'82 Coil Wires and Ballast Resistor

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mcgovern61

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Location
Kingsport, Tennessee
My Bike Models
Former '82 GL1100 "The Slug"
I am in the process of rebuilding my old '82 wire harness. My current '82 bike has an '81 wire harness with the '81 coils with no ballast resistor. The engine is an '83.

I have the original '82 coils which are not cracked, but they were out in the weather for 12 years. The wiring is brittle and needs to be replaced. My concern is that the wires to the ballast resistor are also brittle. Can the ballast resistor be replaced? Do I even need the resistor? My bike runs like a champ right now without it, but the '81 and '82 wire harnesses are different.

Opinions?
 
Modify what you must to keep the ignition you've been using. Why chance the old stuff?It may be fine with new wires though.Coils that came with ballast resistor are best used with a ballast resistor. Ballast is bypassed at start up and only used for continuous run.
 
Ballast is not bypassed at startup or at any time on the 1100's.

Fwiw, every 1100 coil I've seen had at least one crack in it and still fired fine. If you have a set with no cracks you're already way ahead. I'd ohm the coil primaries and if all the same, run the best 2 you have without a resistor as you have been. Why change a good combination if the igniters aren't overheating.
 
I thought I read the coils were different specs early vs later years, hence the ballast. Neon coil conversion is a possibility? They're under $20 now.
 
Why change a good combination if the igniters aren't overheating.

My thoughts too.

I also have two igniters in the '82 harness that look like they have never melted. (Any idea what causes them to melt?)
 
[url=https://classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=175266#p175266:1jkdlx8z said:
ekvh » Mon Jun 20, 2016 7:14 am[/url]":1jkdlx8z]
I thought I read the coils were different specs early vs later years, hence the ballast. Neon coil conversion is a possibility? They're under $20 now.
I'll have to look into the coil differences. Honda obviously added the ballast for a reason.

My only experience with a ballast resistor was on my old '56 Chris Craft boat I had back in 1983. It had a slant six engine that was seized when I got the boat (Got the boat for $50!) I found a running slant 6 at a junkyard and marinized it for the boat. Ran great for about 4 hours at a time, but after I would shutdown the engine it would not start again. I would find the points out of adjustment and often burned down to nothing. Turns out, there was a ballast resistor on the bulkhead that I did not know was supposed to be installed in the ignition system.

The difference here is no points, so what does the resistor do for the 1100 coils that the '80-'81 system did not have?
 
It does have something to do with Honda O.E.M. coils and their resistance spec.
I replaced my ignition system with the full monty Dyna S system: Ignition module, Green coils, and new plug wires.
The Dyna module pkg. included a new ballast resistor which according to Dyna is only to be used in combination with those who retain the original Honda coils.
Also the Randakk website has more details about this topic and resistor fuses in O.E. plug wire caps, proper resistance spec, etc.
 
The coils ohm out differently on the 80-81, the 82-83 need to use a ballast resistor or you will burn out your ignitors, the 82-83 will work fine on a 80-81 but you do need to keep the ballast resistor on whatever you use them on.
 
The purpose was to cut the voltage from 12 to 6 going to the primary side of the coil, on my old Triumph. :yes: Just like the old car's, :roll: when they were all running generator's, with 6 volt charging system's. :smilie_happy:
 
[url=https://www.classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=175272#p175272:pp8hml7n said:
zman » Tue Jun 21, 2016 12:00 am[/url]":pp8hml7n]
The coils ohm out differently on the 80-81, the 82-83 need to use a ballast resistor or you will burn out your ignitors, the 82-83 will work fine on a 80-81 but you do need to keep the ballast resistor on whatever you use them on.
+1
Coils that don't require resistors already have them built in. As stated an external resistored coil can have a 12v cranking feed that will increase spark voltage but the higher voltage will cook the coils if used continuously. :(
 
Resistors were used in the old coils (automotive used them in the 40s and 50s and some 60s, then the resistors were built into the coils themselves. Basically what the resistor did is drop the voltage to the coil to about 9 volts if I remember right. If you ran a non resistor coil without resistor you would burn up the coil. The coil winding have very small wires and don't like a lot of current. I said all that to say if you have newer coils you don't need resistors, and you don't want to put resistors inline with the newer coils.
How do I know this, as a kid I had a 40 ford with an old flathead in it, decided I would get more power if I bypassed the resistor, all I did was burn up the coil. :doh: Now you can still get resistors if the ones you have need to be replaced.
 
Just like the old car's, :roll: when they were all running generator's, with 6 volt charging system's.

Wow, reminds me of how old I am. The truck company Freight-liner came up with a brilliant idea back in the 70s, they went to a positive ground, now I don't know what electrical genius thought that one up but it caused big problems with the uninformed.
 
[url=https://www.classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=175334#p175334:h4iij4gt said:
mcgovern61 » Tue Jun 21, 2016 10:20 am[/url]":h4iij4gt]
Soooooo.........since the '81 coils did not have an external resistor, do they have an internal resister??

As stated in my earlier post Gerry. :head bang:
:smilie_happy: :smilie_happy: :smilie_happy:
 
[url=https://classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=175337#p175337:2k4fe7vl said:
Ansimp » Mon Jun 20, 2016 7:36 pm[/url]":2k4fe7vl]
[url=https://www.classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=175334#p175334:2k4fe7vl said:
mcgovern61 » Tue Jun 21, 2016 10:20 am[/url]":2k4fe7vl]
Soooooo.........since the '81 coils did not have an external resistor, do they have an internal resister??

As stated in my earlier post Gerry. :head bang:
:smilie_happy: :smilie_happy: :smilie_happy:
I know, I know........... :smilie_happy:

But it was not definitive that the '81 coils have a resistor built in. It is assumed?
 
Forgot to update this thread! Remember this old set of coils from my '82 with the bad wires and resistor mentioned in the first post?

image.php


Look what showed up on Ebay for $17:

image.php


:party: :yahoo: :Egyptian:

It is on it's way!
 
[url=https://classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=186583#p186583:3js2drdo said:
mcgovern61 » Thu Feb 02, 2017 8:36 pm[/url]":3js2drdo]
Forgot to update this thread! Remember this old set of coils from my '82 with the bad wires and resistor mentioned in the first post?

image.php


Look what showed up on Ebay for $17:

image.php


:party: :yahoo: :Egyptian:

It is on it's way!
BTW, I have started the process of cleaning up the coil connections to replace the ballast resistor with the new one and the wires. I was performing a continuity test on some of the connections and was shocked to find out that the mounting brackets under the coils have continuity! :shock:

These brackets are separate. They connect to the coils with bolts and steel strips. Those strips pass through the coils and are connected via the coils. I cleaned up a few spots of the corrosion on the brackets and there is real good continuity between the brackets now. The brackets obviously connect to the frame. Do the coils need to be grounded?
 
It is my understanding the coils are indeed grounded through the mounts to the frame. Why I don't really know.
 
I will clean up the mounts and brackets real good. I had to heat the rusted bolts on the ballast resistor to get them off. I am a little leary about trying to heat the bolts on the brackets since they go through the plastic on the coil base.
 
Cleaned up the brackets, removed the old wires and ballast resistor, cleaned up the terminal spades and installed the new ballast resistor and wire harness. I checked continuity between the front and back bracket and it is real good. I am not going to attempt to remove those old bolts from the coils without risking damage. Continuity is good, I'll leave it at that. The mounts being cleaned up will give a nice surface for the ground.

image.php
 
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