makomark
Gold Medal Contributor
What you meter shows for the voltage on the + post of the coil will depend on its design characteristics...the voltage at that point varies over a wide range when the engine is running....so most multimeters will show you an 'average' value...and that average value can be driven by the meter's input circuitry. The good part here is that is fixed for a given meter - the bad part is everybody does it a bit differently.
The dwell angle will vary the 'average' value observed as well. In a functional system, changing the dwell angle over a 10 degree value will shift the average value over 1.5 VDC. As diplomatically pointed out in post #48, using dwell to set the point's gap eliminates a lot of uncertainties.
The characteristics of the resistance wire are also very difficult to measure with a modern multimeter while the engine is operating. I'm inclined to use the average value of the current flowing into the coil, from the ignition switch, to declare the resistor wire good or bad.
The dwell angle will vary the 'average' value observed as well. In a functional system, changing the dwell angle over a 10 degree value will shift the average value over 1.5 VDC. As diplomatically pointed out in post #48, using dwell to set the point's gap eliminates a lot of uncertainties.
The characteristics of the resistance wire are also very difficult to measure with a modern multimeter while the engine is operating. I'm inclined to use the average value of the current flowing into the coil, from the ignition switch, to declare the resistor wire good or bad.