Pinto Car Club of America

Ok all you wizards, I need to know what is the trigger voltage from the dist to the coil.  yeah i know a strange question but I am working on something and this is the final piece of info i need. :read:

1975 Stock Pinto  (sort of)

Just trying to figure out what you are asking for.  According to a 76 wiring diagram (hopefully same as 75), the distributor has a magnetic pick up that sends a low voltage pulse (I have not measured this) to the solid state ignition module and then the module grounds and ungrounds the coil to create the high voltage spark (>20,000V per book) which goes to the distributor cap.  The positive low voltage side of the coil gets full battery voltage during cranking and a few volts less while running.  If it is the magnetic pick up out put voltage you are after I can not help (I do not have one to check) but the book says to put a voltmeter on its lowest setting and look for a slight wiggle in the needle while cranking the engine.

thanks for the input asyou are the only reply.  I am specifically looking for the voltage that is the trigger for the coil.  I don't care what it is but only that exactly what it is.  i can build a circuit to match.
jim

Do you mean the wire from the coil to the Module?

My best WAG is that it's 12 or 9V when the Module is open and goes direct to ground when it fires.

The sensor I can't say. Does anybody have a schematic of what's exactly all resined inside that Module?

I tend to agree that there is some voltage on the trigger wire and most likely it uses a drop to ground to trigger the coil.  So if it is a square wave then what I need to know is the voltage level at the high point.
jim

I don't have a schematic of the Module to go by. So I'm guessing that they're probably using a switching transistor or UJT or FET to replace the points. The wire on the coil is probably on the collector or drain side and the ground is on the emitter or source side. So the wire off the coil is probably either open or grounded with a very slight bit of slew in between. So I'm guessing it's not a matter of voltage as much as if it's saturated to ground or not. I'm also guessing the wave is more of a spike to ground instead of a square wave. You should chum up with somebody with a oscilloscope and take readings off the various wires.

I can do that when the snow melts enough to dig out the car.... ;D