Fired my 55 Ply up for the first time yesterday. Done a 12v conversion, and am using a ballast resistor between the ign switch and the 6v coil. I know ballast resistors get hot, but the wire in this thing was glowing red! Is this normal hot or abnormal hot? Also, I am using one of those big-ass voltage droppers that have the 10amp and 20amp posts to run my wipers. Is there any reason a 6v coil cant be run off the 10amp post, thereby eliminating the need for the ballast resistor?
The coil will only draw current when the points are closed and the ballast will become hot but it should not glow red. Do you have any other wires connected to the pos of the coil? Is the coil hot as well? What voltage are you reading at the coil? If you have an amp meter check the current your drawing it should be around 4 to 6 amps. Does the engine run? It is hard to tell without more info so anything else would be helpful.
What he said. I have my resistor screwed to the top of the heater case under the dash, and cowl vent. I call it "the bug zapper" I wouldn't recommend this but in my truck that's all there is under there to burn, cept the occasional insect or leaf. It took a dump once and I went to Auto Zone and said "Gimmie one of these" and the 6'7" "kid" behind the coulter said "Ballast resistor!" all proud of himself for knowing. I congratulated him for not needing to know if the car had power steering or not and said I didn't know what it was out of but I needed one that mounted the same way so he brought out a few boxes and we opened them up and I picked out a couple likelys and bought the $2 one over the $6 one. I think it cross referenced to a '62 Chrysler, and 12 volt. You want a 12 volt coil and resistor out of something or other that was 12 voltin the first place in there. I just asked for a Mopar unit because I knew they were usually simple guys screwed to the firewall and not a "resistor wire" But they do get hot, that's why they have the ceramic case and aren't usually mounted under the dash board.
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