Solid State Distributor Problems
Hello everyone. New to the site here hoping that I can learn more about my Willys (CJ3A) and hope someone can help me with a current problem I am having with mine. I recently switch from running a points style distributor to a solid state style and have had nothing but problems. For some reason I keep blowing the modules in the distributor, I am on my 4th one in two months. I have contacted the tech at Omix to try and find out why this keeps happening, and they are not completely sure either. They are telling me at this point that my alternator is putting out to much charge for the module to handle. The Willys has been converted to 12v system using a 10SI Alternator. The alternator is putting out a 14.2 charge and the rep at Omix is telling me that is to much for the modules, it needs to be around 12.5 to 13v. That seems really low of an output for an alternator, barely enough to even keep the battery charge. Does that sound right to you? I am also running a coil with an internal resister, the coil is band new and I have also tried 2 other coils and get the same results. The outside of the distributor does get quite hot after idling for a short bit, but not sure if the is heat transfer from the engine block. Anyone run into this problem or know of anything that I should be looking at?
Thanks
Ignition System Max Rating
[QUOTE They are telling me at this point that my alternator is putting out to much charge for the module to handle. The Willys has been converted to 12v system using a 10SI Alternator. The alternator is putting out a 14.2 charge and the rep at Omix is telling me that is to much for the modules, it needs to be around 12.5 to 13v. [/QUOTE]
13-volts at the battery terminals would be 2.17 volts per cell. This is not enough voltage to charge the battery, you assume correctly here. At 14.2 volts, that is
2.37 volts per cell, which is right at the float charge range setting for most batteries.
If the ignition system cannot withstand the 2.37 volts per cell float charge voltage, it would appear to have been badly under rated for automotive applications. I would expect a max rating of somewhere around 15.5 volts to withstand a modest failure in the alternator's regulator. A catastrophic alternator failure can cause higher voltages than this, but by then the battery acts as a limiter in most cases.
