My '51 Chevy is 12 volt, with Petronix. Went to start it tonight, turned the key "on", hit the starter ****on, but the battery was dead. My 12 volt Battery Tender has stopped working ..... I connected my large charger to the car, only at 2 amps., then went into the house. After 5 to 10 minutes in the house, I realized I did not turn the key off, before connecting the charger. Key was still "on" for that short time. Did I mess up the Petronix, by leaving the key on, with the charger running? Battery is still charging, haven't tried to start it up yet.
I guess quickest way to tell will be to start it up!! I've left mine on for a while, but never that long
Electronic (pointless) distributors won't apply power through the coil unless they have received a pulse from the sensor. You won't fry your coil like you would if you were unlucky enough to stop when your points are closed with a points-type ignition.
The Ignitor I had issues with leaving the key on for a long period of time with the engine not running. That's how I ruined the ONLY Pertronix unit I have ever seen fail, and I have installed over 100.
I put a Pertronix in my wife's Caddy. Once I left the ignition on all night, and freaked out when I realized it the next day. Charged the battery and it fired right up. I guess I got lucky.
The battery is now fully charged, good lights, but starter only clicks, with no crank. With lights on, pressing starter ****on will kill the lights. No crank.
check your connections...wouldn't have anything to do with turning the motor over...especially since you say battery is fully charged.
I'd suspect a bad battery first. Have it checked. A battery will show a charge but still have bad cells. Next would be your cables. After that your solenoid.
The pertronix pickup would have to be in the exact spot to trigger a signal to the coil, if the coil isn't hot to the touch you'll be fine. Every so often, on the race car I'll turn the ignition 'On' and the engine will fire off. It is sitting in that exact spot to tell the coil to fire. Very rare but does happen.
i left the key on overnite the coil had gotten so hot that the inners of coil housing actually became so hot it boiled out .........
Sounds like a bad ground connection,Check BOTH ends of both the ground and positive cables.I had one that was loose inside the eyelet on a brand new cable once,drove me nuts!
As a geek with an electrical engineering degree, I'm trying to wrap my head around how an inductive trigger system can generate a signal when there is no relative movement between the magnet and inductor coil. Can anyone on here explain this? It doesn't adhere to the laws of physics.
I go with the 2nd quote - as I remember, the Pertronix install instructions warn not to leave key on without engine running, even for a few minutes. but, question is why using a battery tender in the first place? yep, need to fully check true condition of battery & cables and connections.
I was thinking the same thing. The Pertronix system uses the Hall Effect, which requires motion between the magnetic ring and the sensor. There is no way the engine would have fired the way the guy described. Besides, it would have required a signal sent to the starter solenoid to cause it to engage, the Pertronix ignition has no means of doing that.
Magic is what makes you scoot to the next fillup downhill with a tailwind and roll in on fumes. Magic is good. Gremlins slide in at night when you're not looking and corrode batteries, loosen terminals, move safety switches to a different position than you 'know' you left it, and generally cause havoc. Gremlins are not good. There are only two ways that switching on the ignition can cause the engine to start. Either it's not a true Hall effect with a sine wave signal bit rather a magnetic proximity switch with a square wave signal and there was a compressed fuel/air charge and the fuel pump was operating and the piston position was just right for the spark to ignite and push the piston down in the correct direction to support the combustion cycle and all the stars aligned...or gremlins. Since it only happened infrequently, my money is on gremlins. Just chalk it up and move on. Cold beer is warming up.
To OP Bob - can't troubleshoot anything until it stops working. Get a battery with a good charge and try to start it up. If it works, then your ignition is fine. If not, report back and we'll help to get you sorted out.
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