Doing A 12si Alternator Swap And Putting Pertronix Into A Delco Dizzy.

I have a '71 CJ5 with the Dauntless 225.

I've been searching around on here for the past two weeks or so and I've found a wealth of information. I've also found aot of dead links in most of the threads so I do have some questions.

I'll be using a 94 amp 12SI unit from a parts store. Should be a 3 wire unit. I've got a red top optima and I'm upgrading all of the battery cable and ground with 1 AWG tinned marine battery cable with tinned copper lugs and military style battery terminals.

Does anyone have a diagram and/or pics of the proper way to wire up a Delco 12si? Also, for the dummy light can I just pop a small LED in the dash and use that? My dash has extra gauges and a radio head unit etc. so another hole in it wont hurt. Do I need to remove anything from the current Motorola alternator wiring wise when I do this swap?

For the Pertronix upgrade, I'm having trouble figuring out what this ballast resistor is that I have to bypass, I have no clue where it's at or what it looks like. Do I snip this thing out and butt connect the wires back together or?

Also, I will be replacing the starter, it has definitely seen better days. What is the preference on starter, integral solenoid or remote mounted solenoid? I've seen both styles of RockAuto.

Thanks in advance my friends!!!

 

I've found out what the ballast resistor looks like via google images.

Found out that one of the leads running from the coil connects to it so I should be able to find where its hiding by tracing the wire.

 

Found this too. Now I just have to make sure I'm hooking everything up properly to the terminals on the back of the ignition switch.

 

This is the coil that I purchased with the Pertronix.

Description says no ballast resistor included.

It does state "Secondary Resistance: 8.50K ohms"...

Does this mean that I need to put some sort of 12v regulator between the power source and the coil?

 

I'll give it a look, thanks!

Would you mind posting a few pics of the wiring that you have done and explaining what's goong on in the pics?

 

Secondary resistance 8.50k (8 thousand 500) ohms is by measuring the internal wiring of the transformer (coils) inside the coil.

 

You need an old school light bulb for the charge light an led lacks the resistance needed.

 

Actually, an LED should work, since it's a diode. The incandescent bulb works because it has enough resistance to block feeding the voltage back through the bulb to the ignition. If the exciter (terminal1) backfeeds to the ignition switch, the engine won't shut off when you turn the key off.

The LED may not work for another reason. You also need a current limiting resistor in series with an LED. Your pre-packaged LED bulbs usually contain this current-limiting resistor, which is something like 1000 ohms (12 milliamps at 12 volts). The low current may not be enough to excite the alternator ... should be enough, but I don't know for sure.

Also realize that your LED bulb, unlike an incandescnet bulb, is polar. The cathode (ground) will be connected to the shell, so the anode (positive) is the center pin. Make sure the application is wired this way, or the bulb will not light.

 

this...I had an led and the alternator wouldn't charge until about 3500 rpm,put a bulb in and now just blip it and it charges.

 

Regular light bulb it will be then!