6V coil rating

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bedwyr
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6V coil rating

#1

Post by bedwyr »

Hello everyone, i am a new member from england who has been reading this useful forum for the past year or so as i have been rebuilding my 1960 FLH .now i need to ask my first question...........what is the correct ohm rating for a 6v points ignition coil? i have seen a few figures but ,so far, nothing authoritative.can anyone shed some light on this?my round ,chrome taiwanese coil measures 1.5 ohms,is this correct?thanks,bedwyr.
King
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Re: 6V coil rating

#2

Post by King »

Hi Bedwyr

You have brought up a subject of some confusion on which I would also like some information. I understand that for an electronic ignition the coil should have a resistance in the 3-4 ohm range but not less than 3. For a points ignition possibly less is better and your 1.5 is OK. But I’m not sure and would like to hear from others on this one. Kell??

Cheers

King
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Re: 6V coil rating

#3

Post by kell »

Bedwyr, use that coil. 1.5 is about right for six volts.

For a twelve volt system with points, you use higher resistance. 5 ohms or whatever, I don't remember the exact number.

The 3 ohm coils are intended for electronic ignitions, but you can use a 3 ohm coil on points (12 v) and it won't explode anything (you just have to service the points more often).

Just don't use a coil with more than 1.7 ohms on a six volt system. I don't think it would work at all.
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Re: 6V coil rating

#4

Post by King »

Kell

Thanks for the explanation. I’m currently running a 6V electronic ignition set up with (I think) a 3 ohm coil. If I go to 12V, what resistance 12V coil should I use? Also how do you test coils for resistance?

King
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Re: 6V coil rating

#5

Post by fourthgear »

King
You can test coil resistance with a multimeter in ohm setting, I have tested a whole bunch of coils and rarely do they come up to any published data on them from the HD books to Clymer 's . All the manufactures have there own specs. The primary part of the coil will be the power and point (electronic. ) signal terminals and the secondary part of the coil will of course be where the plug wires plug into it . Just touch test leads from one to the other and it will read that part of the coil. I believe mostly you are looking for primary resistance between the point and power ( 6V, 12 V. )terminals. You can take two new ones and they will be diff. readings ,close but diff.. One good thing about doing an ohm test is that if you do get resistance readings ,it at least shows its not open ( broken windings or separated term.) or grounded and you can test for to see if its grounded ( on both primary and secondary ) by touching one lead to any term. and the other to a good ground on the bike and if you have continuity (an ohm reading )your coil is grounded and of course something is not right some where , bad coil ,grounded wire etc. Hope I didn't confuse ya too much , I tried to be as basic as possible. A cracked coil may show up good , but when warm , show some thing entirely diff.
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Re: 6V coil rating

#6

Post by 59Panman »

Jan 11, 2007, 2:53pm, King wrote:
Kell

Thanks for the explanation. I’m currently running a 6V electronic ignition set up with (I think) a 3 ohm coil. If I go to 12V, what resistance 12V coil should I use? Also how do you test coils for resistance?

King

King,

If you go with a Quickstart 2000 12V elec. ign. it is 3 Ohm up to I believe, 4.7 Ohm.

ozwick
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