VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - GENERAL Electrical - 6 volt coil question

Hey all, I have a question regarding the coil on My 36 chev master deluxe coupe, if I hot wire the coil to a 12 volt battery I get a good spark and the car will run,if I hook it up to a 6 volt battery there is not enough juice to spark a spark plug. My volt meter shows My battery charged to 7 volts at full charge and that same voltage at the coil when not cranking. When the starter is engaged there is 6 volts at the coil. Is this a coil problem? I have a good spark at the points with 6 volts. Thanks, Dan

Replace the coil with another six volt coil and then try to start the car. If the car starts, your existing coil is defective.

You must have a condincer on the coil to produce suffeciant spark to run the engine. it may even be bad.

The outside of the condenser on the coil must also be grounded.

Hellow to all;
I have a 37 chev 216 engine. When I got the car, there was'nt a condencer on the coil. Is one really nessasary if theres one in the distributer already ??
Thanks, JOES 37

remove the distributor cap and presence or absence of capacitor will be evident. mike

Hi Mike;
Thanks for the reply. There is a condencer in the distibuter, but is a condencer also nessasary on the coil?
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Thanks, JOE

On a 1937 the only condenser used is the one inside the distributor.
Radio equipped cars could have a condenser on the coil but this was for radio static control.

along with eliminating radio noise, the condenser at the distributer extends point life by lessening pitting and burning. it gives the electric current an easier path instead of arcing across the points when they open and close

Thanks Gene & Dads 31, that answers that question. Now, why is there a condenser on the generator? Also, my car does not have a radio.
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Thanks, JOE.

The condenser on the generator is there for the same purpose as the condenser on the coil. I would guess that your generator came from a car that did have a radio.
Is it a 3 brush generator?

Perhaps your fingers were not coordinated with the thought chain.

The condenser inside the distributor is the one associated with the spark circuit. The condenser on the outside of the coil, the one on the generator, the one on the A+ line to the radio, and voltage regulator (if it has one) are all noise suppression for the radio. If the car does not have a radio, none of the external condensers are necessary.

Hi Gene;
When I got the car, It had the two brush generator and a voltage regulater. I do have the three brush generator and was thinking about putting on the car. But according to the tags on the cowl, the car was made in janesville in november of 37. Did'nt some of the later 37 models have regulaters instead of the cutout relays?

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Thanks ,JOE.

Joe,
All the 1937's came with the 3 brush generator as standard equipmentnd no volt. reg.. The voltage regulator generator kit was sold through the parts department under part #602738. This was basicaly a 1938-1939 3 brush generator with the voltage control, not a voltage regulator (control has 2 working elements, voltage reg. has 3 and is only used with a 2 brush generator).
The "up-grade kit" was designed for cars that had a large number of eletrical accessories. With the voltage control and new generator the gen. could put out up to 29 amps if required.
I would guess you have a 1940-51 gen. and reg. The part # tag would tell the story. If its working and not being 100% original is OK I would leave well enough alone.
I would also guess that your car was built in Nov. of 1936 as the 1938's were in production in Nov. of 1937.
1937 production began in Nov of 1936 and 1938 began in Oct of 1937.

Gene;
Thanks for getting me on the right track with this stuff. All my electrics seem to work fine. So will leave well enough alone for now. Rechecked the production on this, and you are absolutly correct. It was built in Nov of 36.
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Thanks agin Gene, JOE

Hi Dads 31,

You don't list what town you are from in Arkansas. My hometown of Mena got blown away Thursday. 3 killed, 20 injured, and mass damage to an area over a mile wide. Roof from the community college, severe damage to the courthouse and jail and on the other side of town one of my shirt-tail relatives roof was blown off. Contacted some of the business owners that had damage and almost all of them said they were just going to leave. Was just a few years ago that it hit the town also.

Hope you were nowhere near there.

I was sitting here in Fayetteville watching a Fort Smith TV station's radar when the system came thru. The storm system ran the entire state, north to south. We got heavy rain and 50 mph gusts. Just normal spring time weather here. That little town got nailed! The other tornado was a sneeze compared the this one.

Hi Ray;
Thanks for the info on the condensers. It will come in handy, if I ever put a radio in. Also, speaking of radios, my car had, inside the two front wheel dust caps, these coiled copper spring looking things. Now, I talked to an old garage mechanic, about them, and he told me that they were for controling static for the radio!! So apparently, my car might have had, a radio in it at one time. Was that the purpose of these things ? or was he blowing hot air??
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Thanks, JOE

Joe,
He was telling you the truth. those coil springs in the front dust caps were intended to reduce radio static. Not sure they did much good though.
thutch

The coil springs did a great job. Tires did not contain graphite then so it was injected into the tubes and in conjunction with the coil grounding springs controlled the problem. For the back tires they were also injected with the graphite and had slider springs that followed the hubs and produced a ground.

The only item we have not talked about for radio suppression is the graphite tube that was inserted into the coil secondary wire.