Coil swap - original electrical wiring question

[heyelisaa]

Hello,

I recently swapped the coil out with a Pertronix one, and everything works great...but there is one wire from the original set up that I can't figure out the purpose of. Does anyone know what the larger 12ga white wire, in the attached photo, could be serving? Any ideas would be much appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[husky drvr]

Any ideas would be much appreciated!

Elisa,

If the other end is attached to a switched terminal on the starter solenoid, it would be the ignition resistor bypass to allow full 12 volt ignition for cold starting with the points ignition. It should only function with the key in the "start" position.

Might be, if wrong someone will correct me.

HAGD,

 

[hartmandm]

It might be the cold weather starting circuit wire, but those wires were originally 16 gauge I think. They were white with a thin green stripe. The wire looks like it goes towards the front of the car instead of towards the firewall. You need to trace where that wire goes.

Mike

 

[heyelisaa]

Andrew,

If the other end is attached to a switched terminal on the starter solenoid, it would be the ignition resistor bypass to allow full 12 volt ignition for cold starting with the points ignition. It should only function with the key in the "start" position.

Might be, if wrong someone will correct me.

HAGD,

It might be the cold weather starting circuit wire, but those wires were originally 16 gauge I think. They were white with a thin green stripe. The wire looks like it goes towards the front of the car instead of towards the firewall. You need to trace where that wire goes.

Mike

Thanks. It does turn around and go back towards the fire wall, but it's all wrapped up with a bunch of other wires, so I can't tell where it ends up on the other side, unfortunately.

 

[heyelisaa]

Andrew,

If the other end is attached to a switched terminal on the starter solenoid, it would be the ignition resistor bypass to allow full 12 volt ignition for cold starting with the points ignition. It should only function with the key in the "start" position.

Might be, if wrong someone will correct me.

HAGD,

This makes sense since the Pertronix says to get rid of the bypass I think. It sounds like I probably don't need it. Thanks for the reply!

 

[hartmandm]

The cold weather starting wire does not get wrapped up with other wires. It just ran along the firewall from the starter solenoid to the ignition coil all by itself.

That 12 ga wire might be the wire coming from the ignition switch, going to the tach, and then to the ignition coil. Where does the second white wire go?

Mike

 

[heyelisaa]

The smaller second white wire is from the ignition switch. The larger one was originally connected to the negative side of the coil, and now with the Pertronix system in, the smaller wire is the only wire going to the distributor. So, I think it does sound like it might be the cold start that isn't needed with the Pertronix system then.

 

[husky drvr]

Does anyone know what the larger 12ga white wire, in the attached photo, could be serving?

Elisa,

I'm sorry and owe you an apology.

I looked at your avatar picture and not your name. I thought your picture was of another member's Alpine and answered your question as if it was his series V in discussion. Due to my mistake, I think others followed my lead. On rechecking, I see that my answer is wrong.

Is your Alpine a series 3 or IV? >>>> Only series V cars had the cold start bypass, so that's probably not your issue.

Is it still positive ground?

Do you have a Weber carburetor with an electric choke? If so, that might be that wire's use. The picture shows that connection formed with an unoriginal connector, so it's a repair or added to the circuit.

I'm sorry for the confusion and hope this is more helpful,

 

[Tom H]

Please clarify . What series? Are you using a Pertronix Ignition ? Or just a Pertronix coil and using original mechanical points. Do you have a ballast resistor installed? Is the wiring essentially original ?

 

[heyelisaa]

Elisa,

I'm sorry and owe you an apology.

I looked at your avatar picture and not your name. I thought your picture was of another member's Alpine and answered your question as if it was his series V in discussion. Due to my mistake, I think others followed my lead. On rechecking, I see that my answer is wrong.

Is your Alpine a series 3 or IV? >>>> Only series V cars had the cold start bypass, so that's probably not your issue.

Is it still positive ground?

Do you have a Weber carburetor with an electric choke? If so, that might be that wire's use. The picture shows that connection formed with an unoriginal connector, so it's a repair or added to the circuit.

I'm sorry for the confusion and hope this is more helpful,

No problem at all!

I have a series 3 Alpine with a Weber and a manual choke. It's still positive ground also. When tested there's never any voltage to the larger wire, but before the Pertronix installation it was connected to the negative side of the coil.

Thanks!

 

[heyelisaa]

Please clarify . What series? Are you using a Pertronix Ignition ? Or just a Pertronix coil and using original mechanical points. Do you have a ballast resistor installed? Is the wiring essentially original ?

Hi Tom,

It's a series 3 Alpine. I put in the Pertronix coil and ignition, and there is no ballast resistor. I think the instructions said to not use one for some reason.

 

[Tom H]

Are you using a Pertronix Ignition? Or just a Pertronix coil. ? You say you recently swapped in a Pertronix coil. But still keeping the mechanical points? Or did you install a pertronix ignition earlier? Or did you recently install the Pertronix ignition AND coil ?

 

[Tom H]

OK , Series 3 , so it never had a ballast resistor nor does it then have the "bypass wire" for cold starting.

My guess is that the extra white wire is the wire to power the Pertronix Ignition module inside the distributor when the ignition is ON. But if so, I do not understand why it would be there before you installed the Pertronix Ignition. When you installed the Pertronix Ignition where did you connect the power for that module ?

 

[heyelisaa]

OK , Series 3 , so it never had a ballast resistor nor does it then have the "bypass wire" for cold starting.

My guess is that the extra white wire is the wire to power the Pertronix Ignition module inside the distributor when the ignition is ON. But if so, I do not understand why it would be there before you installed the Pertronix Ignition. When you installed the Pertronix Ignition where did you connect the power for that module ?

Ah ok, that's good to know!

Power to the Pertronix comes from the ignition switch (16ga. White wire) directly, and the negative side goes to coil negative, then the coil is grounded. There is never any power to the 12ga white wire, but it used to be on coil negative as well.

 

[Tom H]

Power to the Pertronix comes from the ignition switch (16ga. White wire) directly, and the negative side goes to coil negative, then the coil is grounded. There is never any power to the 12ga white wire, but it used to be on coil negative as well.

I am confused by this statement. "and the negative side goes to coil negative" . I don't understand what you mean ? The negative side of what?
Also "There is never any power to the 12ga white wire, but it used to be on coil negative as well."

The photo shows 2 white wires connected to each other and to the coil, presumably the Neg side of the coil. It's not totally clear but I think you are saying one of these 2 wires is 12 Ga and one is 16 ga. What do you mean "there is never any power to jhe 12 G wire. It's attached to the other wire so it HAS power. Do you mean that the 12 Ga wire is not connected to anything at its other end?

 

[heyelisaa]

I am confused by this statement. "and the negative side goes to coil negative" . I don't understand what you mean ? The negative side of what?
Also "There is never any power to the 12ga white wire, but it used to be on coil negative as well."

The photo shows 2 white wires connected to each other and to the coil, presumably the Neg side of the coil. It's not totally clear but I think you are saying one of these 2 wires is 12 Ga and one is 16 ga. What do you mean "there is never any power to jhe 12 G wire. It's attached to the other wire so it HAS power. Do you mean that the 12 Ga wire is not connected to anything at its other end?

This is the first time I've done this and I'm not very familiar with any of this, so I apologize if I'm not making sense. The larger and smaller wires were both attached to the negative side of the original coil, but I don't know what the larger wire served because I couldn't see where the other end of it went.

 

[heyelisaa]

Here is a diagram of what I'm trying to describe. Hope this helps

 

[heyelisaa]

Here is a diagram of what I'm trying to describe. Hope this helps

Aside from this, after sticking my head under the dash I found that after going through the firewall, the larger white wire is either connecting to the ignition switch, and/or going on to connect to the fuse box.