Aldon Ignitor - what do you think ?

R

RAW400

New Member
Hi

I have just bought an Aldon ignitor for my P6BS -
Could you please advise whether there is a ballast resistor in the P6 V8 and what the voltage should be at the coil with the ignition on ? if there is a ballast resistor where would you recommend running the red of the ignitor wire to ? (instructions state from the ignition before the ballast resistor).

also - any feedback on fitting this item would be appreciated if you have installed one previously

many thanks
 
walfordr said:
Hi

I have just bought an Aldon ignitor for my P6BS -
Could you please advise whether there is a ballast resistor in the P6 V8 and what the voltage should be at the coil with the ignition on ? if there is a ballast resistor where would you recommend running the red of the ignitor wire to ? (instructions state from the ignition before the ballast resistor).

also - any feedback on fitting this item would be appreciated if you have installed one previously

many thanks
Click to expand...

Hello.
the p6 v8 does have a ballast resisted loom. its actually build into the loom, don't ask where because i havnt a clue, i think its just a wire, and the voltage to the coil should be 9v with ignition on and 12v when cranking. if the ignitor needs a 12v feed, you will need to find out where the ballast resistor is and wire the ignitor into the wiring loom before it, have fun because its like spagetti junction in there.

hope this helps

lewis
 
thangs for coming back to me. Its safe to say that there have been more sightings of the lockness monster than the ballast resistors in P6's ! :LOL:
i have just found out that whilst 12v is desirable at the coil, anything above 6v will suffice apparently.
lets see how we go - thanks for your help
 
Behind the clock (7 dial dash) in our 2200TC there is a plate with etched green lines on it connected to the dimmer switch for the panel lights. 586067 in the parts book. That's a ballast resistor. I enquired about it's identity some time back but nobody answered the post. Your post reminded me about it & I looked in the book. During panel light problems I disconnected it as I thought it was something to do with them & as it didn't seem to do anything I left it disconnected. Now I know what it is I'm wondering what effects running the car without it would have, as we have been doing for a considerable time. The only recurring electrical problem is a charging issue. Could the resistor be something to do with that?
 
That is the shunt for the ammeter.

check this topic out for the ballast wire. http://www.p6roc.co.uk/Forum/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=5282&p=30870&hilit=ballast#p30870

Is probably a pink/white wire behind the clock, mine was just along from the shunt and in the engine bay near the bumper mounting on the driver side. If you look at the loom there is a funny wire poking out about an inch and covered in heatshrink. this is where it picks the wired up to supply the coil.

Colin
 
The Rovering Member said:
Behind the clock (7 dial dash) in our 2200TC there is a plate with etched green lines on it connected to the dimmer switch for the panel lights. 586067 in the parts book. That's a ballast resistor. I enquired about it's identity some time back but nobody answered the post. Your post reminded me about it & I looked in the book. During panel light problems I disconnected it as I thought it was something to do with them & as it didn't seem to do anything I left it disconnected. Now I know what it is I'm wondering what effects running the car without it would have, as we have been doing for a considerable time. The only recurring electrical problem is a charging issue. Could the resistor be something to do with that?
Click to expand...

running the vehicle without the ballast resister actually causes no problems at all, as long as you have a standard 12v coil
 
According to Colin, I've removed the shunt for the ammeter so what are the consequences of this? Thus far, all I have is an intermittent charging problem. Despite fairly recently re-conning the alternator & soldering a dry joint on the ignition light, every now & again the ammeter shows no charge though if it was to do with the shunt I would assume any fault would be permanent rather than intermittent.
 
0760893737f1fb8c09f411bd930b7e07b26859ca4988aaca27b3a35785cef82e56d2596d.jpg

The photo shows the shunt on my 1977 the parts catalogue circa 1975 shows it as 559331.

If you look at the wiring diagram shows there are two feeds from the battery (brown) two to the alternator (brown/white), two wires for the ammeter,one wire (brown) supplies fuse no.1, one wire (brown/white) for the head lamps and the other (brown/white) or the rotary lights switch.

Did you remove all the wire and leave this disconnected?

Colin
 
I think you may be getting a little confused here.

The ballast resistor for the coil is inside the wiring loom. It gives a feed to the coil of between 6 & 9 Volts.

The starter gives the coil a 12V burst to give it better starting.

The ballast resistor? behind the clocks is just a dimmer for the dash lights. It is nothing to do with the coil.

The Ammeter shunt is a large junction box which most of the live feeds come from - don't mess with it.

What are you trying to do?
 
The Rovering Member said:
Behind the clock (7 dial dash) in our 2200TC there is a plate with etched green lines on it connected to the dimmer switch for the panel lights. 586067 in the parts book.
Click to expand...

This is what I disconnected during a search for an intermittent panel light failure. It had 2 wires connected from the dimmer switch. I looked in the parts book (page 03 70) & 586067 looks like the thing I'm talking about. It's marked "ballast resistor, instrument panel". As you say it must just be for the panel lights & nothing to do with the ammeter or the charging circuit but what does it do as when I first disconnected it I still had the dimming facility anyway? The switch itself is a rheostat which I've also bypassed & now have the panel lights on a straight live.
 
I think the ammeter shunt measures the current flow in terms of a voltage drop between it's ends which the ammeter displays .Otherwise you'd have to pass 50 odd amps through the ammeter .

I could be wrong here
 
Hello All,

If anyone is thinking about buying the Aldon system then it might pay to check out a firm in the states called 'Retro Rockets'. I ordered one from them today for the V8 distributor and including carriage it comes out at around £10 cheaper than the price on Aldons website. Stranger still, is that it will be dispatched from their U.K. warehouse. Also, the price is the same whether your V8 has the triangular or round baseplate, unlike the prices on ebay,

Roly.
 
Forgot to mention. Regarding the voltage required, Aldons website states that it will operate within the range of 6-16V.
 
a little update - all installed and very easy to set up. The improvement over the points is staggering and I am delighted with the results. crisper throttle response and quicker starting - won't miss those points. Aldon recommended.
 
Is that compared to a points distibutor properly set up or a well - worn set of points ?
I took a Lumenition unit out of a Cortina and put in new points , condenser and set the timing etc before selling the car and I swear there was no detectable difference

I still have the Lumenition unit after 20 odd years and wonder if it still works
 
walfordr said:
a little update - all installed and very easy to set up. The improvement over the points is staggering and I am delighted with the results. crisper throttle response and quicker starting - won't miss those points. Aldon recommended.
Click to expand...

Hello,
I fully agree. The aldon ignitor is a great bit of kit. I fitted one of these into my fathers 3500S yesterday, after constant ignition problems.
It was very easy to fit, and with one adjustment on the timing, it ran perfectly, with no misfiring at all. A road test showed no pre-detonation problems, with very good performance throughout the rev range, and a lovely quiet smooth idle.
I was puzzled with the aldon sytem fitted, the vacuum advance is no longer needed. But i've heard that the aldon system has very good flexibility with a old/worn ignition system.

I would recommend the aldon ignitor to anyone who is looking for an unobtrusive breakerless ignition system.
 
I converted my 2000TC to electronic ignition a year or so ago, but I used the Pertronix Ignitor. It is absolutely identical to the Aldon, but cheaper. I also bought mine when the $ / £ rate was about 2:1 so got a very good deal :D

It is an excellent piece of kit, fits snugly inside the dizzy cap and you wouldn't know it's there - and you never need to touch it.

In answer to an earlier post, I fitted mine immediately after having had my dizzy fully reconditioned and tested the car with the dizzy and points - much easier to set the static timing with points I think :wink: and then fitted the Ignitor. I can quite honestly say that in my experience, with perfect dizzy, there is no noticable difference in a points vs electronic ignition setup. Having said that, there's no way I'm switching back to points, I rather like the fit and forget aspect to the Ignitor.

Cheers,
Brian
 
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