGT]

Ross, When you bought a Mopar Performance Electronic Ignition kit it always came with a heavy duty higher ohm rated 4-prong ballast resistor. There’s a reason why it was in the kit but you can buy 2-prong heavy duty ballast resistors from many places including Summit and Jeg’s. In my experience and other people’s experience a stock regular ballast resistor doesn’t live long with an electronic ignition system just like a mechanical voltage regulator doesn’t last a long time with an electronic ignition system. Nothing to do with the charging system, just reliability. Also the heavy duty ballast resistors are sealed so there is no corrosion problem.

 

[Ross Wooldridge]

OK, thanks Bill. I can likely find one on Amazon then.

My wagon runs Pertronix, and no BR was included,but my Monaco has the MP Ignition from Ehrenberg, so the BR is probably in the box.

Cheers!

 

[1970FuryConv]

OK, thanks Bill. I can likely find one on Amazon then.

My wagon runs Pertronix, and no BR was included,but my Monaco has the MP Ignition from Ehrenberg, so the BR is probably in the box.

Cheers!

Hi Ross,
I'm interested to see what you buy, if you don't mind posting a link. Thanks, Ben

 

[Toolmanmike]

Contact @halifaxhops here on the site for the proper ballast. He sells high quality NOS parts both oem and aftermarket.

 

[Ross Wooldridge]

Good advice Mike. Thanks.

I will let you know as well, Ben.

 

[halifaxhops]

There are a few different ones depending on the box and coil it has.

 

[1970FuryConv]

There are a few different ones depending on the box and coil it has.

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I had always thought ballast resistors were generic to Chrysler.

So the ballast resistor needs to be matched to the ECU?

 

[halifaxhops]

Yes. Crap shoot on the aftermarket ecu's. Definately makes a difference. Your FSM should have the specs for your car i it. Most point systems are 0.5-0.6 ohms.

 

[halifaxhops]

Usually the higher the ohms the less rpms the box will put out and less heat internally also. Great example is the .25 ohm ballast for the chrome and gold boxes, runn 10 k but drag only to give them time to cool down internally. I am sure guys are running them on the street but prob with a higher ballat than recomended or they will burn up fast. I am sure @bob renton can add to this also.

 

[Ross Wooldridge]

@halifaxhops - I am running a Pertronix Ignitor system in the car in question, and for YEARS it's been run with the factory ballast resistor in place (66 Chrysler, with a 440 TNT), with absolutely no issues. What do you suggest? What should a 66 two prong BR measure out at?

@FURYGT - I spoke to someone at Pertronix and asked about using mechanical voltage regulators with their stuff, and they claimed that I could with no issues. What in your experience causes mechanical voltage regulator failure with an electronic system? I ran mechanical Vregs for years with my Pertronix prior to switching to the Regitar electronic ones from you (by the way, your package arrived safe and sound - thanks!). I hope to run yours in the wagon as I have been for the past few years, and that they last, so that the spares I bought are simply that - spares. In the Monaco I hope to use the original (and rare) Mopar adjustible mechanical Vreg that was specified with my police/taxi 60 amp charging system, but on that car I want to run the MP electronic ignition system I bought from Ehrenberg. My car originally came with the Chrysler Canada police issued points dizzy that Pertronix doesn't make a kit for, hence the MP system. I may go with Pertronix on that car too, but regardless, I want to use the Mopar adjustible mechanical Vreg, because that was what was specified on this car - and it's rare enough to try to adhere to that - at least visually! With the police/taxi system, it was mounted on its own special mounting bracket on the inner fender, and not in the standard place on the firewall...

They're expensive and rare, and I don't want to burn it out. You can see the mounting bracket in the photo...

 

[Gerald Morris]

Those old adjustable VRs have got pricey! Still, a Petronix setup SHOULD do alright with your stock ballast resistor and the old school thermo-electric VR simply because THEY PURPORT THAT THEIR CONVERSION KIT IS COMPATIBLE WITH THE REST OF THE OLD STOCK ELEMENTS!

Aside from legalist notions such as that expressed above, I wouldn't risk toasting that collectors' item VR running it with anything BUT the OEM stock elements it was made for.

I just rebuilt my first points distributor this past spring, after some idiocy I'd committed, and got it working very nicely, then did a second with some bushings I ordered, springs and a little advice from our redoubtable "HalifaxHops". I happily report that my rebuild works very nicely with that old 383 we've been running for over 6 years, though I use a solid state VR and a Taylor Vertex coil. I note that the cold impedance for both the ballast resistor and coil are each ~ 700 mOhms. The coil warms up a little quicker than the ballast resistor, permitting then a higher proportion of cold engine current and voltage on the coil, with the line voltage at 11-12 VDC. The output voltage I can't measure with low voltage meters. Later, when the engine is warm, both elements again divide voltage more evenly.

Keep the coil impedance in mind as well as your ballast resistor's, and measure the voltage drop and resistance in several engine states. This will tell your plenty about what your ignition circuit does, and you then can estimate how much current it should draw from that node with the VR.

You can use an amprobe to measure the actual current also. The clamp-on inductive measuring allows you to measure high currents without burning up test equipment.

 

[halifaxhops]

Most petronix I are supposed to be run to straight 12v. They do claim they run at I think 9VDC also. I jump the ballast or dump them. The four prong ballast are .5 and 1.2 ohms I believe.
Now the single ones can be anywhere from .25 to 1.5 you have to measure them. The parts store ones are usually around 1 ohm.

 

[FURYGT]

@halifaxhops - I am running a Pertronix Ignitor system in the car in question, and for YEARS it's been run with the factory ballast resistor in place (66 Chrysler, with a 440 TNT), with absolutely no issues. What do you suggest? What should a 66 two prong BR measure out at?

@FURYGT - I spoke to someone at Pertronix and asked about using mechanical voltage regulators with their stuff, and they claimed that I could with no issues. What in your experience causes mechanical voltage regulator failure with an electronic system? I ran mechanical Vregs for years with my Pertronix prior to switching to the Regitar electronic ones from you (by the way, your package arrived safe and sound - thanks!). I hope to run yours in the wagon as I have been for the past few years, and that they last, so that the spares I bought are simply that - spares. In the Monaco I hope to use the original (and rare) Mopar adjustible mechanical Vreg that was specified with my police/taxi 60 amp charging system, but on that car I want to run the MP electronic ignition system I bought from Ehrenberg. My car originally came with the Chrysler Canada police issued points dizzy that Pertronix doesn't make a kit for, hence the MP system. I may go with Pertronix on that car too, but regardless, I want to use the Mopar adjustible mechanical Vreg, because that was what was specified on this car - and it's rare enough to try to adhere to that - at least visually! With the police/taxi system, it was mounted on its own special mounting bracket on the inner fender, and not in the standard place on the firewall...

They're expensive and rare, and I don't want to burn it out. You can see the mounting bracket in the photo...

View attachment 556993View attachment 556994

Ross, The only thing that I can tell you is that I have not received any negative feedback from someone running the solid state VR with a Petronix Ignition set up. I ran a Petronix set up on a car that I sold almost 20 years ago and don't recall if I changed the VR in that car.

 

[halifaxhops]

I have seen them run on both with no issues. The mech VR just puts out a slightly dirty 12VDC compared to the electronic. If the mechanical is adjusted right you should have no issues at all. The adjustment procedure is in the FSR also.

 

[Big_John]

I run a Pertronix ignition in my '65 Barracuda with no ballast resistor, per their instructions. No problems at all. I believe that all the Pertronix models for the Mopars are meant to run with no ballast resistor and every instruction sheet I've read says they don't need to run one.

Regarding the failure of the VR, I would bet that would just be coincidence. There's nothing tying the two together other than they both get power from the same source.

There's always been a couple different versions of ballast resistors out there. It was often (back when we all had points) that the replacement BR failed much sooner than the OE. The OE ceramic was sealed in the rear and the replacements had an open back and often the ceramic rod that the resistance coil was wound around would break and soon after, the resistor coil would fail. It was a poor design that really didn't allow for vibration and water. The ones that are sealed seem to last a lot longer.

With the price point of the offshore sourced Mopar clone ignitions being important, getting a cheap BR does not surprise me at all.

 

[Big_John]