Sorry for the lengthy delay. Had some family in town and was much more eager to spend time with them than on the internet.
First, 1 Wild R/T I can’t thank you enough for the last part of your post. The internet (and forums specifically) are so full of judgement and hate, it’s refreshing to see a positive opinion like your’s. Thank you not only for all the electrical advice, but also for being a silver lining in the car forum world.
451Mopar - excellent advice. I was curious how adding EFI would impact the stock electrical system. I am onboard with a future upgrade, but the Sniper and ancillary stuff means I need some time to rebuild the funds. I saved your post for future reference.
To answer some of the questions:
1) The 12.4-12.7V I mentioned once the new (correct) regular was installed was across the entire RPM range. Meaning 12.4V at idle and 12.7V at 5,000 rpm.
2) when I did the EFI I also installed Sniper ignition (box, coil, and distributor). Between the “carb” and ignition, there are several 12v hook ups. Some go straight to the battery (the instructions were super clear it had to be straight to the battery) and some go to 12V ignition. Too be completely honest, I don’t know which of the wires sends the voltage signal to the Sniper screen. That said…
3) I did check voltage at the battery and it’s around 12.4V with the engine running. I’d guess the Sniper screen is reading battery voltage.
More info:
A) I will check voltage at the alternator tomorrow and report back.
B) what is the purpose of the ballast resistor? From what I could find, it drops voltage for old / original ignition systems. Something about voltage being low while cranking. Given I installed electronic ignition, can I simply delete the resistor?
C) currently the regulator input comes off the resistor. It’s pretty hacked up. There’s 12V coming into the resistor. The output of the resistor is a single wire that goes into a wire nut (yeah, seriously) and 3 wires come out. One of those 3 wires go to the regulator input. Wire nut aside, I assume it’s not ideal to have voltage drop in the regulator input.
D) because I was curious, I ran a wire straight from the battery to the regulator input. In that case the Sniper screen showed exactly how I expect the car should work. High 12Vs at idle, constant voltage rise through the engine RPM range maxing our around 13.9v.
First, 1 Wild R/T I can’t thank you enough for the last part of your post. The internet (and forums specifically) are so full of judgement and hate, it’s refreshing to see a positive opinion like your’s. Thank you not only for all the electrical advice, but also for being a silver lining in the car forum world.
451Mopar - excellent advice. I was curious how adding EFI would impact the stock electrical system. I am onboard with a future upgrade, but the Sniper and ancillary stuff means I need some time to rebuild the funds. I saved your post for future reference.
To answer some of the questions:
1) The 12.4-12.7V I mentioned once the new (correct) regular was installed was across the entire RPM range. Meaning 12.4V at idle and 12.7V at 5,000 rpm.
2) when I did the EFI I also installed Sniper ignition (box, coil, and distributor). Between the “carb” and ignition, there are several 12v hook ups. Some go straight to the battery (the instructions were super clear it had to be straight to the battery) and some go to 12V ignition. Too be completely honest, I don’t know which of the wires sends the voltage signal to the Sniper screen. That said…
3) I did check voltage at the battery and it’s around 12.4V with the engine running. I’d guess the Sniper screen is reading battery voltage.
More info:
A) I will check voltage at the alternator tomorrow and report back.
B) what is the purpose of the ballast resistor? From what I could find, it drops voltage for old / original ignition systems. Something about voltage being low while cranking. Given I installed electronic ignition, can I simply delete the resistor?
C) currently the regulator input comes off the resistor. It’s pretty hacked up. There’s 12V coming into the resistor. The output of the resistor is a single wire that goes into a wire nut (yeah, seriously) and 3 wires come out. One of those 3 wires go to the regulator input. Wire nut aside, I assume it’s not ideal to have voltage drop in the regulator input.
D) because I was curious, I ran a wire straight from the battery to the regulator input. In that case the Sniper screen showed exactly how I expect the car should work. High 12Vs at idle, constant voltage rise through the engine RPM range maxing our around 13.9v.
