"ballasted" coils

Excellent post and replies..

CB, Monsonmotors and our man in canada Brain are some of the best craftsman and suppliers of info on this site..
you gents deserve a shout out... there I said it.... live with it...

Thanks Loyd as well...

back to our regular programing.. Its been a rough day.......so pl don't give me any #$%


be safe

Thanks...
Awful day here, too. I'm in tatters.

............I'm as confused now as I was before I asked the question. Which way's north, and how do I get there...?...............however----TONS of great information, and I truly appreciate you fellas sharing your knowledge, so, no offense intended !!!!!!

If you happen to be on the south pole, every way is north. Somehow I don't think that helps. Getting north may involve waiting for a Canadian made de Havilland DHC Twin Otter on skis to get fly you off the south pole.
I thank you for the kind words, Mister Harvey. But you should be made aware that I am not qualified to tie the shoes of CB89. I know a few things and best of all, I know where to find the shop manuals. If only I had stayed in school, I might be able to read those shop manuals.

Lets be clear here, Many if not all on this board have some expertise in different areas, There is much that others on the board can do, I can not, some of the machining and body work leaves me awed. I understand electro-mechanical stuff fairly well, but struggle with true "electronics". No one person can know all nor do all. Lets learn from eachother.

............I'm as confused now as I was before I asked the question. Which way's north, and how do I get there...?...............however----TONS of great information, and I truly appreciate you fellas sharing your knowledge, so, no offense intended !!!!!!

I'll try and give as short and answer as possible. 2 types of coils use no external ballast, the un-ballasted coil (which will almost always be a 6 volt coil) and the internally ballasted coil which should be marked on the outside "internal ballast" and can be any voltage.
Externally ballasted coils use an resistor in series with the coil, they should be marked "external ballast" or "used with external resistor", but often the markings become un-readable over the years.
Most coils have the voltage marked on them somewhere.
If you are in total doubt as to what you have, the best way is to just replace it, then you KNOW what you have.
A 6 volt coil will produce a spark on 12 volts, but will overheat and fail. A 12 volt coil may produce a spark on 6 volt but will be weak and tend to miss at higher speeds.
If in doubt, replace with the correct voltage coil for the system voltage being used. (6 volt for 6 volt, 12 volt for 12 volt). As to external or internal ballast on 12 volt coils, it doesn't matter If useing an internal ballasted coil don't add a resistor, if useing an external ballasted coil use the resistor called for that coil.

cb89-----thanks loads !!!!! I now feel like I have the answer, thanks to this last post of yours----I appreciate it VERY MUCH