Home Forum Ask A Member home made coil and condensor testers

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  • #274042
    outboardnut
    Participant

      US Member

      I did not want to steal the Mercotronic thread.Thought this info may be useful to someone.
      Fellow members built these for me a long time ago. I never had any problems

      coil-test-1-of-2

      Coil-tester-part-2-of-2

      2 users thanked author for this post.
      #274045
      outboardnut
      Participant

        US Member

        condenser-tester-1-of-2

        condenser-tester-2-of-2

        1 user thanked author for this post.
        #274203

        Thank you for sharing this information.  I cleaned up the text and the drawing of the magneto tester and converted it into a pdf.  I think I have the wiring highlighted correctly but please advise if I don’t.

        Image-Cleaned-Up-20

        #274234
        joecb
        Participant

          US Member

          I have one of these condenser testers. I think that mine was commercially made, but the circuit is as shown in ‘outboardnut’s” post. It is reliable, gives a good indication of condition. The neon light tells the story…. No blink – bad condenser.  The rate of blink is directly proportional to the capacitance… not scientific, but by comparing the blink rate to a known value cap, you can pretty much match an unknown. The voltage stress level is only about 67 volts, so a cap that tests good might in fact fail under actual use in a magneto, but so far the tester has proven reliable.

          Joe B

          #274246
          outboardnut
          Participant

            US Member

            Looks good to me- But like I said -it was built for me

            #274247
            crosbyman
            Participant

              Canada Member - 2 Years
              #274256
              Mumbles
              Participant

                If I’m not mistaken, this tester only tells you if the cap is good or bad, working or not. What it doesn’t tell you is the uF rating of the cap, which is very important to.

                I’ve found that the uF readings of caps used in our magnetos tends to rise with age while the uF readings of electrolytic caps used in audio gear tend to fall over time. Regardless, they all have a certain lifespan and will start leaking and wandering from their original uF rating requiring replacement. Even unused old ones sitting on a shelf go bad over time.

                Here’s a pile of leaky points arcers destined for the trash with about twice as much capacitance as they should have.

                2013-06-21-11.21.11

                #274266
                crosbyman
                Participant

                  Canada Member - 2 Years

                  Mumbles if your comment refers to M.Mohat’s test box…. YES it only checks leakge   good or bad…. I test all caps with a capacitance  meter

                  Joining AOMCI has priviledges 🙂

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